mr. whitehouse: thank you. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. a senator: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. a senator: thank you, mr. president. i came down to speak on the senate floor today because there were senators, anonymous senators, who were blocking the confirmation of susan carbon, who's been nominated to be the new director of the office on violence against women. susan's from my home state of new hampshire, and for two months, the office on violence against women was denied leadership and direction, not because there are senators who think that susan carbon is unqualified for this position, but because they believe that -- they believed that blocking her confirmation somehow gains them leverage on completely unrelated pettish you'res. you'res -- pet issues. mrs. shaheen: now, i understand that hopefully, finally today, after the issue had been

mr. whitehouse: thank you. i appreciate the senator from illinois yielding for, if you wouldn't mind, a series of questions. the first question has to do with the -- i guess i'd say the sense with which we on this side of the aisle should receive the protestations of intense concern about the deficit that come from the other side of the aisle. and it relates back to when the previous republican administration first took office, as the senator from illinois mentioned. the last democratic administration left an annual budget in surplus, and a nation that had a $5 trillion debt. but my recollection is that in addition to a nation in annual budget surplus, what president clinton also left the republican administration that followed was a budget trajectory projected by the nonpartisan congressional budget office to eliminate the national debt of the united states of america. we would be a debt-free nation if the democratic policies of president clinton had been followed according to the nonpartisan professional cong

mr. whitehouse: thank you. i was presiding during the time that my friend, senator corker, was speaking. and so i did not have the chance to respond. but i want to assure him through the chair and through this question that as the distinguished senator from missouri has just said, this was not planned on our side, at least not by me. i came for the votes. and the only surprise tonight was my surprise that a senator was going to stop our unemployment insurance program. it never crossed my mind until it just happened tonight that that was within the realm of possibility. i have 75,000 people unemployed in my small state of rhode island. we are at 13% unemployment. so when i discovered as a surprise tonight at these votes that this was going to happen, like senator durbin, i couldn't just walk away from this chamber. no way. no way. but it wasn't as part of a planned surprise. the person in my life who was surprised at what happened tonight was me. and frankly, i'm still surprised. and i'm surprised that this hasn

mr. whitehouse: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: thank you, mr. president. may i ask that the pending quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: thank you, mr. president. i want to speak just briefly about today's vote. today this body, in a rare but very welcome moment of at least partial bipartisanship voted to pass leader reid's jobs bill. while that bill does not include every provision that i would like to see, it is certainly an importantship and i commend my leagues from both parties for supporting these provisions to put people back to work. as a senator from rhode island which currently faces one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation, at near 13%, i know that the help contained in this bill, which builds on the programs we passed last year in the recovery act, cannot come soon enough. and i hope the vote is a watershed. over the past few months, i've heard from hundreds of rhode islanders who are struggling just to find work. i've heard from carol in north provide