as ray lahood prepares to leave to spend more time with his family, i wish the best to him. his wife kagt had i often at -- kathy often at his side will have more time with ray and more time with their children amy, sarah, sam and state senator darrin lahood and their wonderful families too. i look forward to working with secretary lahood and his very able successor, former charlotte, north carolina, mayor, anthony fox to maintain and improve transportation systems and networks, the backbone of america's economy. mr. president, i ask that my next statement be placed in a separate part in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, i rise to speak about the continuing toll of gun violence in america. this past weekend we lost too many americans, too many illinoisans to gunfire. last monday 18-year-old april mcdaniel was sitting on her porch in chicago. a masked gunman in a car opened fire, killing 18-year-old april and wounding four of her friends. last tuesday four members of the anders family in darian, illinois, including the family's tw

. >>> this morning transportation secretary ray lahood will announce a new partnership to combat humanfficking in the u.s. it can take place on any mode of transportation. lahood will detail a new plan at a news conference at reagan national at 9:30 this morning. >>> if you're heading to the airport this morning, leave your pocket knife at home. the transportation security administration is dropping the plans to allow small knives on planes. the proposal also would would have allowed passengers to carry sports equipment onboard. lawmakers and airlines were against the plan saying it would place passengers and crews at risk. >>> the family of a young girl in need of a lung transplant has won a legal victory. they allowed the 10-year-old girl to move to the adult donor list. doctors still haven't found a match for sarah. organ transplant rules prevent children under the age of 12 from receiving adult lungs. >>> it is now 4:50. right now river front towns in missouri are bracing for more flooding as the mississippi river crests. this is what it looked like for many homes in that area. wat

secretary ray lahood will give a keynote speech for this year's min net that transportation institute policy summit. he'll join other leaders as they talk about the financial challenges facing our nation's infrastructure. the event begins this morning at 9:00. it is free to the public. >>> right now we have pretty incredible video out of china this morning. you got to see it. it appears to show a child being rescued after a fall. the child fell from about five stories. >> look at this security camera video. a group of security men saw the 2-year-old girl dangling five stories up. they gathered underneath the window and the girl fell right into their arms. state media reported the girl's parents saying they left her home alone while she was sleeping, but she climbed out the window once she woke up. two of the men were injured during the rescue. the little girl escaped with only a mere scratch on her face. >> that is unbelievable. we were just yesterday reporting in new york joe torre's daughter catching a child. >> stay away from the windows. >> and stay home with your children. that's

and our current dot director ray lahood and i want to call a special shout out to former member of our board who has been a supporter of this project for many years, will (inaudible), thank you. thank you, will. and steadfast support. and this is truly been a labor of love for the board and critics along the way and i am totally convinced, absolutely convinced that when this is opened, everybody will realize this was totally worth while and all of the struggles forward and a lng time coming and great leadership. and he and his team and we appreciate that and we are it marks the beginning and i am looking forward, mr. mayor for dedication and whether i am able to rise this. and i did tell the mayor that i have a problem personally, and my term will be up before it is dedicated so i asked for one more term to be here on that great, great day. thank you all. >> so it is because of the leadership of the sfmta board of directors that we executed the contract for the tunneling work about a year and a half ago. our contractor is benard heely and they are the ones responsible for the site righ

[laughter] as ray lahood can tell you, he saved over 25,000 lives so far. people not smoking on airplanes. how many thousands more lives have that saved? , ass the reason why hillary reference, since 1989, hundreds of thousands of jews and other persecuted minorities have been able to go to america. domestic reason why abusers are prohibited from owning a gun, saving so many more lives, as dick durbin knows. the violence against women's act. we should in thought have that prohibition in there. he did not rest until he got it done. it's health was failing, he .ever gave up, he never given -- never give in. if it was never frank, amtrak would not be what it is today. josh, i want to tell you something -- nobody, literally in history, has writteridden ams much as me and the conductor. [laughter] i've made,ound trips literally. 8000 round trips. -- i never had a home or an apartment in wilmington. the conductors are like my family. after being vice president, one of my good friends come to me and says joey. as they will tell you, they're still my buddies. train

. >>> this morning transportation secretary ray lahood will announce a new partnership to combat human trafficking here in the u.s. human trafficking can take place on any mode of transportation. lahood will detail the new plan during a news conference at reagan national airport this morning. >>> leave your pocket nights at home if you' at home if you are heading to the airport. the proposal would have allowed passengers to carry sports equipment on board but the change was supposed to take effect in the next few days. lawmakers and airlines were against the plans saying it would pass passengers and crews at risk. >>> this morning we're hearing of evidence a hollywood screenwriter had classified information when he wrote the film "zero dark 30." according to a pentagon report, leon panetta revealed the name of the commander of the raid that killed osama bin laden during a speech the writer was attending. this was weeks after the raid. panetta was cia director at the time. the report doesn't say whether panetta revealed the name accidentally. republican congressman peter king says this

transportation secretary ray lahood says more research is needed. the auto industry says requiring cameras is too costly. the government says an average of 228 people are killed each year because of backover accidents, half of those deaths involve children under the able of 10. >>> a bay area man pulled off the ultimate marriage proposal after a popular airline agreed to play along. adam from san francisco asked jetblue to play a proposal video for his girlfriend, taron, during aly if the from san francisco to long beach two days ago. the airline agreed and played a dam's video on all 150 tvs. once the video ended, as you seeker adam got down on a knee and proposed. then came the tears of joy. and a yes. you hear the cheering there from passengers and flight attendants. and they evenhanded out cake pops to celebrate. and the surprise continued once they landed. [ cheers and applause ] wow. he pulled out all the stops, didn't he? greeted with champagne, cake and happy cheers from the jetblue staff. okay. now you got to make that marriage work. >> rig

phone-related crashes just in new jersey in 2011, and acourting to outgoing transportation secretary ray lahoodn the cases where cell phones, texting, making phone calls are contributing to these accidents, sure a court could subpoena those records after the fact but in many cases the phone companies don't even keep them that long. so how do you propose that the courts can move forward and prosecute people who are breaking the law and then killing and injuring their fellow citizens? >> right. there's no question this bill is well intentioned and it's meant to address a very serious problem and that is people misusing their phones while driving. but this bill won't fix that problem and raises concerns for at least three reasons. number one, it's an after the fact bill. so this is a bill that would authorize a police officer to look at your records after you've already engaged in the crash. so it's not going to prevent people from the wrongdoing in the first place. secondly, there are much more effective ways to solve this problem. i live in new jersey. i've never seen any sort of ads or any sort

[laughter] but as transportation secretary ray lahood, who was also a close friend of frank, can tell you, he saved over 25,000 lives so far. people not smoking on airplanes. how many thousands more lives have that saved? he is the reason why, as hillary reference, since 1989, hundreds of thousands of jews and other persecuted minorities have been able to go to america. he is the reason why domestic abusers are prohibited from owning a gun, saving so many more lives, as dick durbin knows. the violence against women act. frank even in thought we should have that prohibition in there. he did not rest until he got it done. it's health was failing, he never gave up, he never give in. if it was never frank, amtrak would not be what it is today. josh, i want to tell you something -- nobody, literally in history, has ridden amtrak as much as me and the conductor. [laughter] over 8000 round trips i've made, literally. 8000 round trips. between washington and wilmington -- i never had a home or an apartment in wilmington. the conductors are like my family. after being vice president, one of my

as the secretary of transportation ray lahood can tell you, he saved over 25,000 lives so far. .eople not smoking on airplanes how many thousands more lies has saved?me? -- has that he's the reason why since 1980 900s of thousands of jews and other persecuted minorities have been able to come to america. he's the reason why domestic abusers are prohibited from , saving so many more lives, as dick durbin knows. in thebly wrote violence against women act that frank, even then, thought we should have had that in it and he did not rest until he got it done. his healtheven when was failing, he never gave up, never gave in. , amtrakre not for frank would not be what it is today. that's no exaggeration. i want to tell you something. in historyiterally -- has ridden amtrak more than frank. over 8000 round trips i have , literally, between washington and wilmington. i never had a home or an apartment in 36 years and wilmington. the conductors were like my family, as the secret service knows. they were worried the first time i got on board. one of my best friends comes over and says -- joey! i

as a nation, we acknowledge vice president biden, governor christie, secretary ray lahood, secretarya nation and colleagues as family and friends we mourn the loss of senator lautenberg's high ideals and most of all to offer comfort to the bereaved family in their sorrow. frank lautenberg, son of sam and molly a blessed memory brother to mary ann and larry both of whom we recall weaver call here today. our deepest condolences to the children, to ellen, to lisa and douglas, to josh and christina, to danielle and stewart, to laura and to cory. to you bonnie, our hearts and our prayers are with you on the passing of your beloved. the care and the compassion that you extended to frank every step of the way, especially these last few days, we commit to supporting you now in your loss. senator lautenberg lived to see the greatest blessing, the birth of his children's children aaron tell you jonathan lawrence sera molly hanna sam hudson avery and macy. we pray that each of you shall find comfort in the blessing of your grandfather's memory and always feel the gentle caress of his presence i

he's nominated to replace republican ray lahood who's stepping down can. senate's wrapping up weeks of work on the immigration bill creating a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants allowing additional high and low-skilled workers. now to the floor of the u.s. senate. the chaplain dr. barry black will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. now unto you, o heavenly father, be all praise and glory, for you have filled our lives with wonderful blessings. give to our senators the blessings of an inward calm that will enable them to thrive during days of gloom. fill their minds with noble thoughts, energizing them to persevere in fulfilling your purposes. may your peace, passing understanding, dwell in their hearts and minds. with deliberate intentionality, help them to seek your answers to our national problems. we pray in your mighty name. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one

workers, including a son of transportation secretary ray lahood, our former colleague, to jail with their involvement of pro-democracy organizations. beginning with a december, 2011, raids and throughout the so-called investigation involving freedom house, the national democratic institute had been highly politicized charade. prior to their closure, these organizations carried out important and legitimate programs that help support citizen participation in the egyptian transition process, the very essence, mr. speaker, democracy and america's greatest export. i was in egypt in february and heard firsthand the egyptian government's handling of this case is symptomatic is a broaden crackdown on civil society. this was a sham trial from the first. if this decision stands, not a penny more of u.s. taxpayer money should go to the muslim brotherhood-led government in cairo. i call on the president, president obama, and secretary of state kerry to personally raise this travesty of justice with the egyptian president and i would urge every member of the house and senate to send a letter to the eg

[laughter] but he calculated as a secretary of transportation ray lahood can tell you he saved over 21,000 of more lives has that saved since it was done? he is the reason why as hillary referenced since 1989 hundreds of thousands of jew and persecuted minorities were able to come to america. he is the reason why domestic abusers are prohibited from owning a gun saving so many more lives is dick durbin said. i proudly road in alaska and women's act and frank even then thought we should have had that in it and he didn't rest until he got it done. as i said his health was failing, he never gave up and he never gave in. if it wasn't for frank amtrak wouldn't be what it is today. that is not an exaggeration, and josh i want to tell you something. nobody literally in history has ridden amtrak as much as me as a conductor. [laughter] over 8000 round trips i have made literally. 8000 round trips between washington and wilmington. i never had a home or an apartment in 36 years in wilmington. the conductors were like a family as the secret service knows. the first time i got on amtrak one of my goo