mrs. hutchison: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from fairfax is recognized. -- the senator from texas is recognized. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, i appreciate what the senator from north dakota has stated. i am also working in this group to try to finish this f.a.a. reauthorization bill. there's so much in this bill that will let airports throughout our country have the stability and the airport trust funds to go forward. there are many safety issues that have rult resulted from thn accident that we are trying to correct, and other information. this is a very good, very bipartisan bill. the issues that are left -- there are approximately 17 amendments that we will be able to clear with the consent of everyone who has been interested in these, after we dispose of the perimeter issue. we are going to have the reformed amendment filed on the perimeter issue, and it will be available for a vote on monday, where we hope that we will either be able to vote or get some sort of colloquy that is an under

mrs. hutchison: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, on behalf of the senator -- the presiding officer: we are in a quorum call. hutch hih asunanou consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. hutchison: on behalf of the senator from arizona, senator mccain, i ask unanimous consent that amendment number 3528 be withdrawn. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, let me just say, i know that senator rockefeller and i will have a little time toward the vote to talk about the summation of the bill. but while we are at this stage, i do want to say that i think we have come a major step forward in f.a.a. reauthorization. as many who have worked on this product know, we have had 11 extensions of the f.a.a. reauthorization since 2007, short-term extensions because we haven't been able to get the agreements that are necessary to propel this bill from the floor. and there are some very

mrs. hutchison: madamresint? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mrs. hutchison: i just wanted to say to my colleagues that they need to prepare now for a 6:00 vote. anyone wanting to debate will be able to do so within the constraints of the -- the resolution that we just passed. senator inouye is on the floor. we are expecting senator cochran and senator demint. so i hope that if anyone else wants to have time within those time frames, that they would come to the floor now because i would object to any delay beyond 6:00 to start these four votes. thank you, madam president. and i yield the floor. mr. rockefeller: ask for a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. inouye: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. mr. inouye: the amendment offered by the senator from south carolina -- the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. mr. inouye: i ask that the quorum call be rescinded. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. inouye: i thank you very much, madam president. madam presid

mrs. hutchison: mr. president, i would just ask the senator from new hampshire how it is that we can cut back on medicare for our seniors. and i'd like for him to talk about the impact especially in rural hospitals, because rural hospitals serve a larger number percentage-wise of medicare patients, and in my home state of text teb texas, 29% of all or hospitals are located in rural areas. and i received a letter from the texas organization of rural and community hospitals, which represents 150 rural hospitals in the state, saying, "we fear the medicare cuts as proposed could disproportionately hurt rural hospitals, which are the health care safety net for more than 2 million rural texans." now, i would just ask the senator from new hampshire if in his state and what he is hearing from other states, if they are also, likewise, concerned about the impact on our rural residents who are medicare patients and the cuts to hospitals that are going to be really disproportionate which you look at the big picture

mrs. hutchison: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas is recognized. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to temporarily set aside the pending motions and amendments so that i may offer an amendment which is at the desk. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, it is so ordered. the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from texas, mrs. hutchison, for herself and others, proposes an amendment numbered 3608. mrs. hchon mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection, it is so ordered. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, the amendment that i offer today is to allow states to opt out of this health care bill. if he have there was an encroachment on the 10th amendment, this bill is it. we are hearing from state leaders all across the country asking congress to abandon this bill. it is an unconstitutional preemption of state innovation, state prerogative, and states

mrs. hutchison: thank you, mr. president. i want to thank the distinguished chairman of the committee, and i want to say, as the ranking member of the commerce committee, that i believe this f.a.a. reauthorization bill is a very good, solid bill. it is very bipartisan, and we have worked through many of the sticky issues that have held up the long-term extension of f.a.a. reauthorization, i think, in a bill that most everyone on this floor will support, if the bill stays as it has come out of the committee. i want to say also that i believe the aviation subcommittee chair and ranking member, senators dorgan and demifntdemint, deserve a lot of credit for this bipartisan bill as well, because it does provide a solid road map for the direction and future of our aviation system, and its enactment is long overdue. so, i very much appreciate -- as a matter of fact, senator rockefeller and i had been the chairman and ranking member of the aviation subcommittee when this bill was written, and then we both went to the full committee,

mrs. hutchison: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, i'm speaking as if in morning business -- is that the correct procedural status? the presiding officer: the senator is correct. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, i'm rising today to speak on this health care reform bill that is purportedly going through the house right now, and i just have to speak on it because it is so obvious that the american people do not want this bill, and now we seem to be pushing it through the house with these elaborate procedures, and so i want to talk about it as i know many others on this floor are doing and have done, because really the only way that we can bring to the attention of the american people what is going on here is to talk about it, both process as well as substance. the health care bill that passed this senate last december on christmas eve was passed under really a cloud that the american people immediately saw, a big cloud on the horizon for sure, and the

mrs. hutchison: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mrs. hison: madam president, yesterday we made good progress on the bill that is the underlying bill, which is f.a.a. reauthorization. it is in the interest of the traveling public that we start on the glide path to passing this bill, and we need to make progress on amendments. but, madam president, i have to ask my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, if they would be very, very careful about offering amendments that are not germane to this bill. the f.a.a. reauthorization is not a legislative vehicle that can carry a lot of it highly controversial provisions. the previous f.a.a. reauthorization expired in 2007. since then, we have passed 11 short-term extensions, and we will be drafting the 12th in the next two weeks because the current extension expires at the end of this month. while another extension is likely inevitable, we have to go to the final bill and see if we have the opportunity to pass a final bill in the next two weeks. the repeated use of short-term f.a.a. extensions does

mrs. hutchison? >> no by proxy. >> the vote is 13 ayes. 10 opposed. the measure is passed. >> let me thank my colleagues. if any members would like to make opening comments. senator schumer? i would be happy to do that. in the morning if you would like, i would be happy to do it then. if anyone else would like to be heard, we have got a few minutes. any members want to be heard bowman -- to be heard? senator corker bowma? anyone else? heard tonight. >> anything else? if not, i thank all the members. the committee will stand ad [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> secretary of state hillary clinton urged israel to make concessions in the peace process. her remarks are next. then we will hear from the israeli prime minister, and later, vice president joe biden on the economic stimulus package. tomorrow morning, we will get some historical perspective on the passage of the health care bill. george washington professor edward berkowitz join us. and then a discussion on educatio

mr. johans? >> no. >> ms. hutchison? >> no by proxy. >> mr. >> no by proxy. >> the vote is 13 ayes, ten opposed. the measure is passed. >> let me thank all of my colleagues. i'm -- the votes haven't started so i'd like to stay and take some opening comments if members would like to make any opening comments. senator schumer? >> could we come back, those of us who can't be here can we come back and make opening statements? >> i'll be happy to do that tomorrow morning -- i'll leave it up to the will of the -- in the morning if you like. i'd be happy to do it then. anybody else who would like to be heard? we've got a few minutes. any members want to be heard? senator corker no? the corker rule? >> probably best for me not to be heard tonight. >> anything else? if not, i thank all the members. the committee will stand >> i actually now have a house in washington d.c. for the first time. i never had an array idea it was going to be this could them whether it is a letter bomb in washington or a serious one serious >> you can search it, clip it, shar

hutchison. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i will not take long. i will say i think the service to your country, 33 years is very impressive, and being a deputy chief of staff of the army director of operations for the defense intelligence agency are great qualifications for this job and i agree with the chairman and it's one of the toughest jobs in all of government because so many people depend on the safety of our air travelling system as well as surface traveling system and i think the chairman mentioned, but i am in complete agreement that we have i think put so much emphasis on aviation safety as we should that perhaps we haven't looked enough that surface transportation safety for the buses and trains, and i think that's something that you are going to have to take under your purview. one of the issues that i want to make sure we are also addressing is federal law as you know does prohibit screeners in the tsa from striking. however, there are efforts ongoing for collective bargaining by the tsa screeners and previous tsa batvinis traders --

hutchison. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i will not take long.e service to your country, 33 years is very impressive, and being a deputy chief of staff of the army director of operations for the defense intelligence agency are great qualifications for this job and i agree with the chairman and it's one of the toughest jobs in all of government because so many people depend on the safety of our air travelling system as well as surface traveling system and i think the chairman mentioned, but i am in complete agreement that we have i think put so much emphasis on aviation safety as we should that perhaps we haven't looked enough that surface transportation safety for the buses and trains, and i think that's something that you are going to have to take under your purview. one of the issues that i want to make sure we are also addressing is federal law as you know does prohibit screeners in the tsa from striking. however, there are efforts ongoing for collective bargaining by the tsa screeners and previous tsa batvinis traders -- administrators said t

mr. chairman? >> the honorable kay bailey hutchison from the great state of texas. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. welcome to our distinguished fcc panel. and i am pleased that we are holding this hearing. we are going to have to grapple with the convergence between additional distinct businesses like telecommunications and video programs distribution. we want to look at this type of consolidations impact on consumers and competitors, but we also want to make sure that policy determinations about this deal do not impact innovation and investment in this rapidly moving area. in my judgment, the fcc review of this transaction should be limited to the transfer of the relevant licenses between the parties and whether that is consistent with the public interest. merger reviews at the commission have not always stayed as narrow as i believe they should. frequently, parties have used more to review proceedings as a proxy policymaking forum to pursue conditions that reach well beyond the merger itself. in a number of cases, previous fcc's have and post some of these conditions. while i hope that

mr. president, i rise in support of the f.a.a. bill that has been put forward by senator rockefeller, senator hutchison. they have both worked hard on this. i have worked on this for a number of years as well. my general aviation industry is centered in the state of kansas, it's centered in wichita. it's an industry that has had a lot of difficulty lately with markets and the recession, the problems overall, and it needs a bit of good news, and this would be a good bit of good news, having this f.a.a. re-authorization in it. this is an industry that's roughly $150 billion in size. it's located primarily in the united states. it's created and has over 1.3 million jobs. it's key. it goes across a broad array of disciplines. it is a high-tech manufacturing business that we are very good at, and this is something that we need to have is this nextjen that's in the bill on the technology that's implementing that for navigation and for travel across the united states. also in the bill are maintaining inspection procedures that are important for the inspection of aircraft. there is increased funding for essenti

mr. dorgan: madam president, the legislation on the floor of the senate is the f.a.a. rebill, and senator rockefeller is here, senator hutchison has been here and we are working now trying to find a way to move the legislation. it has attracted a lot of amendments that have nothing at all to do with the subject. it's as if some believe this is not urgent or important, and, of course, nothing could be further from the truth. there is an urgency to this legislation. i know it's not, perhaps, the highest-profile legislation in the congress these days, but we have a requirement to reauthorize the activities of the federal aviation -- the f.a.a. and we have now failed to do that and instead had to extend their authorization 11 successive times. but because we extend it, we then don't improve the authorization and do the things that are necessary for improving airline safety, the things that are necessary to include the passenger bill of rights, which is in this bill, airport improvement funds, and particularly modernization of the air traffic control system. i mentioned yesterday the urgency of moving on what is called nexgen, that

mrs. gillibrand: i rise today to talk about the f.a.a. re-authorization bill that has been debated all morning that is being discussed. i want to thank chairman rockefeller, chairman dorgan, ranking members hutchison, demint for their hard work on this very critical looking. i share the concerns that were raised by chairman dorgan as he spoke on the floor about the need to advance this legislation and implement a number of these vital improvements to the safety and security of our entire aviation system. mr. president -- madam president, on the night of february 12, 2009, continental flight 3407 operated by colgan air departed newark airport bound for buffalo, new york. the 45 passengers and five crew members were just a few miles from the airport when a series of events resulting in the death of all aboard as well as a father on the ground whose home was the unfortunate final resting place of flight 3407. over this last year, i have gotten to know many of the families of the victims of this crash. they are a constant presence here in washington, working to improve safety conditions so that others are spared from the horror and loss that they have experienced. sitting in my office last spring as t

mrs. hutchison: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senior senator from texas is recognized. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, i -- the presiding officer: the senate will be in order so the gentlelady can be heard. mrs. hutchison: i call up amendment 3635 and ask for its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. mrs. hutchison: i ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. hutchison: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from fairfax is recognized for one minute. the senate will please be in order. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, this is a very simple amendment. it would just make relief from the marriage penalty and the sales tax deduction permanent. if we don't act, people across our country are going to start getting the marriage penalty tax once again. this was corrected under previous tax law, but that is going out of existence at the end of this year. sales tax deduction is something that a