mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. n: i ask that the quorum call being suspend the. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i ask consent to speak in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, three years ago today, a mentally disturbed gunman walked into the campus lecture hall at northern university in dekalb, shot 22 students, killing five of them. the president of northern illinois university, the students and faculty and employees pulled together after that tragedy, and i join them at an observance with then-senator and now-president obama, to acknowledge the grief that they all felt and we shared. i'm proud to report that the northern illinois university community is stronger and more resilient today than ever. in the aftermath of the shooting, we asked a lot of questions about what led to it. naturally, there were so many innocent victims. we asked what we could do to prevent it. three years later we're still trying to make sense of it. some believe that j

mr. durbin: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: madam president, the president presented to congress a budget. it's the annual process or ritual where the president makes the first move presenting a budget and then congress responds. the house and the senate come up with a budget resolution within the confines of the president's spending and decide how to spend the money. we're now at that phase. but i want to say a word about what the president suggested and what we're hearing from across the rotunda from house republicans. the president understands that we have two challenges as a nation. the first is to create more jobs because we have too many people out of work. and secondly, we need to reduce our deficit. it seems that they're cross-purposes, but they don't have to be. the president is trying to chart a course that moves us forward in a responsible way, cutting spending where it will not hurt economic recovery and growth. investing with the federal funds we will spend in programs that count. he's talked about an agenda

mr. durbin: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i ask consent that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: and consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: madam president, it is interesting as he we face one of the toughest economic recessions in modern history and a world in turmoil, as many countries are challenging their leadership and assessing their future, that the focal point of the republican legislative effort appears to be the repeal of health care reform. if you take a look at what the american people think about this, they don't agree. they think that if there are ways to improve the bill, we should do it. if there are changes we can make in this bill to make it more effective, we should. but the notion that we would repeal this law and walk away from the basic provisions in it, it's not accepted by the majority of the people. the house republicans, new to the majority this year, decided they needed to keep faith wit

mr. durbin: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i ask consent the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: madam president, what is pending before the senate at this moment? the presiding officer: the amendment of the senator from kentucky. mr. durbin: it's my understanding, madam president, that this amendment by the senator from kentucky would establish a new authorization level for the federal aviation administration, which would revert to the level of 2008. i think it's worth noting that this may cut spending in some regards, but i don't believe it is a wise decision by the senate to move in that direction. our world has changed dramatically since 2008, and the world of aviation even more so. the aviation industry is not the same today by any means. we debated the f.a.a. bill here on the senate floor in 2008, and at that time oil was $120 a barrel and the airline industry was in the doldrums. eight airlines either completely ceased operations or filed for bankruptcy that year. that

mr. durbin: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: madam president, i can't say with any certainty anything about the critics of the government -- or the affordable health care plan except one thing, each of the critics on the republican side of the aisle of what they call government administered health care, government administered health insurance, every single senate republican critic is currently protecting his or her family with government administered health care. in other words, what's good enough for their family shouldn't be good enough for the rest of america. i think, as a show of good faith, that the republican senators should come to the floor today to say, not only are we going to vote for repeal of the health care reform, we're going to show our personal commitment of this by walking away from the federal health insurance program. i would admire them so much if their actions as senators reflected their speeches on the floor. but they don't. they are denying to the rest of america what every single member of congr

mr. durbin: madam president, the f.a.a. authorization expired in october of 2007. before the three years we've been operating on short-term extensions, 17 total short-term extensions. the federal aviation administration, airlines and flying public all deserve a long-term authorization to provide certainty to our national aviation system. the bill before us will improve the safety of air travel, modernize our air traffic control system and create thousands of jobs. this is a jobs bill. the f.a.a. estimates commercial aviation is responsible for over 5% of our gross domestic product and generates $1.2 trillion a year in economic activity. the aviation industry provides $346 billion in earnings and 11 million jobs in america. this bill will help grow those numbers. the funding provided in this bill will support over 280,000 jobs. the economist mark zandi said aviation is the glue that keeps the global economy together. we know that in illinois. we know it because of that great airport called o'hare which we're currently in the process of modernizing. this bill will bo

mr. chairman and senator durbin, i ask that a statement from the virginia attorney general be placed in the record and i am interested in hearing from the witnesses today but ultimately, we all know that the subject of this hearing is finally going to be determined by the supreme court. thank you very much without objection, that statement will be made part of the hearing. >> would the democratic members like to fill these seats? with this panel of witnesses please stand and take the oath? please raise your right hand. do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you god. ? all the witnesses have entered in the affirmative. they will be given five minutes of opening statements and we will have seven-minute rounds where senators will ask questions. we have senator john -- we have attorney general kroger from the state of oregon. he was nominated by the republican and democratic parties. he is a bipartisan attorney- general. help file a brief in support of the four -- affordable care act constitutionality. he

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator durbin and thanks to all the witnesses for being here. i feel like i'm back in law school. but we appreciate the fact that each of you are giving us the benefit of your expertise and your opinions on a very important issue, no doubt. i was attempted -- tempted to say, mr. chairman, i wish we had done this before the law was passed, which we did not, as opposed to now but professor barnett you make an important point that congress' duty with a law like this does not end when it passes a law, indeed if in fact we are -- the opinion it does exceed either the prudential or constitutional bounds of congressional power under the commerce clause, we can repeal it. and i would just say to my friend, who's chairing the committee, senator durbin i know suggested earlier it's either this or nothing. i think they call that the fallacy of a false dichotomy. there's not just two choices. there's many other choices that are available to congress if this were to be repealed and replaced and i'm sure we'll talk about that a lot more. but let me just -- le

mr. president, i rise to speak in support of this amendment that i have offered with senators kirk, boxer, durbin, casey, menendez and schumer to secure aircraft cockpits against lasers. this commonsense and bipartisan amendment would protect passengers and pilots by making it a federal criminal offense to knowingly aim the beam of a laser at an aircraft. as explained in a recent article in "the new york times," a beam that is 125th of an inch wide at its origin can be two to three feet wide by the time it reaches an airliner approaching or departing an airport. end quote. as a result, when targeted at aircraft, laser strikes can instantly flash across the cockpit, temporarily blinding the pilot and the crew. one pilot described the feeling of being hit by a laser like this: "it immediately lit up the whole cockpit and it hit both of my eyes and burned both of my corneas. instantly i was blinded. it felt like i was hit in the face with a baseball bat, just an intense burning pain." end quote. f.a.a. administrator randy babbitt similarly recently warned that lasers can -- and i quote -- "damage a

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator durbin and thanks to all the witnesses for being here. i feel like i'm back in law school. but we appreciate the fact that each of you are giving us the benefit of your expertise and your opinions on a very important issue, no doubt. i was attempted -- tempted to say, mr. chairman, i wish we had done this before the law was passed, which we did not, as opposed to now but professor barnett you make an important point that congress' duty with a law like this does not end when it passes a law, indeed if in fact we are -- the opinion it does exceed either the prudential or constitutional bounds of congressional power under the commerce clause, we can repeal it. and i would just say to my friend, who's chairing the committee, senator durbin i know suggested earlier it's either this or nothing. i think they call that the fallacy of a false dichotomy. there's not just two choices. there's many other choices that are available to congress if this were to be repealed and replaced and i'm sure we'll talk about that a lot more. but let me just -- le

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator durbin and thanks to all the witnesses for being here. i feel like i'm back in law school. but we areciate the fact that each of you are giving us the benefit of your expertise and your opinions on a very important issue, no doubt. was attempted -- tempted to say, mr. chairman, i wish we had done this before the law was passed, which we did not, as opposed to now but professor barnett you make an important point that congress' duty with a law like this does not end when it passes a law, indeed if in fact we are -- the opinion it does exceed eitr the prudential or constitutional bounds of congressional power under the commercelause, we can repeal it. and i would just say to my friend, who's chairing the committee, senator durbin i know suggested earlier it's either this or nothing. i think they call that the fallacy of a false dichotomy. there's not just two choices. there's many other choices that are available to congress if this were to be repealed and replaced and i'm sure we'll talk about that a lot more. but let me just -- let me say

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator durbin and thanks to all the witnees for being here. i feel like i'm back in law school. but we appreciate the fact that each of you are giving us the benefit of your expertise and your opinions on a very important issue, no doubt. i was attempted -- tempted to say, mr. chairman, i wish we had done this before the law was passed, which we did not, as opposed to now but professor barnett you make an important point that congress' duty with a law like this does not end when it passes a law, indeed if in fact we are -- the opinion it does exceed eithe the prudential or constitutional bounds of congressional power under the commerce clause, we can repeal it. and i would just say to my friend, who's chairing the committee, senator durbin i know suggested earlier it's either this or nothing. i think they call that the fallacy of a false dichotomy. there's not just two choices. there's many other choices that are available to congress if this were to be repealed and replaced and i'm sure we'll talk about that a lot more. but let me just -- let

get back to senator durbin's questionthey never suggested they can compel from feldburn to grow weed. they've never suggested again, as i pointed in my testimony they can require mr. filburn's neighbors to buy his crops to counteract the effects of limiting the wheat he can grow. i think those distinctions are loyally semantics and are relatively obvious to most people. >> unless you want to add. >> senator grassley, i think the very notion what is involved heris, quote, inactivity can be called into question. if you're sitting alone in the woods doing nothing, it doesn't apply to you. you have to go out and enter the national economy, earn $18,000 for a couple in order to be required to file an income tax return. only then do you have to pay a -- 2.5% penalty if you don't maintain insurance coverage and since no concan be insured they'll need health care they'll be active participants in the health care market. this is in essence by no means a case of no activity. and i believe there's no case yet that's come close to holding the congress can affirm obligations when doing so carries out its regulatory authority ov the national economy. >> t penalty may not apply

mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the assistant majority leader. mr. durbin: mr. president,. the presiding officer: if the senator will suspend. could we have order? the senate will come to order. the assistant majority leader. mr. durbin: in a few minutes we're going to vote on the expiring provisions of the patriot act. i'll support this extension because it gives the senate time to properly consider this critically important legislation. but before i support any additional extensions of the patriot act, i believe that we should have an honest discussion about changes and reforms that are necessary to protect the constitutional rights of innocent americans. it's worth taking a moment to reflect on the history of the patriot act. the patriot act was passed almost ten years ago after the 9/11 terrorist attack. ground zero was still burning when president bush asked congress to give him new authority to fight terrorism. congress responded, passing the patriot act by an overwhelming bip

mr. durbin: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. durbin: and to speak as if in morning business. madam president, the budget the president released monday includes more than $1 trillion in deficit reduction and two-thirds of it come from spending cuts. that puts the nation on the path toward fiscal sustainability. but it also reflects the urgency to invest now in programs that will pay off for a long time. investing in transportation and infrastructure i think is the best way to ensure economic recovery now and economic growth well into the future. it's been two years since the president signed into law the american recovery and restoration act. the investments made in infrastructure over two years have either saved or created over a million jobs all across the nation. in the first year alone that recovery act led to 350,000 direct on-project jobs. direct job creation from these projects has resulted in payroll

mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business.without objection, so ordered. mr. durbin: mr. president, today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of president ronald reagan. when ronald reagan was born, his father jack looked at his new little boy and said, "he looks like a fat little dutchman, but who knows? he might grow up to be president someday." in fact, ronald reagan grew up to be not just a president but one of america's most memorable presidents. as we mark the 100th anniversary of his birth, much is being said and writ been his white house years, understandably. but in my state of illinois, people also remember an earlier time of this iconic american. he is the only american president born in the state of illinois. he entered this world on february 6, 1911, in a little town of tampico in an apartment above a bakery. his father sold shoes to support his wife and two sons. over the first nine years of his life, the reagan family was on the move, from tampico to galesberg to the south idea of chicago before finally settli