mr. leahy: will the senator yield? mr. nelson: of course i yield 0 to the distinguished chairman of the judiciary committee. mr. leahy: i say to my dear friend, the senior senator from florida, i share his frustration. we put these judges through the senate judiciary committee, often with the unanimous vote, and then they wait here months and months, waiting to get a vote on the floor. and as the distinguished senator from florida voted then that vote is virtually unanimous. i am very afraid if this continues, this effort that if somebody is nominated by president obama we must block them even if it's somebody we support, that view is one, totally unfair to the president, it's completely unfair to the country, but it's devastating to the judiciary because good men and women are not going to be willing to take nominations or appointments to be a federal judge if they think they're going to wait month after month after month or even a year before they go on the bench. so i appreciate the distinguished senior senator from flo

mr. leahy: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. president, what is the parliament situation? the presiding officer: the nomination of sri srinivasan to the d.c. circuit court. mr. leahy: thank you. this is the -- i'm glad to hear what my friend from utah says about voting for this nominee because i think this is the second time this year the majority leader had to file cloture on one of president obama's well-qualified nominees to the d.c. circuit. sri srinivasan is not a nominee that will require cloture and i am glad he is not going to need to now that cooler heads prevail, but neither was kaitlyn halligan. kaitlyn halligan, sri srinivasan has had an exemplary legal career. he has the support of legal specialists across the spectrum. the judiciary committee reported him unanimously by an 18-0 vote. that means every single republican on the committee had the chance to view the nominee's record, ask him questions to support it, but regrettably even after the unwarranted filibuster of caitlin halligan, even after the delay of srikan

mr. leahy: madam president, all we're saying is if you're going to be getting relief from the federal government, you got -- er office the presiding officer: the senate is not in order. mr. leahy: if you've go to a better way to rebuild their culverts, you can do it that way rather than do th the ones at tt failed before. i hope it will be approved. mr. coburn: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. coburn: as ranking member, we know there are a lot of problems with fema and the stafford grant. but this is an earmark for an improvement before fema has even determined if they're going to give grant money to the state of vermont. we need to overdo a lot of changes with fema and the grants and the starngdz stafford. but this starts a process that sets is precedence that will be terrible and it is nothing right now but an earmark on one area to benefit one state when we need to make improvements in the whole process. i would hope my colleagues would look at the big p

stabenow for mr. leahy proposes an amendment numbered 98. -- 998. ms. stabenow: i would ask that further reading be dispensed with much. the presiding officer: is there objection? hearing none, without objection. ms. stabenow: madam president, we have made great progress today. i want to thank colleagues for their work today in bringing forth amendments, and we will continue to work with members as we go forward tomorrow, putting together a number of votes to bring before the body. we are working hard to do everything possible to complete this legislation by the end of the week. i think we're on good track. i would announce that on behalf of the two leaders, there will be no more votes this evening. and i would ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to a period of morning business until 6:30 with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. landrieu: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. ms. landrieu: thank you, madam president. i real a reactor the hard work o

mr. conner. >> chairman leahy, thank you for those comments. ranking member grassley and members of the committee. thank you for the invitation to testify today on agriculture, on america's agriculture's need for immigration reform. as noted in your introduction, i'm chuck conner, president and ceo of the national council of farmer co-ops. but i'm also here as one. founding members of the agriculture workforce coalition or awc. the awc brings together nearly 70 agricultural organizations that represents the diverse needs of agricultural employers across the country. the awc came together because increasingly finding enough workers to pick crops and care for animals has become the number one priority for many of our members across the country in all regions of the country. i dare say for many producers this immigration legislation and this debate before us is more important to the survival of their operations than any other legislation pending before congress. we have all seen reports of crops left to rot in the fields because growers lack suffi

sanders, for himself and mr. leahy, proposes an amendment numbered 889. mr. sanders: mr. president, i ask that the amendment be considered as read. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sanders: mr. president, this amendment is cosponsored by my colleague from vermont, senator leahy. and what it does is it addresses a very serious problem facing the state of vermont, and i think potentially states all over the country. mr. president, as you well know, tropical storm irene impacted some 225 vermont communities with 90 bridges and 963 culverts damaged or destroyed statewide, and in a small state, that is a lot of damage. long before irene, a vermont state legislature enacted extreme standards that prevented flood hazards, damage to fish and wildlife and damage to adjacent property owners. these standards result in resilient infrastructure and are looked to as a model by other states. in other words, what the state legislature did appropriately is pass standards that would do the job, that would protect communities in times of floods and natural disasters. as we all

mr. sanders: it's very, very important to senator leahy and i that that be addressed. thank you. mrs. boxer: we're doing everything in our power. this, i think, shows the american people right on the floor of the senate the way senators have been working with us. and i want to say to my friend, i'm so proud he's on the environment and public works committee and how he's looked after his state. he has got some very important things in this bill. as a matter of fact, his work on the extreme weather title is very important and would allow us to prevent these terrible floods before they start. yeah, we're looking at things like this in every state. we're raoeug to do everything in our -- we're trying to do everything in our power to meet every senator's needs. sometimes it's kind of like that popup game. something pops up over here and it's okay. but then something pops up over here. it's the legislative fix we're trying to get to here. the legislative fix so every state feels comfortable. this is an important bill. there is no other bill that deals with the everglades. there is no other

mr. chairman. i understand with senator leahy is getting out. i know senator hatch on the finance committee has some ideas in this regard, too. all of us believe we want those who are applying for rpi status to pay back taxes. is difficult to discern below the 12,000 for concepts to the reality. we all know book of living in the shadows. we all know part of living in the shadows is not keeping records and we all know many of them were probably paid cash. they probably don't even know how much they might owe in taxes and we do have another goal here. we all realize the system is broken. we realize people did wrong things in the goal is to set this credibility of those in the shadows come out of the shadows and prevent new people come in new ways of legal immigrants coming into this country. i worry i have here is by being as rigid -- i'll say rigid. as rigid as this amendment is, it will delay and prevent many, many, many people coming out of the shadows and will be stuck in the same situation of the 11 million people, maybe four or five people c

leahy, president pro tempore. mr. reid: almost? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks, the senate will be in a period of morning business for an hour. republicans will control the first half. the majority the second half. following that morning business, the senate will resume consideration of s. 954, the farm bill, managed by senator stabenow and senator cochran. we'll continue to work through amendments to the farm bill today. progress was made yesterday, and we need to continue working on the amendments. at 4:00 p.m. today, we'll proceed to the consideration of s. res. 65, regarding iran sanctions. the vote on that resolution will be at 5:00 p.m. today. mr. president, there are three bills at the desk due for a second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the titles of the bill for the second time. the clerk: s. 1003, a about i will to amend the higher education act of 1965, to reset interest rates for new student loans. s. 1004, a bill to permit voluntary economic activities. h.r. 45, an act to repeal the patient protect

mr. president. kennedy and leahy, they did a lot of work together. and senator leahy has done so much in his comet committe commt he's done to refine the proposal. so it's gratifying to see the momentum behind the legislation that will help 11 million undocumented immigrants get right with the law. although neither republicans nor democrats will support each and every proposal and aspect of this legislation, it's reassuring to see the diverse coalition that has formed in support of real reform, commonsense reform, reform that improves our dysfunctional legal immigration system, reform that continues to secure our borders, refor the purpose that requires 11 million undocumented people to pass a criminal background check, pay fines, taxes, start on the path to earn citizenship. you can't do this piecemeal and we can't do it without a pathway to earned citizenship. a thorough and open process under way in the judiciary committee is exemplary of how the senate should work. so far the committee has considered 62 amendments to the original proposal, some f

number 6 in addition to leahy one. >> senator lee -- i appreciate what senator corn anyone -- cornyn said. we have worked closely together on this. senator lee go ahead. >> thank you, mr chairman. a very quick question for you on leahy one. line seven and eight of the amendment makes clear it also prohibited any study from being conducted with regard to fee. s. can you tell me why that is important? >> put that in the -- the obama administration, their budget, had proposed a study to lead to the imposition of a fee. i just don't want to open that door at all. the idea of having a fee -- and i totally disagree with the administration on this -- the idea of having a toll booth in effect on our borders, our nation of all nations, to too this on our northern and southern borders, where we have had such a relationship as senator cornyn just talked about, on the southern border, as i know living an hour's drive from our northern border, i just don't want to open this door or have them waste money on planning for something that, frankly, i feel the majority of republicans and democrats in the congress would oppose. >> mr. chairman? >> senator hatch. >> i agree with you. i th

leahy, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: yesterday afternoon i called home to check, see how things were going, to visit with my wife a little bit, and she said, you can't imagine what i'm watching on tv. she said, it's hard to watch. she was talking about the terrible storm that had hit oklahoma, the devastation, the death, the injuries she tried to explain to me was hard to relate, even though she was watching it on tv. homes destroyed, schools destroyed, even elementary schools destroyed. i think what she did was described what all americans felt. our hearts go out to the families whose loved ones were lost. those injured are missing in the devastating tornadoes in oklahoma. we feel so sad for them. our thought are with those who are affected by this tragedy, and so many people have been affected. families are still searching for their family members, their children. i recognize and commend the heroic efforts of the first responders who rushed to the scene and have been working tirelessly to help those injured.

leahy, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks, the senate will be in a period of morning business until 10:30. the republicans will control the first half and the majority the feignal half. following morning business, the senate will resume consideration of the water resources development act. there will be up to seven roll call votes to complete action on the bill and we're going to start the voting at about 10:30 this morning. mr. president, there's a lot going on here, committees meeting, but i want to alert all senators, my democrats and the republicans, we have a lot of votes to do, and we're not going to wait around while someone strolls in. we're going to first vote -- i direct this question to the chair: are the final six votes ten-minute votes? so the first vote will be the regular 15-minute vote. after that it is 10 minutes. i am alerting everyone that we're going 0 close the votes as quickly as we can, so we can finish this. the republicans have an important meeting beginning by 1:00

senator leahy, go ahead. >> thank you, mr. chairman.update to call it the lee amendment number four. >> amendment number four. i should note. people have asked to schedule. after that one of the senator grassley amendment number one, which i believe is going to be accepted on voice for, although this can crave to be surprised. that is a conservative estimate. on the one of senator grassley number 24 and then we will break for lunch. >> thank you, mr. chairman. we have not number four would accomplish two simple eggs. first it would require a simple majority vote to approve defense and border security plans and strategies before any rpi applications may be processed. second, you would require congressional approval for certification of completion before any could be adjusted to lpr status. this is a very simple man. the reason i proposed this and then it is because many of the circus or in the order security and fencing triggers in this bill vast too much discretion in the secretary of homeland security. some have suggested there is no f

leahy, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i'm going to have a few things to say, as will senator mcconnell, but now i would yield to my friend from delaware, the junior senator from delaware, and i would ask unanimous consent that when senator mcconnell and i finish our remarks that he be recognize trecognized to speak for up to six, seven -- seven minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. coons: thank you, senator reid. thank you for the opportunity to recognize and celebrate this ths morning's chaplain. rabbi michael beals has served our community in wilmington, delaware, our country with the strength you heard this morning in this morning's prayer. he is joined by his wife, a caring veterinarian, and his daughter and many other family and friends. he has a wonderful education having studied at the american university, the university of california at berkeley. in addition to his remarkable education, he is someone who is profoundly grounded in the calling, in the challenge of rebuild being. as you hea

leahy, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader.mr. reid: i would yield to the senator from massachusetts, senator warren. ms. warren: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. ms. warren: thank you, mr. president. thank you, mr. leader. and a warm thank you to the reverend miniard culpepper. your words of faith and community are greatly appreciated here today. for a long time now reverend culpepper has been praying over me. last winter before i was sworn into office reverend culpepper held a special sunday prayer service for me in his home church, pleasant hill baptist in dorchester. that december evening the pews were packed. at the conclusion of the service, the ministers circled around me, wrapped their arms together and pray to god to give me the strength to work for the poor and powerless among us. i feel blessed to have received their prayers, and i've tried my best to keep them in my heart, in my work here. but i'm just one of many who appreciates the hard work that reverend culpepper in pleasant

leahy, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader.r. reid: following leader remarks the senate will be in a period of morning business until 11:00 a.m. this morning with republicans controlling the first half, the majority controlling the final half. following that morning business the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of david medine. at noon there will be a vote on the confirmation of the nomination. the senate will recess from 12:30 to 2:15. at 2:15 the senate will be in consideration of the water resources development act. mr. president, this afternoon, as i've indicated, the senate will work on the bipartisan water resources development act which will provide water protection and other improvements to communities across the nation. the legislation has two able managers in chairman boxer and ranking member vitter. they each represent their caucuses extremely well. tkpwaoeufpb -- given them free rein tpo complete that bill and hope that will be done. this measure will protect jobs by investing in t

leahy, president pro tempore. mr. reid: almost? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following reared foll- following leader remarks, the senate will be in a period of morning business until 3:00 p.m. today. at 3:00 p.m., the senate will begin consideration of the farm bill. at 5:00 p.m., the senate will proceed to executive session to consider two court nominations, the chappell nomination from florida and the mcshane nomination from oregon. at 5:30 there will be two roll call votes on the confirmation of these two nominations. mr. president, democrats and the tea-party republicans disagree on many things. so it is very encouraging to see how well senator stabenow and senator cochran worked aes a team to bring the agriculture jobs bill to the floor. their work has been exemplary, some would say old-fashioned, the way things used to be. the committee members included many of the amendments that were adopted last year and the senate considered and passed a farm bill. as we'll remember, it went to the house and of course they did nothing. the committee did this in

leahy, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president, i'm told that s. 888 is at the desk and due for its second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bill for the second time. the clerk: s. 888, a bill to provide end user exemptions from certain provisions of the commodity exchange act and the security exchange act of 1934. mr. reid: mr. president, i object to further proceedings with respect to this bill. the presiding officer: objection having been heard the bill will be placed on the calendar. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: for years republicans have been singing the praises of regular order. week after week, month after month, it's gone into years now. even though that may have been not correct, they did it anyway. they said how they missed the days of committee markups, how they long for amendment vote-a-rama, amendments, and how they pine for a budget resolution. the junior senator from texas said just before the election -- and this is a quo

mr. chairman, thank you for introducing the leahy event.hich would prohibit the department for a border crossing fees to give people an idea of the size and scope of over talking about through the radio, texas and the lan port of entry, 1.7 alien tracks at that port of entry and hundreds of thousands of individuals. mexico is our third largest trading partner and we need to make sure our borders not only our secure, but we shouldn't discourage unnecessary fees of the department is contemplating the constituents along the border appropriately so. there are better ways to infrastructure and i appreciate that. i appreciate the opportunity to cosponsor kind and number six in addition to that he won. >> i appreciate with senator cornyn said we worked closely together on this. 24 assess modified. similarly, go ahead you >> thank you, mr. chairman. lines seven and eight of the amendment made clear it also prohibits any study from being connected with regard to why that's important. >> the reason i put that in the obama administration and the budge

mr. johnson. >> i just said thank you for the time. >> it was senator leahy that first said this and maybe it's been around longer than that but he said that senators are a constitutional impediment to the smooth functioning of staff. [laughter] i have just learned that we are moving the nominees next wednesday. [laughter] next wednesday morning. scumbuchank you. the committee will stand adjourned. thank you. >> [inaudible conversations] >>> so the question is why do we do it? why take the risks? is it for fun, for adventure? no. is it for the money? there are certainly easier ways of making a living and doing this. we do it to understand the world and how it changes. the world tends to move like the earth's plate, tensions building, and then suddenly they snap with violent political change and we go to where the cracks are to see how all the plates are fitting together. we do this of the innocents have a voice and we do it to show tv pundits the studio jockeys that they are usually wrong. we do it because we decide this is what we want to do with our slice of time on this planet. ♪ >> how do y

mr. chairman. >> thank you, the amendment is withdrawn. i call up leahy amendment number two. let me describe it. it would make support job improvements. >> are we cone with the first of title iv? >> we are? >> nothing can be brought up again on tight -- title iv? >> if it's closed. it's closed. >> excuse me. >> on the first charge. >> the first charge is closed, obviously, they have been called by consent, yes. >> number of amendments as you can see from my colleague from utah here, we are working very hard to negotiate an agreement, and i have asked the senator from utah to defer the amendments. cloture vi is included in washington. in hopes question get an agreement for early next week we ask permission to come back. >> mr. chairman, mr. chairman, i -- you know, at some point we have to vote on these things. senator from utah. >> mr. chairman, i really appreciate the way your side has worked with a number of us on the committee, both democrats and republicans, and i'm happy to put this until next week. hopefully question resolve it. it's extremely important. not just to me,

franking, gillibrand, heinrich, lautenberg, leahy, manchin, stab now, tester, tom udall, senator warren and senatorwide everyone. and -- senator wyden. and, mrpresident, i would ask that senator cardin be added as a cosponsor to s. 316. i would ask permission -- >> without objection. >> mr. president, i am delighted that we are making progress on real postal reform not only here in the senate, but in the house as well, and i want to thank congressman peter defazio from oregon for his leadership efforts in cosponsoring the exact same bill in the house as we have in the senate, and that now has 139 cosponsors. so we have 24 cosponsors now in the senate, and in the house that bill has 139 cosponsors which tells me that the american people and their representatives here in washington understand how terribly important it is that we pass serious postal reform. and let me just very briefly talk about what is many that legislation -- in that legislation, what the legislation, if passed, would accomplish. that bill would reestablish strong overnight delivery standards to insure or the timely delivery of mail. when people put a letter or a package in

cowan, franken, gillibrand, hearken, hen heinrich, leahy, menendez, merkley schatz, stabenow, tester, tom udall, senator warren and senator b wyden. and, mr. president, i would ask that senator cardin be added as a cosponsor to s. 316. i would ask permission that he be added as a cosponsor. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sanders: mr. president, i am delighted that we are making progress on real postal reform not only here in the senate but in the house as well and i want to thank congressman peter defazio from oregon for his leadership efforts in cosponsoring the exact same bill in the house as we have in the senate and that now has 139 cosponsors. so we have 24 cosponsors now in the senate and in the house that bill has 139 cosponsors, which tells me that the american people and their representatives here in washington understand how terribly important it is that we pass serious postal reform. and let me just very briefly talk about what is in that legislation, what the legislation, if passed, would accomplish. that bill would reestablish strong overnight delivery standards to ensure the timely delivery of mail. when peopl

leahy. we have the appropriate number. senator sessions, you have an amendment? [inaudible] >> then we will go to senator clinton'oons. a second degree on dangerous repatriation. >> safety mr chairman. -- thank you, mr. chairman. this amendment has been developed in close consultation with senators blake and mccain to clarify and verified this amendment. i appreciate they're working with me on this. this amendment would limit nighttime deportation would at places migrants in danger. the purpose is to limit unnecessarily dangerous practices but not to tie the hands of dhs or prevent them from using this practice. there are exceptions in this amendment when removals are done in accordance with local repatriation agreements. i would justified by a concurrent government interest. direct returns are still permitted. i remain concerned about the practice of lateral repeat reasons.for pragmatic it is costly and according to some research, does not work. there was another ap story this morning on a recent study that found no effect to the program and reducing recidivism. i would like to enter into the record that report as well as an article from the university of arizona study. >