mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, i won't take ten -- a senator: could i kindly ask the assistant leader if -- the presiding officer: the the senate will come to order. the senate will be in order, please. the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: i would like to ask the assistant leader, just as a matter of accommodation, i know we have two speakers on the republican side, two speakers on the democratic side. would you be amenable to entering into an order that locking in the order in which people are speaking, go back and forth, or the like? mr. durbin: and if we could have some suggestion about the time for each. i know senator wyden and -- the presiding officer: the senator from oregon, please. mr. wyden: mr. president, sena

mr. president, i would ask consent that senator durbin of illinois be the next democratic speaker. the presiding officer: is there objection? so ordered. mr. nelson: mr. president, senator durbin, the chairman of the civil rights subcommittee of the judiciary committee, will convene a hearing of the committee tomorrow in tampa, tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 for the purpose of reviewing florida's new election law that was passed a year ago by the florida legislature. what has been characterized by this senator and others as a voter suppression law. interestingly, there is a pattern in about 14 states that have changed the election laws to make it harder to vote, harder to register to vote and harder to have one's vote counted as they intend. that is rather extraordinary. in this year of 2012, -- that is rather extraordinary in this year of 2012 that we would be concerned about the right of access to the ballot and the right to vote, which is a cherished constitutional right and one which is under assault in this country at this moment and especially in my state of florida. let me give y

mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, i listened to the speech just given by the republican leader of the senate. he expresses a sentiment that americans share, that it's time for us to work together in the senate and the house, across the board in washington and solve the problems which american families face every single day. i agree with him completely on that. unfortunately, the record doesn't reflect a level of cooperation which the american people are expecting. it was hardly a month or two into the obama administration when the republican leader announced that his highest priority was to to make certain that barack obama was a one-term president. it is difficult to establish a working relationship when the first words out of a republican leader's mouth are "we're going to defeat you." and then as we addressed the largest issues of the day, time and again we found little or no bipartisan cooperation. i think back to the important, historic debate on health care. if there was ever a moment when we should h

mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, i rise to speak in morning business. mr. president, many years ago when i graduated from georgetown law school, i was offered a job by the lieutenant governor of illinois, paul simon. he asked if i would join his staff in springfield, illinois, in the state capital, and if i would serve as his senate parliamentarian. i jumped at the chance. i was in desperate need of a job with a wife, a baby, and another one on the way. deep in debt, i skipped my commencement exercise to get out and get on the payroll in springfield of the illinois state senate. the first day i walked in on the job in the lieutenant governor's office, they handed me the senate rule book. it was the first time i had ever seen it and they parked me in the chair next to the presiding officer of the illinois state senate and said now you're here to give advice. i spent every waking moment reading that rule book and trying to understand what it meant. there wasn't a course like that in law school nor anything t

mr. durbin: i ask the comboarl be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: the stock act, it's a bill that i cosponsored and the notion behind it is that members of congress should not use their public service or information gained in their public service for private benefit. it basically outlaws the type of inside ever trading and conflict of interest that should be a standard and will be a standard after this is enacted into law. amendments have been proposed to this measure, and there is one in particular that i heard about earlier and asked he for a copy. this is an amendment proposed by the senator from kentucky, senator paul and it's an amendment which talks about members of congress forfeiting their federal retirement benefits and the conditions under which they would forfeit their federal retirement benefits. understand that these are members of congress who have completed enough service in the congress to qualify for a pension. it's my understanding that is about six years. at a minimum ox years of service members of congress receive some pen

mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr.resident, let me thank my colleague from alaska. this week on national public radio, there was a feature about kordova and all the snow that they are trying to deal with there, and i'm sure this is perhaps commonplace in your great state, but as we listened to it in chicago and feel blessed that we really haven't been hit too hard yet this winter, our hearts go out to the men and women in the coast guard, national guard in alaska and the people who are struggling in your communities to survive these natural disasters. mr. president, each of us takes on an agenda in congress of things that are important to us personally and sometimes one or two of those issues become very, very personal and very important to you. one that has become very personal to me relates to the dream act. the dream act is a bill that i introduced ten years ago -- ten years ago. now, to serve in the senate, you have to be a patient person because nothing happens quickly. but ten years is long enough. and i'm urging

mr. durbin. senator from new york, mr. schumer. senator from new york, mrs. murray. the senator from alaska, mr. bag itch. senator from kentucky, mr. mcconnell. senator from tennessee, mr. alexander, senator from wyoming, mr. thune. senator from texas, mr. cornyn and senator from missouri, mr. blunt. the speaker: members of the escort committee will exit the chamber through the lobby doors. [inaudible conversations] >> mr. speaker. the dean of the diplomatic corps. [applause] [inaudible conversations] s. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [applause] [cheers and applause] [cheers and applause] [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> mr. speaker, the chief justice and associate justices of the supreme court. [applause] [applause] [inaudible conversations] [applause] [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> mr. speaker, the president's cabinet. [applause] [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversation

mr. durbin. senator from new york, mr. schumer. senator from new york, mrs. murray. the senator from alaska, mr. bag itch. senator from kentucky, mr. mcconnell. senator from tennessee, mr. alexander, senator from wyoming, mr. thune. senator from texas, mr. cornyn and senator from missouri, mr. blunt. the speaker: members of the escort committee will exit the chamber through the lobby doors. the messenger: mr. speaker, the dean of the diplomatic corps. the messenger: mr. speaker, the chief justice and associate justices of the supreme court. the messenger: mr. speaker, the president's cabinet. . . the president: thank you so much. the speaker pro tempore: members -- the speaker: members of congress, i have the privilege and distinct honor of presenting to you, the president of the united states. the president: thank you. thank you. thank you so much. thank you very much. thank you. please be seated. mr. speaker, mr. vice president, members of congress, distinguished guests, and fellow americans, last month i went to andrews air force base and welcomed home some of our

mr. durbin, i'll express a willingness to have conversations about the appropriations process through the federal reserve and your funding if you're willing to visit with me. >> be glad to visit with you and glad to have our staff come and speak to your staff and make sure you know everything you need to know about what we're doing. >> mr. cordray, thank you. >> senator. >> thank you, mr. chair. i thought i'd focus on the remittance fee that has come up. it's not addressed in any detail in your report. i assume your report was covering through december 31 and the rule was completed in january. but i just want to state my understanding is when people seek to transfer money internationally this rule says they need to be told upfront how much money is actually going to arrive. no hidden fees. you see the full impact of the exchange rate that's being assigned to it. and in addition, if the money doesn't arrive or the money arrive is different than what the person was told, there is a way to fix that. is that the essence of this rule? >> it is, senator. if i could say when you or i and i ventu