so you actually... you'd get a phone call, and they would say things like, "ms. snow, we need you to come down to the press center, because we need to talk about that last piece you wrote." >> yes. they call that a convocatoria. >> hinojosa: there's a name? >> yeah, you were convoked. >> hinojosa: you were convoked. >> to come down and have a chat about your story. >> hinojosa: and they'd have your story in front of them. >> they'd have your story, and they'd have it, you know... >> hinojosa: highlighted. >> they would have it highlighted, and we'd talk about it. which was fine, you know? i figure if i sign a story or somebody in my bureau writes the story, we can talk about it. i mean, i think we have to be responsible for what we sign our name on. so i was happy to talk to them abt it. i didn't always agree with them, and if i didn't agree with them i told them, you know, "i disagree." but we'd talk about it, you know? and i think they appreciated that. i mean, i think they appreciated that i wouldn't get defensive and i wouldn't get ornery, and i was willing to dis

ms. mikulski: i yield the floor to senator snowe. the priding officer: the senator from maine. ms. hank you. i want to thank our senior senator from the state of maryland for organizing this tribute to our dear friend, geraldine ferraro and the eloquent comments from the senator from texas as well. i' pleased today to be able to join in this tribute with my good friends a colleagues. senator barbara mikulski and senator barbara boxer, as well, of california. and as i look back in our time ace began my service in the u.s. house of representatives, i can't help but think today we're standing here honoring a come paacompatriot at that time, a political torch bearer, geraldine ferraro after a brave battle with cancer. as many will hear in this senate many times over, geraldine was a pioneering champion and a dynamic force for women's rights, a colleague of all three of us in the u.s. housof representatives, and always a dear frid through more than three decades. as america's first female vice presidential nominee for a major party, geraldine has forever secure a legendary position along

ms. snowe: thank you, mr. president. i rise today in support of h.r. 4 to repeal this onerous mandate on small businesses throughout this country. the failure to repeal this onerous mandate of the 1099 requirement will have a profound impact on millions of businesses across this country at a time in which the already stressed job market as employers have to grapple with the enormity of this cost, not to mention the compliance with this regulation. i certainly want to commend the author of this legislation, the senator from nebraska, senator johanns, for his tenacity, his perseverance, his relentlessness in bringing this to the forefront, not only of the senate but the congress and the country, and hopefully today we can join with our counterparts in the u.s. house of representatives in an impressive bipartisan vote because we really do need to bring this to a conclusion. i also appreciate the fact that the senator from nebraska included in this repeal also the provision that i recommended which was to repeal the provisio

snow. >>mark: national ms., dangerous wild fire causing many to be enacted in their homes. 21 wildfires burningcross the state. all 1200 residents in the area are told to get it. hot ashes carried by winds are sparking new fires every day. >> a strange noises caused passengers to be concerned while aboard on a plane that was taxiing. passengers heard that noise in the cabin and no one knew exactly it was. several passengers did not feel comfortable taking off. they were afraid it was a bomb. turns out it was a low battery indicator credit card reader. the plane i arrived two hours behind schedule. >>mark: a suspicious package was sent to the nbc affiliate's w d i v. the building was evacuated for four hours. they took the package and blew out. they're not sure if it was harshly and explosives. hour news will continue until 11:00 a.m. and temperatures are born to warm up for the weekend. >>mark: will come back, live looks out side of the golden gate. it is a nice looking morning. >> it will be a nice day and a nice weekend. i'm looking for to appeared am sure you are too. and then let us find ou

ms. landrieu: thank you. madam president, under the previous agreement that we reached last evening -- and i want to really thank both leaders, senator reid and senator mcconnell who have worked so hard with senator snowe and myself to try to bring our caucuses to conclusion points on this very important bill, the small business investment bill -- small business innovation bill that we have been negotiating now for almost two weeks, and it's a very important program that deserves to be re-authorized. this bill will reauthorize this program for eight years. we've been operating for the last four years six months at a time. madam president, you representing new york, many of your small businesses have accessed this program. many of your universities, to achieve or to acquire or to reach cutting-edge technologies that not only our federal agencies need but taxpayers benefit directly from this program. this program is a job creator. it's an innovative program and it's a job creator. and so, i really appreciate the work that our two leaders have done with senator snowe and myself to get us to this agreement. we'll be having seven votes this afternoon. skwr to recap they'll be baucus 236, stabenow, 277, rock

ms. snowe: reserving the right to object, i have an additional amendment that i'd like considered on this list, and i thought that we had an agreement that there would be an even number of amendments offered on both sides, and now i understand under the agreement that's put forward by the majority leader there are six amendments on the democratic side and four amendments on our side. i would like to ask consent because i thought our -- my amendment, the snowe amendment 299 would also be included in the amendment, so i'm asking unanimous consent that the order be modified to include snowe amendment number 299. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: mr. president, i object to my friend's request, with the following explanation. we've worked very hard to get this bill done. this is a committee that the senator from maine was chairman of this committee. she is now the ranking member. this legislation -- underline this is extremely important. it is done in the

ms. landrieu: i ask that we resume consideration of s. 493, set aside the pending amendments that i may call up the following two amendments en bloc. that would be cardin 240 and snowe 253. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from louisiana, ms. landrieu proposes en bloc amendments 240 and 253. ms. landrieu: i ask that the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak up to 10 minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. landrieu: i want to thank senator cardin for his patience and senator snowe as we've worked through the last hour or two on their two proposals. both of them have to do with perfecting our contracting programs. while not specific to the sbir program and sttr program, they are very relevant to the work that we do on the small business committee. so i really appreciate all the members that allowed these two amendments to go forward. they'll be pending and hopefully tomorrow we can get some agreement on some additional votes. we've had a very busy day today, as you know, on the underlying bill, the sbir bill. we voted on about seven amendments. we've ha