mr. manchin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mr. manchin: i ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendment so i may call up my -- the presiding officer: we're in a quorum call. mr. manchin: suspend the quorum call. i ask unanimous consent to call up my amendment 2151 as modified with changes at the desk. the presiding officer: without objection, the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from west virginia, mr. manchin, proposes amendment numbered 2151 as modified. mr. manchin: mr. president, i ask for a brief explanation on the amendment and hope that it will be accepted. basically, what we're doing is we're changing the hydrocodone combination drugs to a section -- schedule two from a schedule three. that makes it much harder for people to have access of this drug that has been wreaking havoc throughout the country and throughout our states. i would appreciate the adoption of the amendment. that's it. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. harkin: m

mr. obama has been deeply in trouble since 2008 when he lost to hillary clinton by 40 points. joe manchin fall. >> i'm basically a pure virginia democrat. i am not a washington democrat and i'm the first to tell you that. if you're look for example someone to toe the line, i don't fit that bill. >> reporter: and there are other warning signs for the president, in north carolina where an anti-gay referendum was approved by voters, 20% showed no preference over president obama. a spokesman for mr. obama's campaign said the president got more votes than mitt romney in north carolina, not only did president obama receive more votes than mitt romney, he received a larger percentage of the party vote. >> reporter: why don't you like obama? >> i can give you a hundred reasons. i think he's the worst president the country's ever had. >> reporter: hard feelings about the president linger. their chief complaints, the economy, the deficit, health care reform and what one man sees as mr. obama's hidden agenda. >> and tried to compound racism. he's shown that he is trying to encourage racism, division

mr. manchin: madam president and thank you, mr. chairman, i appreciate so much your hard work on this bill, a very important piece of legislation. before i speak to the bill, i want to commemorate the life of a dear friend and a true west virginia, coach bill stewart. bill was taken from us two days ago at the age of 59. he was a proud west virginian in every sense of the word and he was the best cheerleader it state ever had. whether it was playing ball at fairmont state, where i first met him, or coaching west virginia university to a fiesta bowl win, where he took an underdog team to a thrilling victory, you never had to worry about bill's enthusiasm. he had enough for all of us. in fact, you were either a friend of bill stewart's or he hadn't met you yet, because when he did, you were his friend for life. bill was raised in new martinsville, west virginia, and was a west virginian through and through. countless young men thrived under his coaching, but he was also a truly dedicated family man. to his wife, karen and his son, bl