mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, i understand there's a joint resolution at the desk that is due for its second reading. the presiding officer: the senator is correct. the clerk will read the title of the bill for the second time. the clerk: s.j. res. 2k3, a joint resolution proposing an amendment to the constitution of the united states relative to balancing the budget. mr. mcconnell: in order to place the resolution on the calendar, under the provisions of rule 14, i would object to further proceeding. the presiding officer: the joint resolution will be placed on the calendar. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, today i want to speak about a young man from corbin, kentucky, who gave his life in service to our country. lance corporal timothy matthew jackson, a united states marine, was tragically killed while conducting operations in hell man province, afghanistan, on se

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader is recognized. mr. mcconnell: i ask that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i was just discussing with the majority leader privately the comments he made publicly about getting votes, and i have asked my members and i understand he indicated most of our members who have amendments are willing to take short time agreements, and we ought to be able to move forward and have votes and the senate function in the way that it should. mr. president, with each passing day, the american people grow more concerned about our nation's future. the washington post/abc news poll this week said by 2 to 1, americans believe we are on the wrong track and nine out of ten rate the economy negatively. and yesterday a cnn poll found that many americans expect another great depression. it's in this context that president obama has started talking about how concerned he is about jobs. this week the president said he wakes up every morning and asks

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, over the past few weeks americans have gotten what seems like a daily dose of bad news about the state of the economy, whether it's more joblessness, threats from ratings agencies, the price of gasoline, goods and housing, or a slowdown in manufacturing; people are finding very little reason for optimism. and they're getting little comfort from an administration that seems more interested in deflecting the bad news than facing up to it. amidst the onslaught of bad news last week, president obama's message was that we had hit some bumps in the road. we had hit some bumps in the road and that people need to be patient in the face of what he called economic headwinds. he even joked about the wildly mistaken predictions he and others at the white house made a couple of years back about the job-creating potential of the stimulus. well, i don't

mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes, we are. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: over the past several days, the american people have watched a serious debate unfold right here in washington about our nation's debt and about the future of our economy. and for many, the debate has been extremely illuminating. it's done a lot to clarify where the two parties stand. both sides agree that our deficits andeficits and our debe unsustainable but beyond that the differences are stark. republicans believe that if you increase spending to the point that you can no longer pay the bills, then you need to find a way to cut costs. democrats seem to think that if you increase spending to the point that you can no longer pay the bills, you need to find other people to pick up the tab. this is a fundamental difference between the two parties. republicans think that democrats should be he

mr. president. senator mcconnell and i have discussed what we should do the rest of the day. we have a number of senators who have come to both of us wanting to offer amendments. we think is that we need to have people offer amendments so we can find the universe of the amendments, so we can work through these and try to come up with some reasonable way to proceed forward. having said that, i want people to offer amendments on my side. senator mcconnell, i think, feels the same way on his side. and then we'll make a determination later today as to how we will proceed on this next week. i think it would be fruitless at this stage to have a bunch of votes -- well, we'd have to have consent to have the votes. i don't think there will be any votes this afternoon.

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from kentucky. mr. mcconnell: i ask, i ask unanimous consent to proceed for a few moments as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: if this week has shown us anything at all, it's that the american people can't wait on democrats to do the right thing when it comes to spending and debt and putting us on a path to balance. so today republicans are beginning the rule 14 process on a balanced budget constitutional amendment. a balanced budget amendment would require that lawmakers stop spending money we don't have. and when we return from the july 4 break, we'll fight on an opportunity -- we'll fight for an opportunity to vote for it. we've had a chance this week to see how democrats in washington want to deal with the fiscal mess they've helped create by forcing the taxpayers and the job creators to actually bear the burden. well, republicans think it's about time washington bears the burden for a change. let washington find a way to balance the books on its own. th

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, i'd like to say a few words to acknowledge the three coal miners who are trapped in a coal mine nears middleboro, kentucky. they were trapped there this morning as a result of terrible storms and flooding in the southeastern part of my state. a number of different communities have been affected by the flooding and a lot of people are working hard to help folks recover from power outages and mud slides. from what i understand, rescue efforts for the three miners are underway and the people on the ground are hopeful that they'll be able to rescue all three men. but we want them and their families to know that we're all thinking of them as the rescue efforts continue. this is a vitally important industry in the region, and in moments like this it's appropriate that we acknowledge the danger that people who work in the coal mines subject

mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. : yesterday i came to the floor to call on democrats in washington to wake up and open their eyes to the signs we see all around us that the policies of the past years are make our economy worse. home values are still falling, manufacturers are showing the weakest growth in nearly two years, nearly 14 million americans are looking for jobs and can't find them. for many there is the nagging feeling that things will actually get worse before they get better, and who can blame them. over the past two months, two ratings agencies have come out with dire warnings over the status of america's stellar credit ratings over fear that we won't get our fiscal house in order. one has already put our rating under review and the other has threatened to do so if we don't do something in a matter of weeks, literally weeks. yet democrats here in washington are doing nothing. the president is patting himself on the back for an auto bailout that's expected to cost the taxpayers billions, and democrats in

mr. mcconnell know thachlz frankly in my view if every american thought bit, they'd think yes, we need -- america needs to pay bills. >> if know no deal is reaches, treasury zeptz the u.s. will face default on the death for the first time in history. august 2. >> former illinois governor rod blagojevich says he's disappointed and stunned by the verdicts today in his corruption trial. the jury found him guilty on 17 out of 20 charges, including 11 counts related to an attempt to sell or trade the seat vacated by the president. blagojevich has spent the last two and a half years pro fessing his innocence after his first trial ended with a young jury. he can face up to 300 years in prison. >> a bay area man used craig's list and wound up flying into what he says was a big trap. it changed his son's few year. this is heart breaking. >> they there was an ad on craig's list changed everything. dominic was thrilled to be accepted to st. john's university in new york. but never been there. his father plan aid two-day visit then searched for air fares he can afford. >> three days before we're leav

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: yesterday, i came to the floor to report that there were several miners in my state trapped in a mine as a result of floods. i want to start with an update on that situation. i'm happy to report that all three were rescued after spending 14 hours trapped in a bell county coal mine. they were all reunited with their families last night, which is great news. the families were waiting for them at the west cumberland baptist church, and we're certainly glad this particular story had a happy ending. on another matter, this morning, i'd like to say a word about the upcoming vote on the debt ceiling and the bipartisan negotiations surrounding it to reiterate why we're having these talks and what must -- what they ought to achieve, but first a little context. right now, ratings agencies are threatening to downgrade u.s. debt, putting us on red alert that the kind of economic crisis we're seeing in parts of europe could very quickly happen right here. we know that failing to do somet

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader is recognized. mr. mcconnell: i ask that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: people in my hometown of louisville, kentucky, are still recovering this morning from a series of storms and possible tornadoes last night that inflicted considerable damage across the city, including at the historic churchill downs racetrack, home of the kentucky derby. more than 600 louisvilleians are without power early this morning after thousands lost power yesterday. the storms did their worst at churchill downs in south louisville where there were reports of funnel clouds and some barns were destroyed, sending many horses running loose. in many parts of the city, there were downed power lines. the storms also did considerable damage near my alma mater, the university of louisville, and the jefferson town area. the national weather service plans to be in louisville today to sur fay the damage and to determine if the city was indeed struck by

mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: madam president, since the attacks on 9/11 and the very beginning of the war on terror in 2001, most americans have understood that we can no longer kind of passively wait for the next enemy attack. in order to defeat, dismantle and disrupt al qaeda, our intelligence, military and law enforcement officials would have to work together to defeat terrorist cells whether they are in the tribal areas of pakistan or, frankly, here in our own backyard. and yet, some have begun to think after the killing of osama bin laden that we can now sit back and relax a little. there was a recent arrest in my state, in the hometown of my colleague, senator paul, of two foreign fighters who have openly admitted to conducting attacks against u.s. soldiers and marines in iraq, and that shows how misshapen the notice s. let's look at that again. here are two iraqi terror

mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i am going to proceed on my leader time. the presiding officer: without objection, the leader has that right. mr. mcconnell: yesterday i came to the floor and noted the many troubling signs of a persistently weak economy and how i believe the action of democrats here in washington are seriously undermining the recovery that americans desperately want. and i proposed some things that could be done about it right now. the president says he wakes up every morning asking himself what he can do to create jobs and help businesses succeed. but let me offer a few suggestions. it's not that difficult really. i'm sure the job creators and the workers the president meets with are telling him the same thing they tell all of us every day. most people think washington is too intrusive, that it imposes too many job-stifling regulations, and send too many mixed signals today for anybody to plan for tomorrow. we know that many who would hire right now are actually holding back because they d

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. ask that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, as senators return to washington this week, we do so amid a crush of troubling news about the economy. in the past week alone, we have learned that home values across the country are still falling, at a time when about one out of five homeowners already owe more on their homes than the homes are worth. auto sales are down, manufacturers are showing the weakest growth in nearly two years. and there's deep pessimism about the prospects of a recovery anytime soon. so while some in washington have sought to sort of paper over the economices problems or offer weak assurances that a recovery is right around the corner, millions of americans continue to suffer with no end in sight. and very few people are confident that things will turn around anytime soon. now, it's no secret why. for two and a half years democrats in washington have paid lip service

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: a little barrett today i'll sit down with president obama to discuss the raising the nation's debt ceiling. i intend to ask the president what he is prepared to do uds of raising taxes about the massive deficits and debt that have accumulated on his watch. i will tell him what republicans are looking for in this debate: to cut spending now, cap runaway spending in the future, and save our entitlements from bankruptcy. and to get our economy moving. and i will tell him the truth will requests by senator from his party that we increase spending and raise taxes, as a way of solving the detain and jobs crisis that precipitated the president's request to raise the debt limit in the first place. not only are they counterproductive from the standpoint of an economic recovery, they're also politically impossible since republicans oppose tax hikes and democrats have already shown they won't raise taxes in a down economy either. so let's start by taking both proposals off the table an

mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that the readying of the amendment be dispense with. the clerk: mr. mccome for ms. snowe introduces amendment 309. mr. reid: we're going to vote on the amendment now? the presiding officer: the senator's correct. there a sufficient second? -- is there a sufficient second? it's already been called. durbin amendment is withdrawn. the clerk will call the roll on the tester amendment. vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if nottings on this vote, the yeas 54, the nays are 45. under the previous order, requiring 60 votes for the adoption of this amendment, the amendment is not agreed to. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid on the table. the majority leader. mr. reid: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll of the senate. quorum call: mr. demint: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from south carolina. mr. demint: i ask that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: is th

mr. mcconnell: madam president, i know we're scheduled to have two votes around 2:00 today oangt million to issue. once we're passed those amendments, we have a number of other important issues to be debated and hopefully scheduled for votes. senator hutchison, for example, has one on health care lawsuits. senator portman on unfunded mandates. senator brown on withholding payments. senator demint has an amendment on the death tax and the renewable fuel standards. in addition, our rank member and marching, senator inhofe -- our rank member and managers senator inhofe, has a number of amendments as well. i'll be talking to the jo leader and members to see how we can schedule that's votes before moving to final passage. i will i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: resident? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. corker: madam president, are we in a quorum call? i move unanimous consent to vitiate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. corker: thank you, madam president. i rise today to spe

mr. mitch mcconnell, the senate leader in the senate, both have said if the president wants the debt ceilingy $1 trillion, he has to sign off in a trillion in real spending reductions. if he wants a -- >> it was easy to cut $30 billion. it will be easy to cut $2 billion. >> president of the united states was fighting against it. he'll get with the program and undo damage he's done. he's killed millions of jobs with spending already. we need to stop the damage that obama is doing to the economy. >> okay, look, we don't have time to get into the economics of stimulus versus negative drag of running such large deficits but there are those who would argue that all of that spending no matter who was the president you would have seen all of that spending because the economy was on the abyss and they were just trying to do whatever they could to keep it going again. >> it didn't work. the president killed jobs when he did that. it was a mistake. >> there was an argument to be made about what do you do next? what do you do with an august 2 deadline hanging over us. so much to chew over. can't wait t

mr. mcconnell: mr. president, on behalf of all of our colleagues, i want to commend our new senator from florida for his remarkable speech. no one is a better example of the american dream than he is, and no one expresses american exceptionalism better than senator rubio. and i congratulate him on behalf of all of our colleagues for his maiden speech. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the leader. mr. reid: i join with my republican counterpart in congratulating my friend from florida who are his fine -- for his fine speech. but i wish in his remarks he would once in a while mention where he spent a lot of his youth: slays las vegas and north las vegas, nevada. i note the absence of a quorum. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: will the leader withhold his question? the leader withholds his request and i recognize the senator from florida. mr. nelson: mr. president, i want to congratulate my colleague from florida, and i want him to know that it is a great pleasure for me to se

majority harry reid this morning and is said to meet with senate is republican leader mitch mcconnell this afternoon. mr. obama is steping in after talks with joe biden broke down last week. democrats want to close loopholes. republicans are rejecting tax increases and say they want to focus on cutting spending. the government is set to hit its $14.3 trillion on august 2nd unless congress acts. british researchers studied 11 people who developed diabetes later in life. they were put on a diet of 600 calories a day for eight weeks. the patients averaged 620 calorie as day. and by the end of it, they had lost 33 pounds and had no signs of diabetes. >>> you can get screened for diabetes today. the santa clara health department is offering this at two locations in san jose. the crane center on lindsen until 5:00 p.m. and at a mobile clinic at saint jame's park -- st. james' park. >>> a report says the white house wants u.s. automakers to almost double fuel efficiency. the paper says the obama administration is pushing fuel economy to nearly 56 miles a gallon by 2020 -- da by 2025. that would raise car price

mr. mcconnell and house assistant minority leader james club fox news sunday begins at 2:00 p.m.ime with post chris wallace and the guests michelle bachmann and senate minority whip john kyl. at 3:00 p.m., you'll hear the cnn state of the union. house minority leader nancy pelosi will be hundreds of republican senator jim demint and house intelligence committee chair mike rogers. at 4:00 p.m. eastern, face the nation from cbs where bob schieffer will be talking with michelle bachmann. the sunday tv talk shows, brought to you as a public service starting at noon eastern on cspan radio, 90.1 fm here in the washington area and on sirius/xm radio. always live on the web c- span.org. >> who would think you to gravity on economics would become popular? >> here we are, peace out, great recession, we are not in a depression. lineup for the procession. >> this weekend, we will talk with the creators of"fight of the century." >> we are trying to reach people who are interested how the world works. that severed from a high-school student who was curious about economics -- that is everyone f

mr. mcconnell was one of them sees this as a huge political winner, the only moment of a huge leverage over the president and a look at the polls. other republicans imagine the president announcing he's going to be lee pell grants and social security payments and say this is a huge political loser and i don't think the republicans of closure on that or democrats really understand what the political consequences should be. so to me this is and the essential problem of too much democracy and that is the fundamental barrier as different politicians who don't care about the issue are trying to measure the public reaction among people who don't care about this either. >> i used to be governor, you know, what you said about the government, you knew when those receipts came? >> i would urge, david, as i would take some issue. no one has yet made that call to arms the american people everybody has to have some skin in the game. most of this has been normal, putting one group against another, and i the phrase churchill americans to the right thing after they tried everything else. we've tried about

mr. mcconnell: mr. president, i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. reid: mr.president, i now ask unanimous consent that at 4:00 p.m. on tuesday, july 5, the senate proceed to the consideration of calendar number 88, s. j. res. 20, a joint resolution authorizing the limited use of the united states armed forces in support of the nato mission in libya. [inaudible] a senator: i realize this is a very important issue and i understand that a number of my colleagues have worked very hard to bring this issue to the flo floor. but the fact of the matter is it simply doesn't address the fact that we're bankrupting this nation. so, mr. president, i do object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. reid: note the absence of a quorum. a senator: mr. president? mr. reid: there will be no -- mr. president, prior to the chair calling for the quorum there, will be -- i've conferred with my friend, the republican leader, and there will be no more votes today or tomorrow. the first vote will be next tuesday. note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk

mr. obama met this evening with mitch mcconnell on a deal including higher tax was spending cuts. republicans insist on an agreement to cut the deficit before voting on a plan to increase borrowing power. democratic house minority bhip was in san francisco today and he said national debt is crippling the nation. >> this is clear we'll not be the kind of economy we want to be and will not be the kind of country we aspire to be and have been if we do not get a handle on the deficit and debt. >> the white house is warning congress if does it not raise the debt ceiling, the u.s. could default on the financial debt for the first time in history. >> still head on the news at 4:00 a top member of the president's administration speaking out in favor of same-sex marriage. >> and an arrest warrant for muammar gaddafi? the international criminal court said enough is enough. >> fog coming in at golden gate toll plaza. then, we'll talk to sandhya with travel weather plan autos if you're traveling out of sfo there is arriveals delay yeahed now. if you're picking someone up, you'll be slowed dow

mr. mitch mcconnell saying early in this session that his number one priority was to defeat president obamaur number-one priority here was to solve the country's problems. but i think we are beginning to see a pattern that some of our colleagues at least on the other side -- their number one priority is political victory regardless of the consequences to the country. that is a very, very sad day. >> think you, mr. chairman, and again, congratulations on saturday. i am going to make sure there are some good -- mr. chairman, i have had the honor to be on the subcommittee. we have always tried to work in a bipartisan way. i think it is important that people understand what the bottom line here is today. that is the longer you delay the legislation that expands our exports, the slower economic recovery will be. that is the bottom line. because what we have seen, and under your leadership we have explored this in hearings, expanded trade, it is about more jobs and the very jobs that we need most -- highly skilled, high-wage jobs, the jobs where we can grow things here in america and added value

mcconnell and the honorable elaine chao. the honorable nancy pelosi and her husband, mr. paul pelosi mr. stewart banum and his wife, mrs.n and his wife, ms. colleen nunn. the honorable gregory meeks and his wife, mrs. mary meeks. the honorable tom corbett, governor of pennsylvania. ms. jeannette weaver ruish. mr. perry white and his wife, mrs. phylicia white. the honorable william burns. mr. james taylor and his wife, mrs. caroline taylor. >> have you performed at the white house before? >> no. >> we have, i think, five or six songs, no real surprises, sort of greatest hits. i'm just excited to be in this company and just to perform at the white house is a privilege. >> have you ever been here before? >> yes, we have. i received the national medal of the arts. that's when we met. we met during the campaign. they actually suggested "you have a friend" for the theme of the evening. >> how is your german? [speaking german] learned it in school. >> boarding school, new england boarding school. >> my father. >> what are you wearing tonight? ♪. >> the president, chancellor merkel and their spouses later appeared in the white

mr. president. senator reid is a good man. senator mcconnell is a good leader on our side. i don't know what speaker boehner is going to do, what vicvice president biden will do. but the time, as old snuffy smith, the mountaineer used to say, time is wasting. the deadline is coming closer and closer. we're going to have to figure out something that helps solve the national interests of this country. and i hope we can do it sooner rather than later. i would thank the chair and would yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. sessions: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. sessions: i would ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sessions: mr. president, on behalf of senator paul, i call up amendments 502 and 503 and ask that they be reported by number. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from alabama, mr. sessions, for mr. paul, proposes amendments en bloc numbered 502

mrs. feinstein: thank you. and then there is a whole list, a very long list in a letter to senators reid and mcconnell from a coupleozen agencies, both agricultural and environmental, and i would put those in as well. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. feinstein: the western united dairyman's association and from the national cattlemen's beef association. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. feinstein: now, i do this, not because i want to run through it all but because i think it's evidentiary testimony of what is happening out there because of what is very bad and egregious public policy, and at a time of debt and deficit where we are looking to find a bipartisan solution which is going to be very, very difficult, and if we reach one have a dramatic impact on this nation. to continue a program which costs in the tens of billions of dollars makes no sense to me at all. this summer, experts are predicting a mass slaughter of hogs. the usda predicts that u.s. corn reserves will sink to their lowest level since the mid 1990's this summer, and rising food prices are contributing to global poverty

>> well, he met with mitch mcconnell, the minority leader in the senate on monday. before that he met with mr. boehner. today he's meeting with democratic leaders. he'll meet with tim geithner. we don't know specifically of plans to meet with republicans but the president is the leader of the negotiations. he's supposed to bring the sides together. he will be meeting with them sooner or later. right now he seems to be sticking to his guns about having some type of tax increase. >> so the president started out about the economy but was asked everything from about libya as well as about the gay rights issues. did he change his point of view or did he kind of urn underscore other points during the press conference? >> on the gay rights issue he said, look, i'm not going to make news on this. don't expect it. on libya, i think you have a shift somewhat. that is he's saying that getting rid of moammar gadhafi is the k key. they have been saying the nato mission the u.s. is involved in is designed to protect civilians in libya. the president said you can't carry out that mission unless gadhafi goes

connecticut and myself as well as the leaders, leader reid and leader mcconnell have been heavily involved in this process. the amendment offered by mr. vitter runs counter to the spirit of comity behind this important bill. it is a poison bill designed to handcuff the president's ability to aacceptable a top-flight team of advisors and aides. it has been introduced several times in several reiterations and now is the time we're moving forward. it is one of those moments where we can brinl the partisan divide and make the senate a more efficient body. it is not the time or place to rei think debate old and frankly, i believe silly battles about so-called czars. it is our constitutionally mandated duty as senators to ensure that the most important positions in government are confirmed in a timely manner. with the underlying bill we finally grin to break -- begin to break the logjam by taking middle level nonpolicy positions off the docket. so i would urge my colleagues to vote against it. mr. president, i yield the floor. ms. collins: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: i suggest the absence of a

mr. obama and vice president biden meet monday with democratic senate leaders harry reid and republican leader mitch mcconnell. last week the gain they had, john boehner says he'll oppose any deal that included a tax hike during the game. and the two sides have five weeks to raise the debt limit or the federal government could default on its loans. >>> planned parenthood of indiana says it expects to resume offering services to medicaid today after the state cut funning to the group. governor mitch daniels signed a law cutting more than $1 million in funning making indiana the first state to deny the organization medicaid funds. a judge ruled yesterday the state is not allowed to eliminate general health services because it also provides abortions. >>> just one more thing. that was the signature phrase for actor peter falk in his television series "columbo," he died thursday at his california home. he had been suffering from alzheimer's disease. he was 83 years old. now russ and rebecca. >>> it's now about 21 minutes past the hour. mr. lonnie quinn is here with our first check of the weather. good morning to

mr. alexander: madam president, i would like to thank the majority leader and the republican leader, senator mcconnell, for the way they've worked on this legislation. not just on this bill but when they were the respective whips of their parties several years ago each of them worked on trying to help improve the senate's ability to do its oversight by doing a better job without advice and consent responsibility. that's one of our better-known responsibilities. it is a constitutional responsibility. it's an article 1,section 2. but as part of that advice and consent responsibility, the senate has the responsibility to define which other positions the president may appoint and that's what this is about. senator collins and senator lieberman have also worked for many years on this, and they will be here in a few minutes to open the debate. senator schumer and i will come to the floor about 2:40 and make our statements on behalf of the rules committee. i thank the majority leader and the republican leader for doing this because this isn't the most glamourous piece of legislation, and it is not so glamour

mr. president, i want to note again the bipartisan nature of these proposals. in january, majority leader reid and minority leader mcconnell decided that the nomination and confirmation process had become too slow and cumbersome. that's in january, of course, of this year. they established a working group on executive nominations and asked leaders schumer and sal san tker to be in charge -- schumer and alexander to be in charge of that. senator collins and i were also privileged to be part of that group. the reforms proposed by senators schumer and alexander and our group have been carefully crafted, and i can't thank them enough both for their legislative intellectual work on this, but also for sticking with it right to this moment. they introduced their legislation on march 30. that's schumer and alexander, with a bipartisan group of 15 cosponsors. and on april 13, our homeland security governmental affairs committee, again on a bipartisan vote, reported the bill favorably to the senate. senators schumer and alexander are also proposing an important senate resolution, s. res 116, that would streamline the confirmation pr

mcconnell from a couple dozen agencies, both agricultural and environmental, and i would put those in as well. >> without objection. >> thank you. and from the national cattlemen's beef association. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. feinstein: now, i do this, not because i want to run through it all but because i think it's evidentiary testimony of what is happening out there because of what is very bad and egregious public policy, and at a time of debt and deficit where we are looking to find a bipartisan solution which is going to be very, very difficult, and if we reach one have a dramatic impact on this nation. ofion. enzus billions of dollars makes no sense to me at all. this summer experts are predicting a mass slaughter hogs. the usda projects with u.s. reserves will sink to their lowest level since the mid nineties this summer and rising global poverty and instability.e so, we are faced with a votey today that is very simple. the vote says in this trifectap, of subsidy mandate and protective terror, and it says don't wait for it to expire at the end of the year, but do it o as of july 1st. and if we do it as of july 1st,t we produce approximately $2.7 billion to the treasury to ameliorate the debt and de

additionally, leader reid and republican leader mcconnell gave their support and time to work through this package. mr. president, earlier today we passed the first piece of the nomination reform package, s. 679 which eliminates certain positions from senate confirmation. it is our hope this package thaws out this resolution. the resolution passed throughout our committee, the rules committee back in may, this resolution did, and it's a bipartisan effort. now we're considering the corresponding resolution which streamlines other nominations. for certain nominations, once received they'll be placed in a new category of the calendar. at that point the chair will send out the questionnaire once he or she certifies that it's been returned, the nomination will move to a second new category in the calendar. it will sit there for ten days. and if there are no objections, the nomination will then move directly to the executive calendar with the presumption that these noncontroversial positions would be passed by unanimous consent. now at any time while the nomination is either in either of these two categorie