ms. cantwell: thank you, madam president. simply, my amendment restores section 18 of the language that was passed out of the united states senate. so it basically complements the senate -- implements the senate language. madam president, i come to the floor today with much respect from my colleagues, chairman leahy who worked on this legislation for many years and others who have tried to work on this important legislation and move it forward. i am sure it has been challenging. and i mean no offense to my colleagues about this legislation. it's simply my perspective about where we need to go as a country and how we get there. i'm excited that we live in an information age. one of the things i count very fortunate in my life is the fact that this is the age we live in. i often think if we lived in the agrarian age, maybe i would be farming and that is also of great interest, given the state of washington's interest in agriculture. maybe i would live in the industrial age. and when new factories were being built, that would be

ms. cantwell: thank you, mr. president. i know my colleagues here want to join in on the debate that just transpired, but i wanted to take a minute to talk about senate bill 1542 that passed last night and i know just as people are frustrated here with everything that's going on, i think it is important to so forth and for other purposes a second when something does pass and it is good policy that we talk about it, and that is the child and family services improvement and innovation act. congress took a prett pretty bip a last night by improving the lives of children by the passage of this legislation. it's about keeping families together. it's about rewarding government efficiency and driving down cost and it's about giving flexibility to invest in programs that are proven to work for kids and families. this bill is about america's children. it's about making sure that america's foster care program works for children so that they can keep their families together. too often our federal policies have punished states who have

ms. cantwell: mr. president, rising in opposition, this is not a patent reform bill. this is a big corporation patent giveaway that tramples on the rights of small inventors. it changes first to invent to first to file, which means if you're a big corporation and have lots of resources, you will get there and get the patent. secondly, it doesn't keep the money where it belongs. it belongs in the patent office. and yet instead of having reforms that will help us expedite patents, it is giving the money away that is needed to make this kind of innovation work. third, the bill is full of special giveaways to particular industry corporations as we have just witnessed with votes on the floor. and fourth, by taking away the business patent method language, you will make it more complicated and have years and years of lawsuits on patents that have already been issued. if this is job creation, i got news for my colleagues, it is siding with corporate interests against the little guy. i urge a no vote. mr. leahy: mr. president, i ask for the yeas and nays on final passage. the