mr. leahy: and, mr.n important effort to help the american economic recovery and preserve american jobs. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: we have rogue web sites, mr. president, that are primarily based overseas. they're stealing american property. they're harming american consumers, they're hurting the american economic recovery, and they're costing american jobs. you know, stealing and counterfeiting are wrong and they're harmful and it's happening every day right under our noses and we lose jobs and we americans lose money as a result. the institute for policy innovation estimates the copyright infringement alone costs more than $50 billion a year, and the sale of counterfeits on-line is estimated to be several times that. the afl-cio estimates that hundreds of thousands of jobs are lost to these forms of theft. hundreds of thousands of jobs that we could have right here in america if it wasn't for this kind of thievery. and it's not just an economic or jobs problem for americans,

mr. leahy: mr. president, i will shortly be offering as an amendment an amendment to the substitute on behalf of myself and senator john cornyn, and i would ask consent in a moment to suggest the absence of a quorum, but upon the -- dissipating the absence of a quorum that i be recognized for up to three minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. is there objection? so ordered. mr. leahy: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. leahy: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: mr. president, i am soon going to offer an amendment to the substitute. i am going to offer it on behalf of myself and senator cornyn. i hear the senator saying that with the public's opinion, that congress at a -- with congress at a low point, we need to take action to restore public confidence. i think ou