ms. landrieu: thank you. as we're waiting for senator case circumstance i don't think that there's any opposition to this amendment, but i just see the ranking member on the floor and am wondering if she has anything that she'd like to add at this point. i've said earlier, senator snowe, the members have been very cooperative in trying to minimize -- but still have an open debate -- minimize the issues and the amendments so that we can pass this important bill and get it over to the house and then to the president'president's desk. ms. snowe: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. snowe: thank you. i want to thank the chair as we will. i would like to speak to the amendment that's been offered by the senator from pennsylvania because i think it is a critical amendment for the contracting process, as the chair well understands, because i know the chair has called many meetings on the contracting process. and over the years, you know, we've attempted to rectify and mitigate many of th

ms. landrieu: thank you. see senator cornyn on the floor and i know he is going to call up and will have no objection from me to get his amendment pending. before that, i'd like to ask unanimous consent for senator casey's amendment 216 to come up to be put in the pending column. senator casey will be here shortly to discuss his amendment and then we'll go in just a minute to senator cornyn. is there -- the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: the senator from louisiana, ms. landrieu, for mr. casey, proposes an amendment numbered 216. at the end of title 3, add the following -- ms. landrieu: i ask unanimous consent that the clerk dispense with the reading of that amendment, and our intention will be when senator casey comes to the floor to have an opportunity. before senator cornyn speaks, just one moment, i want to add a few comments about what happened this morning. we did get two amendment votes on the bill. those were the first two amendments, senator nelso

ms. landrieu, proposes amendment number 244 to amendment numbered 183. ms. landrieu: i ask that further reading of the amendment be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. landrieu: thank you, mr. president. that now puts us in order to continue the discussion of our very important bill that senator snowe and i have been managing this week on the floor, and i really appreciate all the members' cooperation, particularly the members of the small business committee who voted this bill out 17-1 because they know, both republicans and democrats, the importance of re-authorizing this vital program, one of the federal programs that works, one of the federal programs that helps to create private sector jobs, one of the federal programs that gives the taxpayer a great return on their investment. one of the gentlemen that testified before our committee last week said for every dollar invested in this program, the taxpayers get a return of $107. that's a pretty good return on investment. so i see two of my colleagues here, senator cardin, a member

ms. landrieu: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. ms. landrieu: i see two senators on the floor and just for order i'd like to ask senator inhofe and then senator rockefeller and then we will try to get some consent for one or two votes tonight. we're still hoping to do that around 6:00 tonight and we'll try to keep people posted. mr. johanns: mr. president, i rise this afternoon to support the johanns-manchin amendment which would send a strong message to job creators that congress is listening, that we have heard them. the bill we are debating to help small businesses with federal funding for research and development is certainly important. but i have to tell you i believe what our small businesses are focused on, what they are really worried about is the avalanche of new regulations that is headed their way. they're worried about the mountain of paperwork that's about to overwhelm them due to the 1099 reporting requirements contained in section 9006 of the health care law. you see, instead of focusing on hiring new workers and growing

ms. landrieu: mr. president, i think this has been a very -- the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. ms. landrieu: mr. president, i think this has been a very interesting debate on one of our amendments. but it really gets to the heart of the larger amendment here on capital hill and in the minds of all americans: how are we going to close this budget deficit, annual deficits, and how are we going to substantially reduce the national debt? and i'm actually pleased that this discussion is taking place on this bill. i think it is appropriate because this bill's intention -- i--its underlying intention is o close that gap by creating jobs. there are some of us around here that actually believe and know -- although there are arguments on the other side; they're not very strong -- that you can accomplish that by cutting discretionary spending alone. the senator from kentucky, senator rand, was here arguing, sort of along that line that if we just accept his amendment -- which i will strongly obje

ms. landrieu: okay. mrs.oxer: i yield to my friend for a question or a series of questions, as many as she might have. ms. cantwell: thank you, madam president. i want to thank my colleague from california and the chair of the committee for working so hard on this important amendment. to try to articulate and help colleagues understand what is at the basis of it. i too was surpriseed to learn that the mcconnell-inhofe amendment would overturn what has really been hard-won gains in fuel efficiency over several years. and i don't really understand because the e.p.a.'s clean air standards through 2016 will save so much gasoline that car buyers will actually save $3,000 over the life of the car. that's because of the hard work that we have done here in the senate on a bipartisan basis. i know our colleague from both sides of the aisle worked to get that last agreement that we did in 2008 and while we're doing this, we'll save $1.00 -- 1.8 billion barrels of oil. so i was surprised to hear that this legislation, t

ms. landrieu: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana is recognized. ms. landrieu: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent to extend -- i'm sorry. let me ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. landrieu: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent for the period of morning business to be extended until 3:00 p.m. with the time equally divided between the two leaders or their designating designees, with senators permitted to speak up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. ms. landrieu: thank you, mr. president. i really appreciate everyone's cooperation in trying to help us move the sbir bill through the senate this week. it is a very important bill, and hopefully we can get back on that bill efficientlily this afternoon as the leaders are negotiating with the amendments that are pending or those amendments filed against the bill. but i see at this time the senator from maryland who is on the floor, wanted to say just a minute

ms. landrieu: thank you, madam president. i ask unanimous consent that we now proceed to -- i'm sorry. that we dispense with reading of the rule. the presiding officer: without objection, morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to consideration of s. 493, which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 17, s. 493, a bill to re-authorize and improve the sbir and the sttr programs, and for other purposes. ms. landrieu: i ask unanimous consent that we now proceed to consideration of s. 493 and have a period of debate until noon. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. landrieu: thank you, madam president. i now have seven unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leader. i ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to and these requests be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. landrieu: thank you, madam president. i really appreciate the coop

ms. landrieu: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. ms. landrieu: thank you, mr. president. i'd like to ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. landrieu: are we in a quorum call? i'm sorry. the presiding officer: we are. without objection. ms. landrieu: i'd like to speak for about ten minutes. i snow that senator bingaman is on the floor and maybe other members are coming to the floor to talk on other subjects, where i guess technically still talking about our re-authorization of the sbir and sttr programs. senator snowe and i have been working through the week to manage this bill through the floor. i want to again just say how pleased i am with the progress that we made this week. i know we haven't had -- we have had about three or four votes on amendments, and there are others that are pending, but we really have made progress, and i really appreciate the cooperation of all of the members. this is a very important program. we have struggled, as i have said, for six years to get

ms. landrieu: thank you, mr. president. before we get into a brief discussion of the bill that's on the floor, i have nine unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. i ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to and these requests be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. landrieu: thank you, mr. president. can i ask the chair -- i know that we're discussing the bill. do we have a time constraint? i understand that at 12:00 there may be some additional commentary. the presiding officer: there is no formal time constraints at this time. ms. landrieu: okay, thank you, mr. president. let me just try to recap for just a moment, because it's my understanding that there may be some colleagues coming down to the floor around 12:00 to pay tribute to an extraordinary woman, an extraordinary american, geraldine ferraro whom we lost this week. and i most certainly want to be respectful to t

ms. landrieu: thank you, mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. ms. landrieu: thank you, mr. president. i would like to follow the remarks of the senator from arizona and associate myself with part of his remarks that have to do with the energy policy of our country today. i am, as he is, disappointed in the administration's reluctance to get the gulf of mexico back up to work. we did have a terrible tragedy. in april -- almost, it will be almost a year, april 20, the deep horizon catastrophe. but i would like to note, mr. president, that for 40 years or longer and 40,000 wells have been drilled safely in the gulf, in the shallow water and in the deep water since 1940, deep water coming into play in about 1985. and up until the deepwater horizon accident, this industry had acted responsibly in large measure with cutting edge technologies. yes, we have to continue to investigate what happened, but, mr. president, shutting down so much of our domestic drilling with the unrest in other parts of the world is just, i think, not the right policy, and i want

ms. landrieu: thank you, mr. president. i want to follow up on the comments of the senator from montana and maryland, who spoke just so eloquently and clearly about the consequences of adopting the house concurrent resolution which sets spending levels for the next year. in my view, a vote for h.r. 1 would be indeed a reckless vote because the consequences of such severe cuts in some areas as outlined particularly by the senator from maryland, the senator from montana would be in fact reckless, and as it relates to my subcommittee, which i wanted to speak about for a moment, and that's the subcommittee on homeland security, mr. president, not an inconsequential area of our responsibility. protecting the 350 million-plus americans that live here in the united states and trust that we're doing our jobs well enough to keep them safe every day from rising threat levels from a variety of different sources. that's what our job is on the homeland security appropriations committee, and i am going to be voting against h.r. 1 because