isakson. the presiding officer: without objection. -- i ask we begin a -- mr. reid: i ask we begin a quorum call. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. moran: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. moran mr. president on -- mr. moran: on friday of last week the u.s. department of labor issued a dismal report on our economy. not only did our employment rate rise to 9.1%, but the number of americans looking for work increased to 14 million and those who have been jobless for six months climbed. it's clear that the current economic policies are not working in our favor and in fact i suggest they are working against us, creating an environment of uncertainty and hampering job growth in america. when a message coming from washington d.c. is more taxes more regulation and more intrusion in the free-market system, it's no wonder that businesses are not hiring additional workers. americans are looking for leadership to get our econo

mr. isakson: thank you, mr. president. i come to the floor to talk about the number-one issue in the united states of america, and that's jobs. also to talk about an admonition i got from my father. he said, always judge a man by his actions, not his words. and i intend to apply that to you as well, him talking to meevment i think all of us should be judged by our actions and not just our words. and i'm very disappointmented in what this administration is doing right now. on the other hand z on the one hand talking about jobs being the most important thing america needs yet every single action is a job killer. let me give you an example. just recently the most recent nominee to be the new commerce secretary of the united states of america is a former director of the boeing aircraft corporation. an aircraft corporation that is now under a suit from the interim general counsel of the national labor relations board to stop them from opening a new plant that will employ 1,000 people in the state of south carolina, alleging the

mr. isakson: thank you very much, mr. president. i rise for a moment during this period of morning business to talk about wharve is talking about, that's the crisis with our debt ceiling, the approaching the deadline that we have, and what we should do. last night, as i thought about what i would say this morning, i thought back to that horrible month of september and october of 2008 when the greatest financial crisis since the great depression hit the united states of america. i was a member of the senate, and i was here the night the tarp vote came before us to try and salvage and save the financial system of the united states. probably the toughest vote i ever toofnlgt as time has proven, it was the right vote to take because we did stablize the financial system of but at that time we were reacting to a crisis that we were not in control of. today we've crisis that we're totally in control of. it is ironic to me that 35 days before the deadline of august 2, we're fiddling around in the senate arguing with each other when we shoul

mr. isakson: mr. president, i rise for a moment and i'll be joined by my colleague, the senior senator from georgia to pay tribute to a great american poo passed this earth 30 years ago today. his name was richard brevard us are sell jr. he was a great georgian, with an interesting past. he was elected to the state legislature in the 1920's and rose to be speaker of the house of representatives? the state of georgia. he then was governor of the state of georgia. during that time he served as governor the same time another governor was serving in new york, frankli franklin delano r. they became good friends and president row vellet even became a constituent of senator russell's because georgia was a place that president roosevelt would come to heal. it was that relationship that brought russell to be one of the first to endorse franklin roosevelt for president of the united states. richard russell served with roosevelt, harry truman, eight years side by side with harry true man, he served under preside

mr. isakson. definitely kefir deal. senator udall is not here. senator to me. >> thank you, mr. chairman for conduct in this hearing today. mr. bryson and mr. garcia come out to thank you for your willingness to serve in this important post. i too had a chance to meet with mr. bryson and enjoyed our conversation very much. let me suggest mr. chairman essential to the mission of the commerce department come it seems to me is the vitally important job of encouraging economic growth and job creation. in my view, there are a number of ways they commerce secretary can help advance that, to obama that you touch on briefly her first to be a champion of the free enterprise system and to recognize for it to really flourish in drive and create the kind of jobs our economy is capable of creating, the system needs to be sensibly the lightly regulated in a fashion in which the cost of the regulations don't outweigh benefits of those regulations. the second thing i would certainly hope to see in a commerce secretary would be a champion of trade. i think the united states could and should be t

mr. merkley: i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. the clerk: enzi, risch, inhof inhofe -- the clerk: risch; inhofe, corker, enzi, isakson, barrasso, alexander, cornyn, sessions, brown of massachusetts. mr. coburn: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma has the floor. mr. coburn: i ask the -- my colleague, my senior senator from oklahoma, highway don't think is on the floor -- who i don't think is on the floor right now to allow senator brown to bring up an amendment. i would yield to him at this time. mr. brown: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts is recognized. mr. brown: thank you, madam president. i thank the gentleman that spoke before me. i ask unanimous consent that the pending amendments be set aside in order to call up amendment number 405. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from massachusetts, mr. brown, proposes an amendment numbered 405, at the end add the following: in general, the amendment. mr. brown: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. mr. brown:

mr. isakson: mr. president, last night, between 6:00 and 7:00, i did a telephone town hall meeting back to georgia. we had a little over 3,000 people on the call and i was able to handle 16 questions. as i listened to the answers that i was giving to the questions, i was struck by what a real problem we have in washington. washington is making things worse. georgians are frightened for their jobs, the value of their home, the education of their children. they are uncertain about everything, and as you give them answers about what's happening in washington, you realize washington is making it worse, and i want to give a couple of examples based on my experience. first of all, let's talk about legislation for a second. you know, we have high unemployment, 9.1%, high unemployment. we have people without jobs or underemployed. we have a law in the united states called the work force investment act. i'm on the subcommittee that overseas it in the education committee. we have basically had an agreement on t