mr. leahy: i wonder when we talk about, mr.president, when we talk about the american people want, i'm sure the majority leader -- and i'd ask, and this is a question -- where there is 160 million americans who are in judicial districts where there are vacancies because we have not, even though they have gone through the senate judiciary committee, the majority leader's been blocked from bringing them up for a vote. 160 million americans who are denied a chance for justice, denied a chance to go to court. so i ask the leader: was that also one of the considerations he had, moving forward on these judges? mr. reid: mr. president, i say to the chairman of the judiciary committee, i mentioned this yesterday at some length, and i believe the presiding officer was here when i did that. we -- more than half of the people in america today are living in areas where there has been declared a judicial emergency. nevada is one of them. we have people who are these judges who are overwhelmed with work. and i said yesterday i don't want the

mr. leahy: madam president, i'd ask consent that the time be divided equally but that the -- am i correct we did the full 60 minutes, we would start the first vote at 5:35? the presiding officer: that is correct. mr. leahy: that we divide the time equally between now and 5:30 and the vote be at 5:30. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. leahy: thank you. today the senate will finally vote on the nomination of miranda du to fill a vacancy in the district of nevada and susie morgan to fill a vacancy in the eastern district of louisiana. i would note that both have the bipartisan support of their home state senators, and they were reported by the judiciary committee over four months ago. i mention that because usually these are the kind of nominations in the past under both democratic and republican presidents would go through on a voice vote in a matter of days after being reported out. especially for judicial vacancies. somehow this president seems to be held to a different

mr. leahy: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: when i hear concerns that the republican delays are all the fault of president obama, it sort of makes me think of some of the dialogue from the movie "casablanca." i should tell you there are 83 vacancies, sure. several of them because the president is trying to work with home state senators including 24 vacancies involving a republican. home-state senator. who hasn't agreed to anybody. and there are seven nominations on which the senate judiciary committee cannot proceed because republican senators haven't returned blue slips indicating their support. we had somebody else was about to have a hearing, two republican senators had returned blue slips, they withdraw -- withdrew them, we had to take that name off. so we try to protect republicans' rights in the committee and certainly we are at fault because they're blocking people who have gone through unanimously. well, none of these complaints would give any excuse for failure to move on nominees that went through every single r

mr. schuelke, please go ahead, sir. >> thank you, sir. chairman leahy, senator grassley, senator feinstein is, senator cornyn, good morning. i appear this morning at your invitation to address whatever questions you might have concerning our report to judge sullivan on the subject of our investigation conducted pursuant to judge sullivan's order of april 7, 2009. we were ordered to investigate and to prosecute such criminal contempt proceedings as may be appropriate against william welch, brenda morris, nicholas marsh, edward sullivan, joseph bow tinny and james goeke, the department of justice attorneys responsible for the prosecution of united states versus senator theodore f. stevens. in the united states district court for the district of columbia. i come before you this morning not as an advocate for any position. but rather to respond to your questions. i have submitted to the committee a copy of our report which as senator leahy has indicated was filed on the public docket in the u.s. district court on march 15th. i should like to note that i was

mr. chairman. >> thank you. senator leahy. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you, mr. allison for being here. i certainly agree that an audit of this program is warranted wholeheartedly. the real question for me is whether the government should even be playing a venture capitalists with taxpayer money in the first place, whether in a specific sector of the energy industry or elsewhere. i want to make clear that my concerns over the administration of the loan guarantee program should not be mistaken for a tacit approval of the program as a whole. when companies like so indra and bake in our way stood and it is clear that the government in my opinion truly has no business being in the investment business. the apparent basis for the program, as i understand it is that nurtures certain types of investments that are so inherently risky, that only the government can invest in them, only the government will invest in them. today, it is time understand what you're saying correct way, to be somewhat downplayed the risk in these investments, it seems a little bit contradictory t

mr. michael patrick leahy joins us live. >> great to be with you. >> let's look at the tea party myths outow and you can tell me whether or not they're true. you're out of business and you have lost all political party. >> not true. instead of having rallies, we're organizing to get out the vote and i have good news for everybody out there. we are going to, if need be, drag the republican nomination to victory across the finish line. >> well, and that brings up the second point and that's that tea party members won't vote for mitt romney. are you telling me that if mitt romney is the nominee, you'll support him? >> you know, the polls show that he pretty much has the same amount of support as santorum and gingrich, whoever the nominee is, the tea party will support the most conservative candidate. >> what about the suggestion that your view of government spending is out of the mainstream? >> you know, within weeks of the obama administration, we saw a pattern of financially reckless extremism. that really showed little respect for the constitution. the tea party is mainstream and we respec

leahy, durbin, lieberman, schumer. cloture motion, we the undersigned senators in accordance -- provided mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i have filed 17 cloture motions. the clerk has read the first one. there are 16 others. i would ask the chair if it would be in order for a unanimous consent request that the -- following the 16 nominations that were not yet read into the record, it would appear as if the same action occurred on those procedurally as the first one that was read. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. reid: i now ask the senate resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: quorum call: quorum call: quorum call: mr. durbin: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i ask consent the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: and consent to speak in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. m

mr. schuelke. >> good morning. >> for your work in this area put your both senator leahy and i have served on the appropriations committee with senator stevens. senator leahy far longer than i but i for over 20 or so in the course of so doing, you learn a little bit about a person that sits on that committee. so it is with kind of particular shock that we view what happens to him made all the more worse by his premature demise obviously in the fact that he never knew the result of your report, which is a great tragedy. but, as i understand the department policies regarding assistant united states attorneys, a doj attorney engages in professional misconduct when he or she, and this is a quote, intentionally violates our acts and reckless disregard of an obligation or standard imposed by law, applicable rule of professional conduct or department regulation or policy. do you make that finding in your report? >> i do not address the disciplinary rule nor do i address the standards the department of justice applies. what i did conclude is that in several instances, to of the surviving executor's engaged in intentional miscond

mr. senator murray, senator boxer, also intorg the bill are senator collins and snowe and senator mccaskill, stabenow and gillibrand. the bill is led by senator leahy and senator crapo so we're here to pledge our support for this bill and ask our colleagues to move forward for this bill. the violence against women was a landmark bill when it first became law in 1984. back then it started a sea change in it is a tiewdz and sent a strong message to the country saying that sexual assault and domestic violence are serious offenses that will not be tolerated. we heard that message loud and clear in my state, and i'm proud to say that our state has always had a strong tradition of standing up against these crimes. in fact, no conversation in our state about domestic abuse would be complete without mentioning former senator paul wellstone and his wife sheila, who we miss dearly. the wellstones put so much time and energy into bringing these issues out of the shadows into taking a subject that many people considered at the time a family matter and saying, you know, what? domestic violence isn't just something we can sweep under a rug. it's a crime, it hurt

mr. senator murray, senator boxer, also intorg the bill are senator collins and snowe and senator mccaskill, stabenow and gillibrand. the bill is led by senator leahy and senator crapo so we're here to pledge our support for this bill and ask our colleagues to move forward for this bill. the violence against women was a landmark bill when it first became law in 1984. back then it started a sea change in it is a tiewdz and sent a strong message to the country saying that sexual assault and domestic violence are serious offenses that will not be tolerated. we heard that message loud and clear in my state, and i'm proud to say that our state has always had a strong tradition of standing up against these crimes. in fact, no conversation in our state about domestic abuse would be complete without mentioning former senator paul wellstone and his wife sheila, who we miss dearly. the wellstones put so much time and energy into bringing these issues out of the shadows into taking a subject that many people considered at the time a family matter and saying, you know, what? domestic violence isn't just something we can sweep under a rug. it's a crime, it hurt

mr. senator murray, senator boxer, also intorg the bill are senator collins and snowe and senator mccaskill, stabenow and gillibrand. the bill is led by senator leahyand senator crapo so we're here to pledge our support for this bill and ask our colleagues to move forward for this bill. the violence against women was a landmark bill when it first became law in 1984. back then it started a sea change in it is a tiewdz and sent a strong message to the country saying that sexual assault and domestic violence are serious offenses that will not be tolerated. we heard that message loud and clear in my state, and i'm proud to say that our state has always had a strong tradition of standing up against these crimes. in fact, no conversation in our state about domestic abuse would be complete without mentioning former senator paul wellstone and his wife sheila, who we miss dearly. the wellstones put so much time and energy into bringing these issues out of the shadows into taking a subject that many people considered at the time a family matter and saying, you know, what? domestic violence isn't just something we can sweep under a rug. it's a crime, it hurts

included the leahy amendment, if it included the grassley amendment, it would be the most sweeping ethics reform in the last five years. i yield the floor and reserve the balance of my time. mr. grassley: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: mr. reed: mr. president, i would ask to dispense with the calling of the quorum. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reed: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, this is a critical moment. the senate is on the verge of adopting legislation that could cost the american people dearly in the future. the house bill with respect to capital formation, which is labeled a jobs bill but goes more to fundamentally chapping o fundamentally change the securities laws, is a regulatory race to the bottom. there has not been a normal committee process in terms of weighing this legislation. these are complicated details. the interaction of the securities laws and many different securities laws have not been sorted out, analyzed. as a result, we are rushing to justice -- or rushing to conclusion. hasty deregulation has repeatedly been the source of financ

mr. leahy: i wonder when we talk about, mr. president, when we talk about the american people want, i'm sure the majority leader -- and i'd ask, and this is a question -- where there is 160 million americans who are in judicial districts where there are vacancies because we have not, even though they have gone through the senate judiciary committee, the majority leader's been blocked from bringing them up for a vote. 160 million americans who are denied a chance for justice, denied a chance to go to court. so i ask the leader: was that also one of the considerations he had, moving forward on these judges? mr. reid: mr. president, i say to the chairman of the judiciary committee, i mentioned this yesterday at some length, and i believe the presiding officer was here when i did that. we -- more than half of the people in america today are living in areas where there has been declared a judicial emergency. nevada is one of them. we have people who are these judges who are overwhelmed with work. and i said yesterday i don't want th

mr. leahy: could we have order, madam president. the presiding officer: order in the senate. the clerk: ronnie abrams of new york to be united states district judge for the southern district of new york. rudolph contreras of virginia to be united states district judge for the district of columbia. the presiding officer: under the previous order, there will be two minutes of debate equally divided in the usual form. the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: madam president, i ask consent and i would note this as in morning business that the bipartisan violence against women act reauthorization now has 61 cosponsors, and i thank senator crapo for his leadership and the senators on both parties who came to the floor last week. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: i thank those senators, both republican and democratic senators who came to the floor last week to speak about the importance of reauthorizing the violence against women act. i ask my full st

mr. leahy: mr. president, i was simply going to say i have had some very friendly conversations with senator reid and senator mcconnell during the past couple of days, and having served with both of them for a long time, i know that when an agreement is made, it is an agreement that we will stick to, and i -- i'm aware of the nature of the agreement. i just want to compliment both the democratic leader and the republican leader for their help in moving forward. mrs. boxer: may i be recognized for 25, 30 seconds now before the vote to simply thank -- the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: thank both leaders for their kind remarks. really, i have to say that senator inhofe and i and our staffs really became close family as we worked through this, and i -- i am so moved at the way we were able to come together, all of us, and even those on the other side and on this side who had amendments that were tough, it was difficult but we got through it. i urge a resounding aye vote. i know you'r

mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent that the leahy-grassley substitute amendment at the desk be agreed to, the bill as amended be read a third time and the senate proceed to vote on the passage of the bill as amended. the presiding officer: is there further debate? if not, all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the bill as amended is passed. mr. durbin: i ask sent the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate and nay statements related to the bill be -- any statements related to the bill be placed in the appropriate place in the reported as if read. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to senate resolution 389, submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate res. 389, designating the first week of april 2012 as national asbestos awareness week. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be a