mr. inouye: the clerk will call th inouye: inouye: --i suggest a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. nelson: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: madam president, i ask consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. nelson: madam president, i ask to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. madam president, you remember a year ago before we passed the health care bill that everybody testified that medicare was set to go into bankruptcy in seven years and you remember back then, just a year ago, medicare paid doctors when seniors got sick and medicare was focused on the quantity of care instead of the quality of care? and back then, medicare paid hospitals more if a patient got an infection that could have been avoided in the hospital and they paid hospitals less if they avoided that infection in the first place because medicare, whatever the cost was, medicare paid it. and remember back then that doctors

mr. inouye: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator is recognized. mr. inouye: today, our nation faces a very difficult political landscape when it comes to addressing the major challenges to our country, such as unemployment and the deficit. the american public is demanding that the house and senate work with the president to address these concerns. i believe the american people's understandable and growing concern over the national debt is shared by every member of this body, but in order for the congress to address our fiscal crisis, we must fix our broken budget process. today with fiscal year 2011 nearly halfway, as a result of the congress' inability to finish its work, the federal government is still operating on stop-gap funding designed to avert a government shutdown. and, madam president, this is no way to govern. continuing resolutions make it difficult for federal agencies to perform their duties. as the secretary of defense, mr. gates, has stated very clearly, "operating under a c.r. places a great burden on the department of defense." the sa

mr. reid: on behalf of senator i inouye, i send to the desk an amendment. the presiding officer: order in the senate. the clerk report. mr. reid: amendment number 149. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, for mr. inouye, proposes amendment numbered 149. mr. reid: further reading of the amendment be waived. ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: without objection. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, the vote on this is 42 yeas, 58 nays. under the previous order requiring 60 votes for adoption of this amendment, the amendment is not agreed to. under the previous order, the measure is returned to the calendar. mr. roberts: -- a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. mr. franken: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection.

mr. inouye: the amendment submitted by the senator from kentucky seeks to reduce discretionary spending by by $200 billion. the actual amendment would cut in excess of $155 billion from domestic discretionary spending and the balance from security related programs. while i'm certain the senator is serious in his desire to cut spending, and all of us are, i would point out to my colleagues that for the remaining six months of this fiscal year, with the passage of the next short-term continuing resolution, the federal government will have less than than $200 billion in fiscal year 2011 funds remaining for domestic discretionary spending, and my colleagues need to be advised, madam president, that the c.r. that has passed the house will set a ceiling on domestic discretionary spending for the whole year at at $400 billion. since we are halfway through the fiscal year, we have already allocated about half of these resources. moreover, during the first six months of the fiscal year, the government was funded at a higher rate, approximately approximately $405 billion. therefore, we only have app

mr. president, filed today by senator inouye, senator man. is, one of the from the become f most famous men in the history of the country. a been in congress a long time bur we always remember this man is e battlefields of italy where he lost his arm and was badly a res injured and as a result of his hair his like actions he sees tl congressional medal of honor. but he is a hero here in the eagislative halls also. l one of the leaders in the my watergate hearing and many other things he's done over the yearsa to become a hero here inadditiot addition in the battlefields. it's his amendment.differen pla that's why democrats have a that different plan, the plan thatert represents a different supportee by the president of the united states. we know we have to make cuts toe morning several times. w we also know that when we cut wo have to cut in a way that strengthens our economy, not cey weaken set three weeks to look n at the quality of the cutsblindy cannot get blinded by the quantity of the cuts. we can lose a lot of weight, you and i and any

>> [inaudible] >> i worked for senator stevens and sandra inouye at different times, mr. urney. >> and sadr inouye is still with us and going strong. during your tenure at the department of defense mr. yondah oversaw among other things resistant and bush, protected vehicle program protection known as mrap and served the virginia class multi-year contract. mr. young will share the weapons system chief acquisition officer for the u.s. navy and for all of the department of defense. he is remembered finally in our subcommittee for the great work that he did on the's modernization. i want to make sure we got the kind of value out of the c-5's, one of which sat i think 41 world records and the flight from the dover air force base to turkey last year. we just got the fourth one over and the reviews are getting quite good. thanks for that as well. the next witness is michael sullivan from the government accountability office. who was your comptroller general and what's his name? >> jean dodaro. >> when he comes to testify he doesn't use notes, just write off the top with his head

mr. president, filed today by senator inouye,ar he is a very sensitive and good man. don't need to recount who hean is, one of the most famous men in the history of our country.g been in congress a long time. we always remember that this man is a hero not only on the ttlefiel battlefield of italy where he h badly badly injured and as a result histioni heroic actions we see the medal congressional medal of honor, but he's a hero here in the legislative halls also. the one of the leaders at the man watergate hearings and the other things he's done over the years to become a hero here intion tot addition to on the battlefieldsa that's why democrats have a different plan, one thatdiffent represents the different priorities.the unit supported by the president oft e the united states. we know that we have to make cuts. t i sahaidt that here this mornino several times. we also know that when we cut wt nve to do it in a way that eco, strengthens our economy, not we can set. we have to look carefully at thc quality of the cuts cannot get blinded by the quantity. i said before

mr. reidanyway, it's been here a while and i need -- whatever the number is, it's the democratic alternative that senator inouye has laid down. mr. president, we believe, and i'm confident that the speaker feels the same way, that the thing that we should do is vote on h.r. 1, which we've had calls for voting on that for more than a week now. i've had statements to the press -- from the press why doesn't reid setup a vote on h.r. 1. and that's what we're doing. we'll either do that with a consent the agreement with the republican leader or a procedural motion that i'll file later today. the amendment to that is numbered 149 and that senator inouye's cuts of som some $51 billion from what the president's budget was. and to move the process forward, i think that this is the place to start. we have some confidence that we'll get -- we'll get the votes on our bill that we'll move this matter forward. but, regardless, if h.r. 1 doesn't pass, and it won't pass, and if ours doesn't pass, we at least know where we stand, mr. president, to move this ball down the road a little further. the speaker said that that would a

inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following any leader remarks, the senate will proceed to morning business until 11:00 a.m. today. senators will be permitted 0 speak for up to 10 minutes each during that time. the majority will control the first half and the republicans will control the final half. following morning business the senate will proceed to consideration of the reauthorization of the small business innovation act, s. 493. the senate will recess from 12:30 until 2:15 for the weekly caucus meetings. at 2:15 senator coats will be recognized to deliver his maiden speech. roll call votes in relation to the amendments for the small business jobs bill are possible during today's session. madam president, this bill is really another jobs bill and really a very important bill. i did an event -- a press event yesterday with the chairman of the committee, senator landrieu, and it was a good meeting. we talked about some of the things that have happened in our stat

inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: we are not in a quorum call. mr. reid: that's even better. following any leader remarks, madam president, there will be a period of morning business for an hour. senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each with the republicans controlling the first half and the majority controlling the final half. following morning business, the senate will resume consideration of s. 493, the small business jobs bill. roll call votes in relation to amendments to the small business jobs bill are possible today. we hope that the blockage that we have from the -- my friends on the republican side will allow us to move forward on this bill. there are a number of nongermane and really nonappropriate amendments on this bill, but we have agreed to go ahead and work on those. two that are the most glaring are the 1099 that we need to resolve and the e.p.a. contro

inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: madam president?he presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following any leader remarks, there will be a period of morning business until 10:30. p senators permitted to speak up to 10 minutes each during that period of time. majority will control the first half the republicans the second half. following that, the senate will resume consideration of s. 493, the small business jobs bill. senators should expect two roll call votes at 10:30 this morning. those votes will be in relation to nelson of nebraska, regard a sense of the senate resolution to reduce the senate's budget by 5% and a snowe-landrieu amendment striking the federal authorization. relations -- more roll call votes are expected during today's session of the senate. at 12:00 noon senator bloo bloo- blumenthal will deliver his maiden speech. i am told, madam president that h.j. res. 48 is at the desk and due for a second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bill for the second time. the clerk: h.j.

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 for an hour, senators will be permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each during that period of time. the majority will control the first 30 minutes. the republicans will control the final 30 minutes. following moshings the senate will resume consideration of s. 23, the patent reform bill. the senate will recess from 12:30 until 2:15 to allow for our weekly caucus meetings. senators should expect roll call votes in relation to amendments to the patent reform bill throughout the day. madam president, i'll ask unanimous consent that senator toomey of pennsylvania be permitted to speak as if in morning business at 2:15 p.m. for up to 15 minutes in order to deliver his maiden speech in the united states senate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i i understand that h.r. 1 is due for its second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read

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 for an hour with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the majority controlling the first half, the republicans controlling the final half. following morning business, the senate will resume consideration of s. 493, the small business jobs bill. the senate will recess from 12:30 until 2:15 to allow for weekly caucus meetings. roll call votes in relation to the amendments to the small business jobs bill are possible today. insofar as will be -- senators will be notified when votes are scheduled. madam president, we have ten amendments now pending. i spoke yesterday afternoon to the republican leader, and i think we're in good shape now to hopefully resolve the 1099 matter this afternoon. we're looking forward to having a consent agreement that we can vote on that. and i think we're at a point where in the morning, we can vote on the mcconnell

inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. reid: following any leader remarks there will be a period of morning business until 2:15 p.m. today with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes. at 10:30 senator jerry moran will be recognized to speak for up to 15 minutes. at 2:15 p.m. the senate will proceed to executive session and consider the nomination of max oliver cogburn of north carolina to be district judge for the western district of north carolina. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent there be a total of 45 minutes for debate on the nomination with the provisions of the previous order remaining in effect with a vote being at rather than 2:30 be at 3:00 p.m. today. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. reid:. mr. reid: there will be a vote on the confirmation of the cogburn nomination at 3:00 p.m. the senate small business committee reported s. 493, the reauthorization act of 2011. they did that yesterday. we

inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. reid: we're continuing to work very, very hard to avoid the terrible consequences that would come with the government shutdown. as vice president biden announced last night, after an hour and a half meeting we had in his office here just a few feet from where i speak, he announced the democrats and republicans have agreed upon a number on which to base our budget cuts. that number is $73 billion below the president's budget proposal. now we have to figure out how to get to that 73 number. as i have said all along, this isn't just about dollars and deficits, mr. president. it's about principles and priorities. what we cut is much more important than how much we cut. the media is very concerned with which party will win this fight politically. i'm much more concerned with making sure the american people don't lose out in this program that we're doing. we have to make sure that the cuts are those that don't really damage the b

mr. reidanyway, it's been here a while and i need -- whatever the number is, it's the democratic alternative that senator inouye has laid down. mr. president, we believe, and i'm confident that the speaker feels the same way, that the thing that we should do is vote on h.r. 1, which we've had calls for voting on that for more than a week now. i've had statements to the press -- from the press why doesn't reid setup a vote on h.r. 1. and that's wt we're doing. we'll either do that with a consent the agreement with the republican leader or a procedural motion that i'll file later today. the amendment to that is numbered 149 and that senator inouye's cuts of som some $51 billion from what the president's budget was. and to move the process forward, i think thathis is the place to start. we have some confidence that we'll get -- we'll get the votes on our bill that we'll move this matter forward. but, regardless, if h.r. 1 doesn't pass, and it won't pass, and if ours doesn't pass, we at ast know where we stand, mr. president, to move this ball down the road a little further. the speaker said that that would allow t

inouye, president pro tempore. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader is recognized. mr. mcconnell: it was a great honor to have thad austin of murfreesboro, tennessee, provide the opening prayer this morning. i -- i thank him for his wise words. i first met the reverend austin as an alma mater at the university in willmore, kentucky, when i visited there in 2007. it is to engage the world and serve the world through public service. our guest chaplain has pursued that mission with great success. maybe it is a family calling. the reverend austin a's grandfather was an admiral in the u.s. navy who volunteered overseas as a medical missionary. his father is a doctor who cares for our nation's veterans. they taught thad that it was important to serve others. that in a nation that so generously provides what many in other parts of the world do not enjoy, it is important to give back. reverend austin has taken that to heart. he's still a young man, but he has accomplished a great deal and he is not one to look back

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 10:40, with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes. the majority will control the first half. republicans will control the final half. at 10:40 the senate will recess for the joint meeting of congress with the honorable julia gillard, prime minister of australia. the senate will reconvene at 12:00 and proceed to the immediate consideration of h.r. 1, the defense appropriations bill, which is the famous c.r., h.r. 1, and the democratic alternative. at 3:00 p.m. senators should expect two roll call votes in relation to those two matters. under an agreement reached yesterday, each proposal will be subject to a 60-vote threshold. madam president, on the news on the way to work this morning, i heard one republican senator, part of the republican leadership, say he thought all republicans would vote for h.r. 1, this job-killing -- that is what i said

inouye, president pro tempore. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate will be in a period of morning business for two hours with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees. the republicans controlling the first hour and the majority controlling the next hour. the 30 minutes under the control of the senator from massachusetts. a senator: thank you, mr. president. i come to the floor of the senate to discuss an issue that is critically facing the american people. mr. barrasso: it is the price of gasoline at the pump in this country. it is something that is, in my opinion, going to impact our economy, going to impact the economic recovery that we are all hoping would continue in this country, but with every penny that the cost of gasoline at the pump goes up, it's been estimated that that takes about $1 billion away from the amount

inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. the presiding officer: under the previous order the leadership time is reserved -- mr. reid: mr. president? following any leader remarks, there will be a period of morning business until 4:30 p.m., senators allowed to speak up to 10 minutes each. at 4:30 the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of james boasberg to be united states district judge for the district of columbia. there will be an hour of debate prior to vote on that nomination. senators should expect two roll call votes at 5:30 confirmation of james boasberg and the small business reauthorization act of 2011. a current continuing resolution expires this friday. expect the house to send us a three-week c.r. on tuesday or wednesday. i hope we can work out an agreement to consider the bill before the end of this week. mr. president, my thoughts and those of the entire nation, and certainly every member of the united states senate, are with the people of japan. the earthquake that shook that nat

inouye, president pro tempore. reid madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following any leader remarks, the senate will proceed to morning business until 11:00 a.m. today. during that period of time, senators would be permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the republicans will control the first 30 minutes and the majority will control the next 30 minutes. the remaining time until 11:00 will be equally diswieded and controlled between the leaders or their designees. at 11:00, the senate will proceed to vote on passage of the two-week continuing resolution. following that matter, the senate will resume consideration of the america invests act. votes are expected to occur throughout the day. madam president, we've worked for weeks now in moving forward on this funding measure for the country. the democrats have said for weeks now that we're committed to working with all sides to find a middle ground that helps us move forward and move forward a fiscally responsible budget for the rest of the year. yesterday the house acted and soon the senate wil

inouye, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr.following leader remarks there will be a period of morning business until 4:30 today. senators will be allowed to speak up to t-plts each. -- ten minutes each. at 4:30 the senate will proceed to executive session. at 5:30 today the senate will confirm by consent the nomination of sue myerscough, a judge for the central district of illinois. there will then be a series of up to three roll call votes, first on the confirmation of anthony j. battaglia of california to be united states district judge for the southern district of california; confirmation of the nomination of james shadid to be judge for the southern district of judge and a motion to invoke cloture on s. 23, the america invents act. filing deadline for amendments to s. 23 is 5:00 p.m. today. on friday cloture was filed on motion to proceed on h.r. 1. i hope to reach agreement to vote on h.r. 1 and the democratic alternative introduced by senator inouye by friday. there will be a vote on some of these matters tomorrow. in add

appropriations -- one of the great men of this senate, senator inouye, we've already worked to reduce the appropriations in the senate to -- by $41 billion. now, mr. president, that's not beanbag. that is really meat and potatoes. so we feel we've already given it the option. but, my god, enough is enough. let me give you just top 10 reasons why h.r. 1 from the house is bad for women and children examine why we're ready to negotiate so that we don't have a shutdown of the government and we can have a final settlement on the budget for 2011. let just go through them. one, we defund the entire health care reform law. and i'm going to outline why that is bad for saving lives and why it's bad for saving money. it also eliminates title 10 family planning money. it jeopardizes breast cancer cervical screening for more than 5 million low-income women. they even went after head start. well, my god, even little kids in head start have to take it on the chin. it's going to cause 218,000 children to be kicked off of it. but we go farther. for the group that says it's pro-family, family values, we've got to defend life, they slash the nutrition programs for

mr. that is on its way out as well. temperatures are in the 40s and 50s. we'll end up in the 60s. have a great day. we'll check the drive with mike inouye told you about the pothole across the golden gate bridge. the person who called it in said they could see the water below the bridge. don't worry, you won't fall through. they will do pothole repair that could cause slowing for the next few minutes. there's 880 starting to build the volume to the jam-up past the coliseum. >>> more local news in a half hour. the "today" show is back in less than two minutes. cc1:cc1: cc1: >>> 7:30 now on a monday morning, the 7th of march, 2011. back to work day for us, but not for these lucky people kicking off a day of sight-seeing in new york city with a stop in rockefeller plaza. >> must be spring break. that's a lot of people for a morning after such a rainy night. >> terrible weather here overnight. luckily cleared off for these people here. we're happy about that. inside the studio i'm matt lauer alongside ann curry. meredith is taking the day off. coming up, charlie sheen is not slowing down. he's hosted another web show overnight. he's taking

inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: madam president? i mean, mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks, mr. president, the will proceed to 00 period of morning business with senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. as a reminder, cloture was filed on s. 23, the america invents act. filing deadline for first-degree amendments is 1:00 p.m. friday, march 4. there will be no roll call votes today. we should expect at least three roll call votes at 5:30 on monday, march 7. the first two votes will be on the confirmation of judges, and the third vote will be on the motion to invoke cloture on s. 23, the patent bill. would the chair announce morning business. the presiding officer: under the previous order, leadership time is reserved. the senate will be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. mr. reid: mr. president, i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: mr. mcco