mr. lautenberg: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. lautenberg: i ask unanimous consent that calling of the roll be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lautenberg: i further ask unanimous consent that if the finance committee meets tomorrow at 9:00 ale it b a.m., it be aud to meet tomorrow during the session of the senate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lautenberg: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, -- mr. president, again, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. lautenberg: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that further calling of the rolling dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection nc, the senator from w jersey. mr. lautenberg: mr. president, i changed the order here, and i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak up -- to

mr. lautenberg: mr. president, we've arrived at a moment of truth in the american economy and our standing in the world hangs in the balance result of the republican plan to derail the functioning of our country and bring about the precarious prospect of a major default in our financial condition. democrats have bent over backwards to compromise, and yet the republicans continue to put our country in jeopardy, and the american people and the american economy are determined for a reprieve from this disaster. and well, you know, we just heard comments by our colleague from across the aisle about getting our tax structure in order. reminds me of a condition where there's a fire in a house, and they start arguing about -- people start arguing about the color of the fire engine. what we have here in front of us is an immediate disaster program that could upset the balance of our functioning in our society and put america for the first time in a position of less support from around the world and putting people

mr. lautenberg: mr. president, i further ask that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate, and that any statements relating to the measure be printed at the appropriate place in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lautenberg: thank you, mr. president. and i ask unanimous consent further that i be permitted to speak up to 15 -- for 15 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lautenberg: mr. president, there are so many things here that we can disagree upon, but i want to say thank you to all of my colleagues. 100 of us have joined together in overwhelming numbers to support this historic legislation which creates a national moment of remembrance to commemorate the tragedy of 9/11. mr. president, few events, if any, have done more to change the course of american history as much as the horrifying terrorist attacks on september 11, 2001, nearly ten years ago. it was one o

mr. chairman. >> senator lautenberg. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i ask consent that my full statement -- opening statement be entered into the record. >> no objections. >> mr. pruessing, i want to ask you, how many times has phmsa com2 axon and asked about problems with what the pipeline? >> inspections of our integrity program. they did a very detailed assessment of this particular silvertip line in june of this year. >> werther -- had you been notified of any problems that they saw over? let's talk about it. from 202003 on. >> the last time we did an in-line inspection was in 2009. after the inspection was completed, phmsa the records in the identified four or five things that they wanted us to respond to. they were not particularly integrity issues on the pipeline, but there were items they identify if we needed to improve. that included removing vegetation near a portion of the pipeline, adding some paint on a portion on the ground, doing some additional walking patrols on the pipeline and not just aerial patrols actually correct been packing l

mr. lautenberg: up to 15 minutes, thank you. mr. president, i think it's obvious to the world around us that the atmosphere here is hardly one of comforter satisfaction. the public doesn't see the agony of the debate that's taking place as we watch how dysfunctional the discussion about the national debt has been here. we're -- we feel the threat to america's world financial leadership that's lurking around here and it's not very satisfying to those people whose homes are close to foreclosure or the people who need to be assured that health care is going to be there for them, or that their child can learn, can get an education without mortgaging their future or even can't even get a mortgage on that. so we look around and we watch and we listen and we see that the republicans in the house and the republicans in the senate are in search for political gain, regardless of the cost to our society and our nation. and i don't make this statement casually, but after months of watching and listening to the targeted goal of politics over the

frank lautenberg believes news corporation violated federal law bribes foreign countries for information. would you want to hold hearings for mr. murdoch or his executive? >> certainly that would be a serious consideration. i'm waiting now for a return from the justice department. >> reporter: in canvassing capitol hill, we've learned of growing sentiment for congress to delve into the activities of rupert murdoch and his journalists. most of those calls are from democrats. murdoch is a big banger of republicans. if more momentum build into probes in the united states or even congressional hearings, there are cautionary tales for lawmakers. reports that the tabloids sometimes turn the tables on those who investigate them. most of those accounts date well to well before this scandal blew up in the media in recent weeks. the watchdog group tells us when british parliamentarians looks into the press a couple years ago he heard of allegations she were discouraged from repeatedly inviting rebekah brooks, one of the top execs, to testify. >> the allegation was, they were told, members of that select committee were told, do not invit

durbin, murray inouye, coons whitehouse boxer casey sanders lautenberg brown of ohio, reed of rhode island, feinstein merkley cardin, levin, schumer. mr. reid: mr. president i now move to proceed to calendar number 91, h.r. 2055. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to proceed. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 91, h.r. 2055 an act making appropriations for military construction, the department of veterans affairs and so forth and for other purposes. mr. reid: i have a cloture motion at the desk, mr. president. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion. we, the under undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the motion to proceed to calendar number 91, h.r. 2055 an act making appropriations for military construction the department of veterans affairs and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2012, and for other purposes. signed by 18 senators as follows. mr. reid: mr. president, i would ask unanimous consent that the reading of

senator frank lautenberg also believes news corporation violated federal law against bribing officials in foreign countries for information. >> would you want to hold hearings and call mr murdoch or his executives? >> certainly that would be a serious consideration. awaiting now a return from the justice department. >> in canvassing capitol hill, with eeve learned of growing sentiment for congress to delve into the activities of rupert murdoch and his journal iss. most of those calls are from democrats. murdoch is a big backer of republicans. if more momentum builds for probes into possible hacking in the united states or even congressional hearings, there are cautionary tales for lawmakers, reports that tabloids sometimes turntables for those who investigate them. most of those accounts date back to well before the scandal blew back in the media in recent weeks. media standards trust tells us when british parliamentarians look into the tabloid press a couple of years ago, he heard allegations that they were discouraged from repeatedly inviting rebecca brooks, one of murdoch's top execs to receive. >> the allegation was they were told, members were told do not invite h

of nevada, durbin, schumer, lautenberg, franken, rockefeller, reed of rhode island, whitehouse, brown of ohio, sanders, kerry, merkley, stabenow, inouye, leahy and cardin. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: i withdraw my motion to proceed to s. 123. the presiding officer: the motion is withdrawn. mr. reid: i move to proceed to s.j. res. 20. the presiding officer: the motion is before the senate. mr. reid: i ask consent that the time until 5:00 p.m. be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees, that any time spent in quorum call be equally divided, and there is already an order in effect that republicans will be limited to 10 minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. a senator: mr. president. rhett the -- the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. wyden: mr. president, international trade is one of the best ways to create good-paying jobs for our people. as long as our workers and our companies are tre