mr. whitehouse: with that, i yield the floor. mr. sessions: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from alabama is recognized. mr. sessions: madam president, i thank the chair and just would share a few thoughts on a very important matter of the financial health of the united states. we had a nice meeting with the president earlier today. republican senators, virtually all, were there, shared their thoughts, and the president responded. all in all, it was a good exchange. those are the kind of meetings that i don't talk about what is said in detail or quote anyone. i was asked by a number of reporters what happened and what qusay about it -- and what could you say about it. and i guess my conclusion is that not much happened, that no commitments were made that i could see that indicated to the president had made any change in the budget he had submitted or the speech he gave somewhat amending his budget a few weeks ago. he did not make any changes in the plan that i am seeing out there. he discussed it. maybe something will happen. well, what is t

mr. whitehouse: very good. i rise today to speak in support of the nomination of john mcconnell to be the united states district judge in my home state of rhode island. i had the occasion yesterday to be here on the floor and to associate myself with the remarks of my senior senator, jack reed, but i'd like to add some remarks of my own regarding how worthy an addition to the federal bench jack mcconnell will be and to urge my colleagues to support his nomination and in particular to support an up or down vote on his nomination. the mcconnell nomination has been reported on three separate occasions by the senate judiciary committee. each time with a bipartisan vote. this bipartisan backing is not a surprise given the broad support his nomination has found across the political spectrum in my home state of rhode island. i won't read all the quotes of support from prominent republicans back home, but let me just touch on a few. republican former chief justice joseph r.weissberger, a respected jurist of our state's

mr. whitehouse: madam president, 50 years ago on this day, john f. kennedy addressed a joint session of congress and he presented to our nation a bold challenge. he said -- quote -- "i believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal before this decade is out of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth." it was and remains a memorable challenge. to meet it would require long-term commitment and unprecedented resources. it had great risks and it had no simple solutions, but president kennedy put his faith in the talent and dedication and discipline of america. he believed that his challenge could mobilize our country to meet this challenge and succeed, and he was right. president kennedy's goal to in ten years put a man on the moon and return him safely was clear, was direct and was accountable. the result was a vast mobilization of private and public resources that collaborated in innovative ways to achieve that singular purpose, and we did. i come to the floor today to call for a similar challenge to reform our

mr. whitehouse: we must clamp down on excessive oil sperks. speculation, i proposed a to cut one-third of the funding for the commodity trading commission. the commission is responsible for cracking down on illegal speculative activity that artifically inflates the price of oil. we need to make sure that wall street is not hurting middle-class families. we should not be taking this cop off that beat. i'm joining senators cantwell and wyden in sending a letter calling on the commission to impose the position limits on oil trading that were required by the dodd-frank wall street reform bill. this deadline has passed and the commission should act swiftly to protect consumers. i'm glad that president obama has directed an investigation into the role of speculation in our current gas prices. in the long run, we must invest in electric vehicles. alternative fuels, public transit, high-speed rail, and freight rail. each of these transportation methods can significantly reduce our reliance our oil in the transportation sector. indeed, moving freight b

mr. whitehouse, and the senator from oregon, mr. merkley, who have been very involved in bringing this to our attention. i also want to thank the chairwoman of the committee. she has shown a great willingness to work with everybody, to listen, and i have to say that i expect, once the committee examines this issue more closely, that i think many more of our colleagues will want to join news reforming the law -- to join us in r reforming the law in this eample area. mr. wyden: let me just make one more last comment. i also want to express my appreciations to senator merkley, who has been an extraordinarily outspoken advocate of our civil liberties and our privacy, in striking a good balance between fighting terror and protecting the rights of our people, and i have so appreciated his leadership on this issue, and let me just kind of sum up. first, i am very grateful to our chair and pleased with this agreement. the chair has indicated that she believes that those of us who want to reform secret law have raised a serious and important

senator whitehouse and i recommended mr. mcconnell to the president after publicly seeking applicants, talking to attorneys throughout our state, interviewing almost every single applicant. and we took this decision seriously as you would expect. and we know it's a reflection both upon ourselves and upon our state. and from this pool of applicants we selected mr. mcconnell because we found him to be among the best attorneys in the state, a pillar of our community, one of the most generous philanthropists in our state and in most cases anonymously and in many cases, not simply writing a check, but standing in a superline -- soup line early in the morning handing out food to people who need it without acclaim, without fanfare. this is the character of an individual and a character i think ultimately is the test of a judge. and he has a true desire to serve this country. indeed, mr. mcconnell has practiced law for decades. he has never been subject to an ethics claim, a malpractice claim, a rule 11 motion, and, most importantly

mr. chairman whitehouse, thank you for the opportunity to address the important issues prescription drug abuse and i'm very grateful for the committee's attention to this topic. prescription drug abuse has been a major focus at omb pc since my confirmation and i've directed the national drug control program agencies to address this epidemic in our country. i have the responsibility to raise public awareness and coordinate federal activities and take action on drug issues that affect our nation. the efforts that we have taken are balanced and they incorporate the research and evidence-based approaches to address drug use and its consequences. prescription drug use -- abuses the fasted growing to problem in the united states. it is categorized as a public health epidemic by the centers for disease control and prevention. the number of individuals who for the first time consumed prescription drugs for a nonmedical purpose was similar to the number of first-time marijuana users. we have also seen a fourfold increase in addiction treatment at missions or individuals primarily abusing prescrip

mr. chairman, even further under the strategy that's been outlined by the united states. so i think senator whitehouse's remarks are very apt. >> very, very good point. we'd like to welcome lanny breuer. lanny breuer is the assistant attorney general for the criminal division of the united states department of justice. mr. breuer started his career as an assistant district attorney in new york city where he prosecuted offenses ranging from violent crime to white collar crime. he later joined covington and burling llp where he served as co-chair of the white collar defense and investigations group. mr. breuer served as special counsel to president clinton from 1997 to 1999. an eventful period. mr. breuer received his undergraduate degree from columbia university and his law degree from columbia law school. thank you for testifying and go ahead. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and distinguished members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to speak today with you about the proposed civilian extraterritorial jurisdiction act or ceja. i am honored to appear before you on behalf of the department of justic

feinstein, franken, coons, blumenthal, klobuchar, whitehouse, brown of ohio, udall of colorado, durbin, carper, sanders, rockefeller, shaheen, schumer. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask consent that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the senate resume legislative session and then proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the republican leader, the senate proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 61, there be three hours of debate equally divided in the usual form, that upon the use or yielding back of that time, the senate proceed to vote without intervening action or debate on calendar number number 61, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate, that no further statements be in order to the nomination, these statements related to the nomination be printed in the record, that the

whitehouse. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. conrad: madam president, i just briefly want to address this question of why we on our side have not laid down our budget proposal. and let me just repeat, we are in an unusual year. this is not going to be a circumstance in which there's a republican budget, a democratic budget, you go to conference committee and they're resolved, because we have a new process underway at the leadership level involving the white house. this is what the republican leader himself said about that process. the discussions that can lead to a result between now and august are the talks being led by vice president biden. that's a process that could lead to a result, a measurable result. and in that meeting is the only democrat who can sign a bill into law; in fact, the only american out of 307 million of us who can sign a bill into law. he is in those discussions. that will lead to a result. madam president, we don't need a democratic budget and a republican budget. we need an american budget. we need a bud

schumer, blumenthal, akaka, franken, durbin, whitehouse, feinstein, merkley, coons, begich, globe cher, boxer, reed of rhode island, stabenow, and brown of ohio. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i also ask unanimous consent the senate resume legislative session and proceed to a period of morning business for debate only with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio is recognized. mr. brown: mr. president, thank you. yesterday the white house announced that it will not submit three pending free trade agreements, the f.t.a.'s with south korea, colombia, and panama, until -- until congress reaches a deal on reauthorizing the trade assistance adjustments -- the trade adjustment assistance for workers program, the so-called t.a.a. i applaud president obama for putting workers first before we do these trade agreements. the trade agreements are very controversial, as they always are. the promises are always that the

whitehouse, i apologize, i had to step out for a minute. the meeting was on minnesota flooding. senator schumer has stepped in. recognize you. >> first let me thank you, mr. chairman, for having this very important hearing. there are so many different types of issues and questions that have come up because we are in this brave new world. where information is available much more freely and that creates new privacy concerns. and creating the balance is one of the most important things we can do with the -- at the beginning of this century. so i look forward to your leadership and the leadership of senator coburn as we try to balance the important benefits. i'm so glad you have stepped into this place. i always tell people, the senate has so many different vacuums that somebody who is interested can sort of step into and this is a classic example. thanks for your leadership. there are a lot of these areas. apple and google have come here and i thank you both for that. i want to ask about a slightly different aspect of balancing technology with public safety and that is the smart phone applications that enable drunk driving. as you know several weeks ago a n

mr. whitehouse: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, first, thank you for the courtesy of taking my time in the chair so i have a chance to deliver these remarks. it is very much appreciated. we are gathered here on the senate floor to face a very stark fact, and that is that the house republican budget would end medicare as we know it for future generations. the house republican budget would increase costs for current beneficiaries right away, and the house republican budget would do real damage to seniors across this country and in my home state of rhode island. with gas prices at near record highs, unemployment numbers still in double digits, most folks are focused on making ends meet. they deserve a budget that will improve economic opportunity in our country, balance our budget and maintain medicare, medicaid and other programs on which so many americans rely. the house republican budget fails every one of these tests. it ends medicare, it lowers taxes for most corporations and the most fortunate who alrea

mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i had planned to make some similar words. if my senior senator would stay just for one moment with me on the floor. he spoke so eloquently, that i am simply going to associate myself with his remarks. but i also want to add one additional point, which is how much i appreciate his leadership and how hard he worked and the extent to which the credibility that he has built over years with his colleagues in this institution has helped to get us to this point. this was not preordained. there are times when it feels here a if the interest groups that seek our attention and our good wishes control the day around here, and there is not much of an institution. but today was a day in which te institution stood up for itself, in all the ways that senator reed mentioned. i will add my gratitude and respect to him for his leadership through this process. mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new york is recognized. mr. schumer: first i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business and my time be co