mr. inouye: mr. president, i rise today in support of the levin amendment which i believe is far superior alter national to the stabenow amendment, as it currently stands. the levin amendment offered today by -- the amendment offered today by senator stabenow proposes to rescind $44 billion from unobligated balances of appropriated funds that are designated for specific purposes in various appropriations bills previously enacted by congress. the senator offers these rescissions in order to offset the loss of revenues resulting from their amendment. mr. president, this amendment is a perfect representation of what i expect to be a flood of similar amendments and stand-alone bills that seek to eviscerate the non-defense functions of the federal government. with the exception of the proposal from the junior senator from kentucky, which had the courage to list each and every cut that he proposed, i expect that many other bills and amendments will be blanket rescissions that leave it to the executive bran

inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following any leader remarks there will be a period of morning business until 11:00 a.m. this morning with stphorgs permitted to speak -- with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. at 11:00 the senate will resume the f.a.a. reauthorization bill. at 11:40 the senate will resume consideration of the nelson of nebraska amendment. the nelson amendment relates to criminal penalties for the unauthorized distribution of advanced energy technology. at about noon the senate will proceed to vote in relation to the nelson amendment as amended. the senate will recess from 12:30 to 2:15 for our weekly caucus meetings. after caucus there will be ten minutes for debate equally divided prior to a vote in relation to the wicker amendment. the wicker amendment relates to the collective bargaining rights of t.s.a. employees. the senate should expect a vote at about 2:30. both of these votes are subject to 60-vote thresholds. additio

inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks, the senate will proceed to a period of morning business much senators permitted to allowed to speak up to 10 minutes each this morning. we made significant progress on the f.a.a. authorization bill this week and we'll make more progress next week. the finance committee's going to report out a bill on -- amendment legislation on tuesday, funding for this most important piece of legislation. we hope to complete action on this bill early in the week of the 14th. today i will continue to work with the republican leader on an agreement to vote on monday on the confirmation of several executive nominations. there will be no roll call votes during today's session of the senate. mr. president, there are three bills at the desk due for a second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the bills en bloc. the clerk: s. 289, a bill to extend expiring provisions of the u.s.a. patriot improvement and reauthorization act of 2005 and so forth and for o

inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: majority leader. mr. reid: following any leader remarks there will be a period of morning business until 11:00 a.m. with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each during that time. that time will be equally divided and controlled between the leaders or their designees. at 11:00 this morning the senate will resume consideration of the f.a.a. authorization bill. as a result of cloture being filed yesterday, any germane first-degree amendments must be filed at the desk prior to 1:00 p.m. thaod in order -- today in order for the amendments to be in order postcloture. we have the opportunity to complete this legislation opportunity. there will be two cloture votes in the morning. we hope to be able to have some votes today, and senators will be notified when roll call votes are scheduled. mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: republican leader. mr. mcconnell: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: no, we are not. mr. mcconnell: as the debate over government spending c

inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks, the senate will resume consideration of the federal aviation administration authorization bill. at 10:20, there will be a vote -- i'm sorry. at 10:20, there will be up to ten minutes for debate equally divided on the nelson of florida amendment. that's amendment number 34 regarding nasa. senators should expect a roll call vote at approximately 10:30 in relation to the nelson florida amendment. it will be the only vote of the day. today will be a short session in order to accommodate senators attending the democratic issues conference. madam president, i ask consent that jeremy parsons, a nasa detailee of senator bill nelson, be granted privileges of the floor during the senate's consideration of s. 223, the f.a.a. re-authorization bill. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: madam president, i had a conversation last night with the republican leader, and for all senators, we need to have amend

inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: following leader remarks there will be period of morning business until 12:30 today. senators up until 12:30 will be allowed to speak for 10 minutes each. at 12:30 we're going to each have our weekly caucus meetings which we do every week. at 2:15 the senate will begin consideration of the federal aviation administration bill. senators with amendments to the bill should contact the bill managers. the senators will be notified when votes are scheduled. mr. president, a lot of people are talking this morning about the opinion of a judge in florida regarding his opinion on the health reform law. i want to just mention just very briefly about the law a little bit and then talk about the eff

inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: madam president?marks, there will be a period of morning business with senators allowed to speak for up to ten minutes each. there will be no roll call votes during today's session of the senate. however, i hope we will be able to extend the trade adjustment assistance legislation today. senators should expect the next series of votes to begin at 5:30 p.m. on monday. we hope to have as many as three votes on monday, starting at 5:30. madam president, saying you want to cut government spending is an easy applause line. we all want to lower the deficit. we all wish americans had less debt sitting in the other countries' treasuries. none of us wants to leave the most difficult decisions to the next generation. they deserve better from us. but actually doing the hard work of figuring out what and where to cut, that's the hard work. that's an entirely different story. the american people don't need to hear an applause line. they need us to ease the burden on our nation's bottom line, and there is a fine li

inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader.reid: mr. president, following any leader remarks the senate will resume consideration of the f.a.a. authorization bill. i've spoken to the chairman of the committee, i've spoken to the republican leader and we're going to do everything question to move to matter forward as quickly as possible. those that have amendments should offer them. we'll try to set up the votes for those that are already pending at the earliest possible date. we could do some of them in the morning. we may even be able to get a number of them out of the way tonight if we can work something out on that. at 4:30, we'll turn to executive session to consider the nomination of james graves of mississippi to be united states circuit judge for the fifth circuit and edward davila of california to be a u.s. district judge for the northern district of california. at 5:30, there will be a voice vote on graves and a roll call vote on davila. senators should be prepared for additional roll call votes this evening in relatio

inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the order of the votes scheduled at 5:30 be as follows: the remainder of the consent remain in effect. calendar number 6 would be first. calendar number 3 would be second. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: mr. president, following leader remarks, there will be a period of morning business until 3:00 p.m. at 3:00 p.m., the senate will resume consideration of the federal aviation administration bill. there will be a short recess around 4:20 p.m. in order to welcome the prime minister of slovenia to the senate floor. at 4:30, the senate will turn to executive session to debate concurrently three district court nominations. those nominations are paul holmes of arkansas, diana saldana of texas and marco hernandez of oregon. at 5:30, there will be two roll call votes on confirmation of the nominations in the order that was just approved by the chair. mr. president, ronald reagan's second inauguration was the first one i at

inouye, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. mr. mcconnell: madam president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: later today, as i noted yesterday, the senate will have a rare opportunity -- later today as i noted yesterday, the senate will have a rare opportunity for those who supported the health spending bill in the past, it's an opportunity to revisit your first vote. to listen to those who have desperately trying to get your attention to say yes, maybe my vote for this bill was a mistake, maybe we can do better. to listen to the small business owners who have been contacting our offices every single day and telling us that this bill keeps them from creating the jobs that we need. to show that you've actually noticed that most persons don't want this bill. to show that you're aware more people want it repealed than don't. to show that you've noticed the town halls in your states. to show that you've notic

inouye, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, leadership time is reserved. pursuant to the order, the senator from georgia, mr isakson, will now read washington's farewell address. sacks sacks mr. president, unanimous consent request unanimous consent that -- mr. isakson: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that michael mclaughlin be allowed to have floor privileges during the reading of washington's farewell address. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. isakson: friends and fellow citizens, the period for a new election for a citizen to administer a new election for the government of the united states being not far distant and the time actually arrive when thoughts must be deployed and designating the person with whom you clothe with the importance of this trust, it appears to me properly especially as it may conclude to the more distinct expression of the public voice that i shall appraise you of the resolution i have formed of the client being considered of the number out of those which one will be chosen. i beg you at this time to do me the justice to be assured this resolution was not taken l

senator inouye's staff, be allowed floor privileges for the duration of the senate's consideration of s. 223, the airway modernization and improvement act. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: thank you, madam president, and i yield the floor. mr. kirk: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. kirk: madam president, i'd like to talk about two topics today, first on this health care bill and then on the situation in egypt. i rise today in support of the amendment to repeal the health care law. we made a mistake last year in passing this law, and a large majority of the american people know it. in the face of the largest debt in our history, it was the height of folly to create a new spending program offering subsidized health care to 30 million americans. it's a promise that we cannot afford to keep and one that our lenders may force us to retract. before losing our credit rating or suffering the humiliation of foreign lenders denying us new loans, we should take the decisive action now to end this entitlement. the congress should replace this mistaken law with bipartisan reforms that prohibit the government from overriding the decision

inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. reid: following leader remarks the senate will resume consideration of the federal aviation administration bill. there will be up to two hours for debate equally divided and controlled between the proponents and opponents of the inhofe amendment prior to a vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the inhofe amendment as modified. the filing deadline for second-degree amendments to this bill is 10:00 a.m. today. as a reminder, cloture was also filed on the bill. that cloture vote will occur upon disposition of the inhofe amendment. senators should expect roll call votes to occur throughout the day in an effort to complete action on the f.a.a. bill. i ask unanimous consent that the previous order for senator coats to be recognized at 1:00 p.m. be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: we are at a point where we can finish the f.a.a. bill after all these many years of trying to get this bill completed. we

inouye, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: the majority leader's recognized. the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: the majority leader's recognized. mrconsent the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, there's been a minor change in the schedule that's been cleared on both sides. i ask unanimous consent that following any leader remarks the senate proceed to a period of morning business until 10:30 a.m. this morning, senators permitted to speak during that period of time for 10 minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: following that morning business, the senate will resume consideration of s. 223, federal aviation administration bill. currently we have one amendment pending. other senators are waiting to offer amendments. senator wicker is ready to offer his as soon as the bill is recorded. senators should expect roll call votes throughout the day in order to make significant progress on this important legislation. we have a long way to go before our economy is back to normal. ask any american, and they'll tell you, we have a lot more jobs to creat