mr. reid: mr. predent the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. reid: following leader remarks, the senate will be in a period of morning business for one hour. during that time, senators will be permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the majority will control the first 30 minutes. the republicans will control the final 30 minutes. following morning business, the senate will turn to executive session to debate the nomination of christopher schroeder to be an assistant attorney general. there will be up to three hours for debate prior to vote on confirmation of this nomination. upon disposition of the schroeder nomination, the senate will consider the nomination of thomas vanaskie, united states circuit judge for the third circuit. there will be three hours for debate prior to vote on confirmation of vanaskie. mr. president, i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, for mrs. boxer, proposes amendment 3737 to amendment number 3739. at the end of title 2, add the following: section 212, prohibition of taxpayer funding. a, liquidation required. all if you think companies put into receiveship under this title shall be liquidated. no taxpayer funds shall be used to prevent the liquidation of any financial company under this title. b, recovery of funds. all funds spended in the liquidation of a financial company under this title shall be recovered from the disposition of assets of such financial company or shall be the responsibility of the financial sector through assessments. c, no losses to taxpayers. taxpayers shall bear no losses from the exercise of any authority under this title. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: the managers of the bill wish to give opening statements on this important legislation. so i would ask consent that senator dodd be recognized and use whatever time he feels appropriate. senator shelby then be recognized to u

quorum call: quorum call: quorum call: quorum call: mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the motion to proceed on be agreed to. once the bill is reported tonight, the senate then proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. on thursday, april 29, following the recognition of the leaders and the designees, the senate then resume consideration of s. 3127. after reporting the bill to make opening statements on the bill, senator lincoln then be recognized to speak for up to 20 minutes. on thursday, no amendments or motions will be in order prior to offering the dodd-lincoln substitute amendment, and that once the substitute amendment is offered, it be considered read. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, i want to take a few moments here to thank the distinguished se

mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i enter a motion to reconsider. the presiding officer: the motion is entered. mr. reid: madam president, with the consent of the minority, i suggest that we go into a period of morning business for one hour and at 2:00 we go back on this bill. as soon as senator coburn comes, he indicated that chairman baucus will be around 2:15, he will be ready to offer his first amendment. if there's any procedural issues -- which there shouldn't be because this simply was, this point of order was not well taken. so if there's anything that we need to do, staff will be working on that. procedurally we can get to him. but we all know the point we want to be is at 2:15 to be back on the bill, and senator coburn will be offering his first amendment. i would ask that -- unanimous consent we go into a period of morning business until 2:00, and at that time we go back on the bill, and that senator coburn be recognized for offering an

quorum call: mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminate tpha*euted. the presiding officer: without objeion. mr. reid: mr. president, there will be no more votes today. i ask unanimous consent that on april 14, tomorrow, following morning business the senate resume consideration of h.r. 4851, the time until noon be equally divided and controlled between leaders or their designees and during this time it be in order for the republican leader or his designee to make a relevant budget act point of order against the pepbgdz baucus -- pending baucus amendment, modified as specified below. after, senator baucus or his designee be recognized to move to waive the applicable point of order and thee the budget poinf order occur at 12:00 noon, there be no intervening motions or amendments during this debate, it be in order to modify the the baucus amendment with the provision which covers the extension of small business programs. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objecti

mr. reid: madam president, if my friend would withhold. mr. isakson: i'd yield. mr. reid: i would ask that the time for morning business be one hour and the fact that the leader and i took some extra time should not impinge upon the republicans having a half-hour and the democrats having a half-hour. i would ask consent that be the case. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. isakson: i thank the leader, and i rise at a propitious time for what i'm to say because both the majority leader and the my in ordemy -- minority leader boh addressed the pending legislation in terms of the financial bill that's coming out of the banking committee and also the desire by both of them for the bill to be one that is amendable and debatable on the floor. because i'm here today to talk specific about just one facet of the financial crisis and just one improvement that is to be made by this bill that needs to be carefully addressed to make sure that we don't make or repeat a mistake that was made in the 1990's at the failure of the s&l industry. i have a chart, mr. president --

mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: today in the senate there will be a period morning business for an hour. senators will be allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each. majority will control the first 30 minutes and the republicans will control the final 30 minutes. following that, morning business, the senate will proceed to h.r. 4851, the extension act. we'll recess from 12:30 until 2:15 p.m. today for our caucus luncheon. by previous consent agreement, at 2:15 all postcloture time will be yielded back and the senate will adopt the motion to proceed. the bill will then be open to amendments an senators should expect roll call votes this afternoon. -- and senators should expect roll call votes this afternoon. madam president, i'm told s. 3194 is at the desk and due for a second reading is that true? the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 3194, a bill to provide collective bargaining rights for public safety officers employed b

mr. reid, i believe is, sir, you indicated that there is enough incentive to, i believe you said, to do the right thing for your customers. maybe it's not read. height, excuse me. mr. heid, is there enough incentive for me to do the right thing for the economy? >> i guess the way i think of it is if we do right with our customers we are doing what's right for the economy. >> and if you find that it is not necessary to make modifications, then you have customers who go into foreclosure and that impacts the economy in an adverse way, have you done the right thing state? the fact that we have done a substantial number of loan modifications, the fact that within a substantial number of principal forgiveness loan modifications, i think says we're doing everything we possibly can to stabilize the -- what percentage would you consider substantial? >> in the course of the answer a different way, about 2% of the overall portfolio on an annual basis is what ultimately goes, works it way through foreclos

mr. reid: i thank the senator from rhode island for his usual courteousness. i would ask -- i have a cloture motion at the desk and ask that it be reported. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to proceed to calendar number 349, s. 3217, the restoring american financial stability act of 2010, signed by 17 senators as follows: mr. reid: mr. president, i would k that the names be waived, the reading of the names. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask that following the period of morning business, tomorrow, april 28, the senate proceed to the motion to proceed, s. 3217, that the time until 12:20 equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, at 12:20, the senate proceed to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to s. 3217 with

mr. reid: mr.t, the senate will convene at 2:00 p.m. today. there will be a period of morning business until 3:00 p.m. with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees. at 3:00 p.m., the senate will resume the motion to proceed to h.r. 4851. the republican leader will control the time from 5:00 until 5:15. the majority leader will control the time from 5:15 until 5:30. at 5:30, the senate will proceed to a roll call vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed on h.r. 4851. that will be the first vote of the day. at 3:30, we'll interrupt debate for a moment of silence to honor the coal miners killed in last week's explosion at upper big branch mine in west virginia. i now ask, mr. president, we now proceed to morning business as outlined. that the morning business will be in effect until 3:00 p.m. today. that -- in fact -- the presiding officer: without objection, the court of impeachment is adjourned. mr. reid: mr. president, let's make it un

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. id: 60 miles outside las vegas is a rural community called perump. it was originally, it had a series of artesian wells. it had lots and lots of water and for many years they farmed cotton. it has now become a retirement business community. i think a golf course is there. it's a beautiful community, less than an hour from las vegas. last night a man who had just returned from afghanistan, his name was ian deutsch, his second day on the job as a police officer when he was murdered by a man who had had a domestic dispute with a woman, and he was proceeding to go into a place of business with lots and lots of people in it when he shot officer deutch. the officer who was with him, thomas klensar, killed the gunman, saving untold lives. this is a tragic story. the slain man had a teenage child, a seven-year-old, and just returned, as i've indicated, from afghanistan and our military. the second day on the job. not killed in sparks not wounded -- not killed in afghanistan, not wounded in afg

mr. reid: thank you, mr. president. here we go again. this is a bill that has been out here for a month, weeks. i think people even reading slow would have a hard time to work their way through it in a month. this kabuki dance we have been involved in, my friend -- and he is my friend, the distinguished senior senator from alabama -- he worked with the chairman of the committee for weeks and weeks, weeks going into months. trying to come up with a deal that we could move forward on. that fell -- that was no longer possible. no goings wen negotiations went. my friend from alabama said, that's enough. then we get the senator from tennessee coming in to spend weeks with my friend, senator dodd. that fell through. we're moving to this bill was we need transparency, accountability, we need someone to resonde respond to wall stret because they have not responded to us. now, mr. president, this game is apparent to the american people. my friends on the other side of the aisle are betting on failure again, as they did with health care, as they h

mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: tre will be a period of morning business today beginning as soon ace finish -- as soon as i finish. there will be 10 minutes for each senator. majority will control the first 30 minutes, the republicans will control the final 30 minutes. following that morning business, the senate will resume consideration to the extension of the unemployment benefits and others. yesterday i filed cloture on the substitute and the bill. filing deadline for first degree amendments is today at 1:00 p.m. two coburn amendments are pending. we would like to dispose of those amendments an complete action on the bill today. i've had some conversations with senator coburn. he believes we can finish this today. i would hope that we can. others have amendments to offer, i hope they would do it as soon as possible. the reason for that, we could finish early today and allow people to make arrangements for tomorrow. right now people are schedu

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator the majority leader. mr. eid: 15 years ago today 168 americans died in a despicable act on a federal building in oklahoma city. i would therefore ask the president of the senate to declare a moment of silence in memory of those who were there that day and many other victims and survivors of terrorism at home and abroad. the presiding officer: without objection, the moment of silence will be observed for any and all victims of terrorism both at home and abroad. thpresiding officer: thank you. 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 3:00 p.m. today. senators will be allowed to peek up to 10 minutes each during that time. following the closing of morning business, the senate will turning to an executive session to debate the nomination of lael brainard to be undersecretary of the treasury. at 5:30 there will be a cloture vote on that nomination. last week i filed cloture on five nominations. i

mr. reid: i ask consent the ll of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: first i want to express my appreciation to everyone in the senate. there's been a good debate. sides have been chosen. arguments were good on both sides. we had amendments on this. there were efforts made to move forward and have a cloture vote on it. i thought this was the best way to go. so i appreciate everyone's help. we didn't want to take these votes, we took them. i ask consent that at 5:00 p.m. the senate proceed to vote in relation to the mccain amendment number 3724. upon disposition of the mccain amendment, no further amendments be in order, the senate proceed to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the baucus amendment number 3721 as modified, that cloture is invoked all post cloture time be yielded back and if the amendment be agreed to, the bill be read a third time. following the reading of the paygo letter from the chairman of the budget committee the cloture motion were the to the bill be withdrawn, the senate pro

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that any remaining time for debate with respect to the demeo nomination be yielded back and the senate now proceed to vote on confirmation of the nomination. further, that upon confirmation, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table, the president be immediately notified of the senate's action and the cloture motion with respect to the nomination be withdrawn. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. there is. the question is on the nomination of marisa j. demeo to be an associate judge of the superior court of the district of columbia. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: the presiding officer: are ere y sena in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, the yeas are 66, the nays are 326789 the nomination is confirmed. the presiding officer: under the previous oerthe moon to reconsider is considered ma

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. reid: there will be a period of morning business for 90 minutes with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the first 30 minutes will be under the control of the majority. the next minutes and the remaining time will be equally divided. following morning business, the senate will resume the motion to proceed to to the wall street reform legislation with the time until 12:20 equally divided. at 12:20. senate will proceed to a vote to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed on the wall street reform. i want to say a few words this morning about one of the senate's most senior members, one of the newest on this side of the aisle. i have known senator arlen specter for many, many years. i've worked with him, learned from him and admired him. truly a legal scholar. anyone who has read his books -- and i have -- know that senator specter's life has been a struggle. from his days as a son of immigrants in depression-era kansas to his treatment for hodgkin's lymphoma has endur

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks the senate will resume consideration of s. 3217, wall street reform legislation. there will be no roll call votes today. mr. president, i'm anxious to see how the debate goes forward on this bill. it's a most important bill, the bill before the senate places strict new regulations to stop wall street's reckless gambling. there will be no more taxpayer bailouts, and that's no bailouts ever. ends too big to fail, puts a new cop on the beat and puts consumers on control with information that's in plain english. let me repeat, mr. president: the legislation before this body holds wall street accountable, ends taxpayer bailouts, guarantees that taxpayers will never again be forced to bail out reckless wall street firms by creating a safe way to liquidate failed firms without taxpayer money. ends too big to fail, strict new capital leverage requirements to prevent firms from growing too big to fail. brings sunlight and transparency to shadowy markets where wall

the presiding officer: without objection of the mr. reid: mr.ell, actually until 3:00 p.m., with senators permitted to speak during that period of time for up to ten minutes each. following morning business, the senate will resume the motion to proceed to 3217, the wall street reform legislation. at 5:00 this afternoon, the senate will proceed to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed. mr. president, last week, i criticized the republican leader for the way he was handling wall street reform. i even criticized him for a series of meetings he held in new york and the result of the meetings. i want the record to be very clear, however, i was in no way impugning the integrity of my friend from kentucky. the senior senator from kentucky and i have fundamental policy differences on a number of issues, but no one should take my disagreement with my friend to question his honesty. mr. president, wall street reform is as complex as the financial instruments that fueled the worldwide recession. voting to start debate on the wall st

two democrats mr. reid and senator ben nelson of nebraska voted with the gop although mr. reid's vote was a procedural maneuver. again our live senate coverage continuing at 2:15 eastern time. that vote coming up today at 4:30 eastern here on c-span2. until the senate returns a look at the economy from today's "washington journal." >> host: our guest now is an analyst for business economists. the nabe. a new study out. what did you learn about the economy? >> guest: each quarter we go out and talk to a variety of our member companies, economists at firms across the economy. this quarter we talked to about 68 economists at different firms to get a feel for where they see things. again, with this survey we continued to see things improving. things like industry demand are picking up, our profit margins are picking up. unemployment is starting to improve. so we continue to see this slow measured recovery coming out of the survey results. >> host: what industries are heading in the positive discretion? >> guest: really across-the-board depending on which of the indicators you'r

and dick durbin, rivals to succeed harry reid as majority leader, if something should happen to mr. reidn the state of nevada. they're both raising money for him. talk about this delicate dance they're having to do. >> it's more than a delicate dance. it's a crazy washington story. these two people who both want senator reid's job as the senate majority leader, they're united in one thing, and that is raising money. and they're raising money to help him keep the job that he -- that they want. so yesterday senator schumer was with leader reid up in brooklyn. and dick durbin of illinois has an event out there for him. senator durbin loan has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for harry reid. and as "morning joe" viewers know, leader reid could use it. things not looking good. one of the reasons that immigration is going back to the top of the agenda. he appeared in washington, he thinks that will help him. and he's going to try and ride this banking issue. we're told that as soon as tomorrow, leader reid is going to force another vote, try and get republicans on the side of -- against

mr. reid: i ask for a motion to reconsider to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed. he presiding officer: the motion is entered. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. lautenberg: madam president, i think it's been said before, but here we go again. what we have just seen tells us what the american people ought to know. there are fundamental questions being asked of senators this week and the principal of those is whose side are you on? who do you work for? on monday, tuesday and again today, we got an answer. the other side of the aisle, they made it clear. they stand with the big banks. they don't stand with the infrastructure of everyday people who make this country the great place we have become. they do not stand for opportunities like the ones that allowed americans to come together after world war ii to get an education, get jobs, become the greatest generation that built our nation into the greatest on earth. instead, our friends across the aisle stand with wall street lobbyists who demand that we do not take up this

mr. reidbelieve it is, you indicated that there is enough incentive to, i believe, you said to do the right name for your customers. maybe it's not really read, heid. is there enough incentive for you to do the right thing for the economy? >> i guess the way i think of it is if we do right with our customers, we are doing what's right for the economy. >> and if you find that it is not necessary to make modifications, then you have customers are going to foreclosure and that it the economy in an adverse way. have you done the right thing? >> the factory done a substantial number of loan modifications, the fact we have done a substantial number of loan modification principles and shows we've done everything we possibly can to stabilize. >> what consideration a substantial? >> about 2% of the overall portfolio on an annual basis is what ultimately worked his way through foreclosure. >> have you recently got into that plateau? >> summer on an annual basis you >> 2% have been foreclosed. >> 2% of t

get a delegation of endangered senators like harry reid or bennett or specter or others who will be on their knees at the white house saying, look, mr. president, you could lose this the senate in this election over health care and other stuff. give us a moderate. it will be ok. but if you go long on this we are going to get killed. >> he's got a moderate, solicitor general. she has a confirmable record. not a lot of talk of her in the press. there is a safe choice out there. >> and there is absolutely no indication the president wants to go long on this. if hwanted to go long, the time to do what is on the first one when you had skyrocketing approval ratings and control of e senate just as heoes now. that was the time to go long. he didn't choose to do that. he chose someone who was in the mainstream but to the left, leaving less, but acceptable in terms of her history to moderates and conservatives. >> so she would be the third woman on the accord. >> right. the left will like that, democrats will like that, but she is confirmable. she has never got -- said anything to shocking. she already was confirmed as a list of all general.

reid be made a part of the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. mccaskill: you know, we've gone back and looked at the executive calendar that contains all the nominations from a historic perspective. at this point at the beginning of this week we had 84 pending. 84 nominations pending. at the exact same time at president bush's presidency we had eight. that's what we call a lopsided score, 84-8. of the 49 nominations we voted on as a body since president obama took office, 38 of them were confirmed by more than 70 votes. pretty lopsided margins. 20 of them were confirmed by more than 90 votes. i am confident that if we took the time, which i think maybe the desire of my friends on the other side, if we took the time to file cloture and go through an individual vote on all of these nominees, that the vast majority of them would receive those kind of lopsided confirmation. this is a game that we need to quit playing. the secret holds need to end. i have written some colleagues of mine, mark warner -- senator warner and senator whitehouse and i comp

mr. president obama, nancy pelosi and harry reid would have you think the very people sitting next to youaren't, t,hey are amed fanatics that storm the white house grounds every chance they get. the reality is their biggest fear is that we are armed with knowledge, the power of the pen, with whit and tenacity to not sleep our way through a socialist move in our government. [applause] what the president should be focusing on instead of what the word is is or whether extremist terrorism is extreme or not, he should be focusing on jobs. mr. president, spend time on jobs. i have a request for you, how are you ready for november? are you ready for 2012? are you ready for 2012? [applause] that is what i wanted to hear, and so am i.. i have a request, sent the president a pink slip. send a pink slip to harry reid and this november. send a pink slip to barbara boxer. let's take back our country, moving in the right direction and get away from the politics of doom and gloom, falsehoods, and disingenuous actions. one thing that we all know here is we know that being disingenuous to people is the sa

reid for mentioning slavery in the health care debate. and he criticized the current president for suggesting -- when he would not condemn glenn beck's charge that mrama was racist, he said he himself does not play the race card. michael steele has today done just that, at this hour, word that the party's chief of staff has resigned. this morning, mr. steele telling abc he's very angry about the behavior stemming from an rnc political consultant's visit to a lesbian bondage-themed strip club. then suggesting some of the criticism aimed his way is over his skin color. >> we've got a lot of questions on my blog for you. one came in from myron. he asks, do you feel that as an african-american, do you have a slimmer margin for error than another chairman would? >> the honest answer is yes. >> why is that? >> it just is. it's the -- barack obama has a slimmer margin. a lot of folks do. it means a different role for, you know, for me to play and others to play. and that's just the reality of it. but you take that as part of the nature of it. it's not -- it's more because you're not someone that they know. i'm not a washington insider, even though i grew

mr. obama said the fnkts crisis we're still climbing out of could have been avoided if financial firms were held more accountable. harry reid york congressman eric masser wrote a $40,000 check to his chief of staff before resigning last month. massa, a democrat, left amid allegations of sexual harassment of male staffers. the payment was described in federal finance records as a, quote, campaign management fee. the chief of staff has since filed a sexual harassment complaint against massa. >> and charles the cat is one lucky kitty. he was picked up as a stray in chicago some 1300 miles from his albuquerque, new mexico home and thanks to a micro chip, animal control located his owner. another albuquerque resident will bring charles back home, but how exactly did charles get from albuquerque to chicago? can someone ask him some those are the headlines that the hour. now let's take you back outside to lonnie with the weather. >>> i'm glad all you guys are so happy about the weather because the weather right now on top of new york city, it's not terrible, kind of drizzling out here, but it's cloudy and damp and that's the situa

mr. brown doesn't do well in this particular poll. he is down at 26. let's compare two-- this is the angus reid poll. hey have given nick clegg the wind but again look at the margins here. 33 and 32, so david cameron is in second place in the hole and mr. brown once again in third on 23%. another poll which came out this evening, let's move onto that one which is the third of the bunch. this is a telephone poll. once again marking mr. clegg as the winner, 33%, a 3.gap in mr. cameron and mr. brown so a score coming second in that instance and then they were first out with this internet-based course of research. 36% and cameron was the clear winner. nick clegg comes in second place some four points adrift and a further three points down we have mr. brown. .. lastly because that was thursday think everyone was nervous. >> i think clegg, although he clearly wanted everyone from that aspect was nervous and he put in a more assured on this time around. cameron was the best, cord was a bit better and they were a little bit close. i do think that because brown is going to be always on the right of the screen

reid. it would not be surprising to hear about some quiet back channeling and probably has already been happening. look, mrident, don't send us somebody we're going to have a lot of trouble defending in terms of somebody too liberal. it would not be surprising at all that that is happening. i'm hearing from sources there is a concern about that politically. and then this also from the perspective of the republicans, you know, there's no question that they feel that they have public opinion on their side in terms of the tea parties that we're seeing here in michigan and elsewhere across the country, in terms of the fervor to just basically be antianything at this point. and that there's no question that that is going to play into what's going on. also, in talking to conservative groups leading up to this, know that justice stevens was likely to resign, with judge sotomayor, justice sotomayor, now turned out to sort of fizzle in terms of the political fight, there's so many conservatives champing at the bit and this whole issue of the politics of the supreme court is so potent that it's hard to imagine that

mr. chairman for your leadership. i look forward to going back to brighter budget days. >> allowed people listening to know that center whitehouse and senator reid made a powerful presentation to our caucus on the flooding in rhode island. i won the center to know that the history of this body is to stand shoulder to shoulder with colleagues and with the people of the affected states when they have a disaster. and clearly, rhode island has had a very serious natural disaster. you, senator white house and senator reid, as i said, made one of the most impassioned presentations on a natural disaster hitting a state that i have heard in my 24 years here. and that has been hurt by colleagues, and it will be responded to. >> i think you, chairman. >> i had a chance to welcome him to the committee when he wasn't here. i had a chance to say how -- i want a chance to say how much we enjoy your sense of fiscal responsibility, and it has made an impression on your colleagues, certainly on me. i deeply appreciate the sense of fiscal responsibility of brought to the united states senate. i knew you were mayor back home in alaska, and you know what it is to b

mr. chairman for your leadership. i look forward to going back to brighter budget days. >> allowed people listening to know that center whitehouse and senator reid made a powerful presentation to our caucus on the flooding in rhode island. i won the center to know that the history of this body is to stand shoulder to shoulder with colleagues and with the people of the affected states when they have a disaster. and clearly, rhode island has had a very serious natural disaster. you, senator white house and senator reid, as i said, made one of the most impassioned presentations on a natural disaster hitting a state that i have heard in my 24 years here. and that has been hurt by colleagues, and it will be responded to. >> i think you, chairman. >> i had a chance to welcome him to the committee when he wasn't here. i had a chance to say how -- i want a chance to say how much we enjoy your sense of fiscal responsibility, and it has made an impression on your colleagues, certainly on me. i deeply appreciate the sense of fiscal responsibility of brought to the united states senate. i knew you were mayor back home in alaska, and you know what it is to b

mr. hoyer for their infatigable and unfailing support to the very end. i thank majority leader harry reid for allowing a historic first time vote for the bill where it passed in the senate. i thank chairman john conyers for his unyielding support of d.c. voting rights. i thank former representative tom davis, whose idea it was to pair democratic d.c. with republican utah, the most perfect example of a bipartisan bill ever to hit this floor where each side benefits equally. i thank d.c. voters, and the coalition they put together. who were steadfast and creative throughout this process. the senate for the first time in fact enacted the bill but it had a gun amendment that took down the district's gun safety laws. yet the district's gun safety laws have been held to be constitutional now by the courts. nevertheless, when the bill came here to the house, i sought a clean vote, almost got it, thank the house for being willing to put the d.c. house voting rights bill on a must-pass bill. the senate did not agree. so i spent months trying to negotiate a compromise that would have at least have

mr. president, i didn't come to the floor to say that. because that is the business of the day, i wanted to on spwaf senator baucus -- on behalf senator baucus, senator reid're trying to work on this. last night by one vote we were able to invoke cloture with almost no help. now we'll get on with the business of seeing can you during a deep economic downturn extend unemployment insurance as you are required to do. i hope the answer is yes. that's our responsibility. that's our obligation. if there are those who want to come to the floor jointst wanting to join me in this dealing with the things i just described, spending cuts, let's join and doing that. i'm here and very happy to do t mr. president, i wanted to talk about -- let me ask, if i can, in another section of the moshings talk about energy. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. dorgan: mr. president, there are many things on the agenda for this country that need doing, and we're trying to work through this list. we worked on a health care reform bill that was, i understand, very controversial. but the fact is health care is such a significant part of our economy and the costs

reid is number one on the list. [cheering] last week we targeted bart stupak three of laughter [cheering] and last friday we went to michigan and chairman of the rally mrwe are having a great impact. if we were not having an impact those peoplend theia would not be here [cheering] we would not have international media on the bus from china, austria, australia. but let me tell you something. we fed international media. we've had this international media attention but guess who has been on the bus the past five or six days? dateline nbc. they are intrigued by this movement and realizing the power of the people. and come november we are going to take back our country. [cheering] you guys keep up the good work. we are having a great impact and i am so proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with all of you. god bless you all and god bless amica. [cheering] >> amy kremer ka multi-party express. that is the big red bus going to towns across the country because that is where the mosul, the heart and the genius of the nation lives. now i told you we love him, we love his voice we love his heart market's going to take this next part of the program. he goes the tea

reid is number one on the list. [cheering] last week we targeted bart stupak three of laughter [cheering] and last friday we went to michigan and chairman of the rally mrwe are having a great impact. if we were not having an impact those peoplenot be here [cheering] we would not have international media on the bus from china, austria, australia. but let me tell you something. we fed international media. we've had this international media attention but guess who has been on the bus the past five or six days? dateline nbc. they are intrigued by this movement and realizing the power of the people. and come november we are going to take back our country. [cheering] you guys keep up the good work. we are having a great impact and i am so proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with all of you. god bless you all and god bless america. [cheering] >> amy kremer ka multi-party express. that is the big red bus going to towns across the country because that is where the mosul, the heart and the genius of the nation lives. now i told you we love him, we love his voice we love his heart market's going to take this next part of the program. he goes the tea party people

reid is number one on the list. [cheering] last week we targeted bart stupak three of laughter [cheering] and last friday we went to michigan and chairman of the rally mrupak announced he is retiring. [cheering] we are having a great impact. if we were not having an impact those people and the media would not be here [cheering] we would not have international media on the bus from china, austria, australia. but let me tell you something. we fed international media. we've had this international media attention but guess who has been on the bus the past five or six days? dateline nbc. they are intrigued by this movement and realizing the power of the people. and come november we are going to take back our country. [cheering] you guys keep up the good work. we are having a great impact and i am so proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with all of you. god bless you all and god bless america. [cheering] >> amy kremer ka multi-party express. that is the big red bus going to towns across the country because that is where the mosul, the heart and the genius of the nation lives. now i told you we love him, we love his voice we love his heart market's going to ta

mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to executive session and that it be in order to file cloture on the following nominations in the order listed: calendar 644, 165, 699, 578 and 607. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: i now ask consent that at nomination reported and the cloture motion stated that the mandatory quorums be waived. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the cloture vote on calendar number 644 occur at 5:30 p.m. monday april 19. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. the clerk will rept. mr. reid: thank you, mr. president. the clerk: cloture motion. we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the nomination of lael br a r of the district of columbia to be under secretary of the treasury signed by 17 senators. cloture motion. we the undersigned senators in a

mr. reid: enter a motion to enter a vote on which the motion was not invoked on the motion to proceed. the presiding officer: the motion is entered. the senator from alaska. mr. begich: thank you very much, madam president. i wasn't intending to vote on the floor because i was hopeful tonight we would have a simple vote that would move us to a debate on a bill that i think people have been waiting for for a long, long time, and that's getting reform to our banking institutions and financial institutions. i will say that for those that are watching and listening, you know, it's -- i'm new here. i've now been here a little over a year and trying to understand the process. but one thing i've learned is this great motion called the motion to proceed. a lot of people watch and see us vote. they think, the bill has gone down. this motion was a a very simple motion. it alloyed toss move to the bill -- it allowed us to move to the bill so we could debate. what i've heard over the last several weeks an

mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i have at the desk a cloture petition. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion, we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate hereby move to pri it a close debate on the baucus substitute amendment number 3721 to h.r. 4851, a bill to provide a temporary extension of certain programs and for other purposes, signed by 17 senators as follows: mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report the second motion. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on h.r. 4851, a bill to provide a temporary extension of certain programs and other for other purposes, sooned by 17 senators as follows: mr. reid: mr. president, i ask co

mr. president, i'll be brief. first of all, i want to thank the republican leader, senator mcconnell, for his kind words. also i want to thank my friend, the majority leader, senator reid, for helping us bring us where we are today. but more than that, i want to commend senator dodd, the chairman of the banking committee, who i've worked with for years and years. we have worked can exceedingly e on many issues dealing with the banking committee. what we're bringing to the floor now is something very complex, very far-reaching. the idea that something should be too big to fail is very important to me. nothing should be too big to fail, in my judgment, in this country. and i want to commend senator dodd. in our negotiations, we have reached some assurances in that he has and his staff have made some recommendations that we like. and we made some they like. i think we made real progress on that. i know we have to seal it, but i think that senator dodd is working in good faith on that. but we've got the derivatives title and we've got the consumer products deal. and we haven't been able to resolve those yet. i hope we will on the floor of the senate. we moved to a new foru