mr. nelson: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: madam president, i ask consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. nelson: madam president, i ask consent to speak as if in morning business. madam president, i rise today to recognize the important contributions of a special floridian for his unrelenting determination to protect one of our nation's most unique natural resources. that's the florida everglades. he is a prestigious attorney. he's a commanding litigator. this individual, tom rumberger, has dedicated much of his personal and professional life to advancing the restoration and

mr. nelson: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: again, i say to my colleague from new mexico what a fine senator he is, as is the senator presiding. what a privilege it is to serve with the likes of the both of you. and indeed, the members of this body, they are just extraordinary individuals, and we have all -- we have anguished with what we have been through as the clock was constantly ticking down to midnight tonight, and knowing the consequences. this senator always had the feeling that it was going to work out, that we were going to reach agreement, and interestingly, the financial markets had that same feeling as well because the financial markets never did go off of a cliff. even -- even the asian financial markets felt the same thing as we were coming out of the weekend. and so, even though we in this capital city of our nation have gone back and forth over ways to cut this public debt, here we are, and we have an agreement. members of this body as well as the other one down at the other end of the united states capi

mr. nelson: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: again, i say to my colleague from new mexico what a fine senator he is, as is the senator presiding. what a privilege it is to serve with the likes of the both of you. and indeed, the members of this body, they are just extraordinary individuals, and we have all -- we have anguished with what we have been through as the clock was constantly ticking down to midnight tonight, and knowing the consequences. this senator always had the feeling that it was going to work out, that we were going to reach agreement, and interestingly, the financial markets had that same feeling as well because the financial markets never did go off of a cliff. even -- even the asian financial markets felt the same thing as we were coming out of the weekend. and so, even though we in this capital city of our nation have gone back and forth over ways to cut this public debt, here we are, and we have an agreement. members of this body as well as the other one down at the other end of the united states capi

mr. chairman. >> thank you. senator nelson, you're next. >> mr. chairman lang, thank you for recalling that the sum conductor industry is so important. you remember about 20 years ago when all that business was about to go offshore, and when the united states decided that it was going to stop that trend, it put together a consortium. the proof is in the pudding which you just told us. in your testimony, mr. duke, you said, in our view, the corporate tax proposal represented a very good start because it endorsed these three components of reform. there's a version of that that is circulating right now which is the gang of six, and it basically gives huge deficit reduction back to the committee's of jurisdiction, the biggest deficit reduction would come back to this committee. tax reform, what you all have all testified to, health reform, ect.. now, a big part of that tax reform is taking all of these tax preferences, otherwise known as tax expenditures, and getting rid of a lot of them, and instead taking that revenue that you gained from that and t

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator nelson. senator lautenberg, did you have any quick openings? >> if i could trade for an earlier position in questioning, i'd like to do that, but just to say -- >> negotiations? >> mr. chairman, thanks very much. we were not, we know how expedient you'd like to try to make the hearing. it's important, but i will relinquish in my treasured position here, and plead for mercy in the questioning. with that i surrender to the chair. thank you. >> senator cantwell. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i commend you for holding this important hearing today, and i thank the witnesses for being here. oil spill prevention and response capability was amid your focus of mind when i was the chair of the subcommittee so i'm pleasure continuing to focus on such a vital issue. we did manage to signify strengthen our nation's oil spill safety net in last year's coast guard bill, the biggest and prove it improvement act opa 90 but there's much more to be done. particularly in light of what we learned from a devastating wider horizons bill. so i have many questions for the

mr. buffett is right. >> paul, your southern accent has gotten more southern over the course of this interview. >> it's from the e-mail from willie nelson. >>> still around, coming up, kentucky's junior senator, rand paul, plans to vote "no." why he's not willing to compromise on the debt ceiling. he said he's willing to compromise. we'll figure it out. >>> and a moment everyone, no matter which party could embrace, congressman gabby giffords to cast her vote. debbie wasserman schultz joins us with a behind-the-scenes look. memories, or getting lost in a good book. we'll always cook dinner, and cheer for our favorite team. we'll still go to meetings, make home movies, and learn new things. but how we do all this, will never be the same. and today, we're re-inventing aspirin for pain relief. with new extra-strength bayer advanced aspirin. it has microparticles so it enters the bloodstream faster and rushes relief right to the site of your tough pain. ♪ in fact, it's clinically proven to relieve pain twice as fast. new bayer advanced aspirin. extra strength pain relief, twice as fast. [ female announcer ] sweet honey taste. 80 calories pe

mr. clinton karnlgy. welfare reformer tommy thompson and budget cutter paul ryan. 0 to progressives wisconsin is the loam of fighting bob who took on big business and fought for liberal wage or nelsony different traditions living side by side for decades. my high school friends and i to this day can have friendly debates between the thompson republicans and progressives. that's how it used to be. but not anymore. governor scott walker by aligning hems with out state wealthy conservative zealots like the coke brothers in citizens for strong america turned this quiet state into a political war zone. the other side is not blameless, taking lots of union money from washington to fuel their side the debate, but this election today broke all funding records with a vast majority of the over 30 million compare dollars coming from outside groups. just match fn that money had been spent on schools like my old high school here. could the coke walker crowd, destruction and division are the goal, not something to be avoided. recently it was discovered that the walker administration sought to cut the number of drivers' licenses offices in democratic neighborhoods, and then increase them in repub