mr. leahy: snp? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: madam president, i understand the senator from california needs some time. i will yield her five minutes beginning now. mrs. feinstein: thank you very much, mr. chairman and madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. feinstein: i rise to speak in support of jacqueline nguyen to be a federal district court of california and i'd like to urge her confirmation. judge nguyen is a successful judge with a proven track record. she will be the first vietnamese american on the federal bench. her nomination comes about this way: i have had for a long time a bipartisan judicial selection committee in california to advise me in recommending judicial nominees to the president. the committee gave judge nguyen its unanimous recommendation and then i recommended her to the president for his nomination to the federal district court. i believe she's going to be an excellent federal district court judge in th

mr leahy, aye. mr levin ,aye. mr. lieberman,aye. mrs. lincoln,aye. mr. lugar,no. mr. mccabe,no.mrs. castle,aye. mr. mcconnell,no mr. menendez,aye. mr. merkley, aye. ms. mikulskiaye. mr merkowski, no. mrs. mary,aye. mr. nelson of nebraska,aye. mr. nelson of florida,aye. mr. pryor,aye. mr. reed of rhode island,aye. mr. reid of nevada, [laughter] mr. reid of nevada,aye. [laughter] mr rich, no. mr. roberts,no. mr. rockefeller,aye. mr. sanders, mr. schumer,aye. mr. sessions, mrs. shaheen, aye. mr. shelby, ms. snowe,no. mr. spector,aye. mr stabinow, aye. mr. tester,aye. mr thune, no. mr udall of colorado,aye. mr. udall of new mexico,aye. mr.vitter, no. mr.voinivich, no. mr. warner,aye. mr. webb,aye. mr. white house,aye. mr. wicker,no. mr. whiden, aye. mr. bennett of utah, no. this is a hutchinson,no. mr. cochran,no. mr. bennett of colorado,aye. [no audio] mr. sessions,no. [no audio] [no audio] [no audio] [applause] mr. sanders -- [laughter] >>yes? >> mr. sanders, aye. mr. shelby -- no. [no audio] [no audio] >> and the other senators wishing to go toward change their vote? the amendmen

mr. leahy: mr. president, division f of the omnibus provides funding for the state department foreign operations and related programs. provides $48.8 billion discretionary funding, funding, $3.3 billion decrease from the president's budget request. $1.8 billion below the fiscal year level. the -- one of the reasons why the president has said that he would fund these programs on budget, not through supplemental gimmicks, and i agree with him on that. now, some senators made speeches about earmarks even though, of course, a lot of the earmarks have been requested by some who make the same speeches against them. i just want you to know that my budget, my appropriation, the state foreign operations conference, does not contain any earmarks, as defined by the appropriations committee. we fund many programs that are priorities for both democrats and republicans alike, including assistance for countries like afghanistan, pakistan, and iraq, long-standing allies like egypt, jordan der, -- jordan, israel, an

mr. leahy: it's not going to affect my travel plans, because i long ago decided that we would be stuck here -- mr. reid: if i could say to my friend, quit while you're ahead. mr. leahy: while you have your agreement on this, is there any possibility knowing that those traveling in the midwest are going to face horrendous problems, we'd have that vote this evening? it will affect a lot of senators, republicans and democrat alike, who have to fly through the midwest to get where they're going. the presiding officer: regular order has been asked for. there are now two minutes equally divided prior to a vote on the motion to table the appeal of the ruling of the chair. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, upon passage of the honest leadership -- mr. baucus: mr. president, the senate is not in order. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, upon passage of the honest leadershi

mr. leahy: madam president, have the yeas and nays been requested on this nomination? the presiding officer: they have not. mr. leahy: i request the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the question is on the nomination of jacqueline nguyen to be united states district judge. the clerk will call the roll. vote: test test test test test vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, the ayes are 97, the nays are zero. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table. the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action, and the senate will resume legislative session. under the previous order, the senate will stand in recess until 2:15 p.m. it also costs more than $200 billion less than the house bill. we expect debate and votes on amendments throughout the week as health care dominates the floor proceedings this month. follow live senate coverage as members debat

mr. president, i rise today to discuss health care fraud. earlier this month i introduced along with senators leahy, specter, kohl, schumer and klobuchar an amendment that would protect our increased national investment in the health of americans by improving fraud enforcement. everyone believes in fraud enforcement, and this amendment does that. it's no secret that fraud represents one of the fastest-growing and most costly forms of crime in america today. in no small part our current economic crisis can be linked to financial fraud starting with unchecked mortgage fraud generated by loan originators, through securities fraud that hastened the eventual market crash and maximized its impact on main street and average american investors. in response, this body passed the fraud enforcement recovery act,fera which directed critical tools to antifraud efforts. fear was passed in response to an unprecedented financial crisis, but americans should expect congress to do more than simply react to crises after their most destructive impacts have been felt. we owe it to our constituents to identify and addre

mr. franken: madam president, i rise today to speak in support of amendment number 3795 -- 2795, which would repeal the antitrust exemption for health insurance, medical malpractice insurance. i want to thank my colleague, senator leahy, for championing this legislation, which is crucial to health reform and working families around the country who pay too much for health insurance premiums. we are on the verge of expanding health insurance to 31 million more americans, an accomplishment that would be truly historic. but as hardened as i am about the relief this will bring to families, i'm deeply concerned that this expansion could be a windfall for insurance companies if we don't include additional checks and balances. we should be putting significant federal funds towards health insurance, but that money should go towards people afford health insurance, not towards lining the pockets of insurance companies and their c.e.o.'s. as a country we have long understood pot found importance of economic -- understood the profound importance of economic competition. it leads to entrepreneurship, creativity and productivity to business. it leads to lower prices an higher quality for consumers. competition is why america has cr

leahy in your leadership on this issue. i want to thank each of our witnesses, ms. smith for your courage and your strength and mr. redding and ms. stoiloff for your expertise and professionalism and ms. howley, for your advocacy. last month i introduced a bill joined my colleague, senator grassley and senator hatch and senator feinstein that would create financial incentives for jurisdiction to process the rape kit backlogs and to make sure that processing then continues to remain prompt. the truth is, i think that this is one of the issues -- those issues in congress where we all can agree on the big picture. rape is a heinous crime and we need to provide our law enforcement agencies with everything they need to prevent it. and bring perpetrator it is to justice. i just want to ask a few questions on this front. mr. redding, in your testimony you need there's a need for improved infrastructure and lab capabilities so that dna evidence can be processed as quickly as possible. the national institute of justice study revealed that 6 out of 10 police departments surveyed lacked computerized evidence tracking systems

leahy in your leadership on this issue. i want to thank each of our gÑwitnesses for your courage and strength and mr.and ms stoiloff for your expertise and professionalism. last month, i introduced a bill joined by my colleague, senator grassley, senator hatch, that would create financial incentives for jurisdiction to process the rate kit backlog to make sure that processing them continues to remain prompt. the truth[sm is,.t thisç, is e issues in congress where we all can agree on the big picture. rape as a heinous crime and we need to provide our law enforcement agencies with everything they need to prevent justice. i want to estimate few questions mr. redding,l;3dnsph,d there as the need for improved infrastructure so dna evidence can be processed as quickly as possible. the national institute of justice study revealed that six out of 10 police departments lacked computerized evidence tracking systems. they rely on paper tracking systems. it is no surprise that when some police department's review their inventories, they discover stores of untested kits. angeles. m r reading and ms stoiloff,#ye

inouye, reid of nevada, baucus, leahy, whitehouse, levin, murray, begich, cantwell, pryor, reed of rhode island, kaufman, franken, harkin, webb, kirk, and bennet of colorado. mr reid: madam president, i move to concur on the house amendment with an amendment which is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, moves to concur in the house amendment to the senate amendment with amendment number 3248. at the end of the amendment, insert the following. mr. reid: i ask further reading of the amendment be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. is there a sufficient second? there is. mr. reid: i have an amendment at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, proposes an amendment numbered 3252 to amendment numbered 3248. mr. reid: madam president, i have a motion to refer with instructions which are at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, moves to refer h.r. 332

nevada, dodd, udall of colorado, leahy, akaka, durbin, brown, shaheen, kerry, reed of rhode island, harkin, whitehouse, gillibrand, merkley, lieberman, boxer, and stabenow. mr. reid: i now withdraw that motion. the presiding officer: motion is withdrawn. mr. reid: i now move to recess until 10:01 a.m. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, parliamentary inquiry. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: before we proceed to the vote, i'd just like to make a parliamentary inquiry. i believe it is the case that a simple motion to recess or adjourn is not amendable. is that correct? the presiding officer: the republican leader is correct. mr. mcconnell: further inquiry, i also believe that a motion to recess or adjourning to a time certain is amendable with time changes. the presiding officer: the republican leader is correct. mr. mcconnell: i'll not offer an amendment to change the time to convene until later tomorrow, but just so everybody will know with regard to their own personal schedules, you know, this vote could occur at any time tomorrow t wouldn't have to be at 1:00 a.m. the majority leader has the discretion to do that. we're, of course,