reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senate majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to executive session to consider calendar numbers 187. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: if the chair would withhold for just a minute, i have a number of numbers. 187, 189, 190, 191, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 210, 211, 212, 213, 216, 220, 221, 22220 to have and including 250. 222 to and including 250. 253, 254. and all nominations on the secretary's desk in the air force, army, coast guard, foreign service and navy, that the nominations be confirmed en bloc, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table en bloc, that no further motions would be in order and that any statements relating to any of these matters appear at the appropriate place in the record as if read and that the president of the united states be immediately notified of the senate's action and the senate then resume legislative session. the presiding officer: is there an objection? without

reid: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until tomorrow morning june 9 at 10:00 a.m., following the prayer and pledge, journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for use later in the day and there be a period of morning hours to be divided between the leaders or their designees, with the majority controlling the first half and the republicans controlling the second half, senators permitted to speak up to 10 minutes each during that time. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: following morning business, madam president, the senate will resume consideration of h.r. 1256, tobacco legislation. i ask furtsz area that the senate -- further that the senate recess from 12:30 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. for the weekly caucus luncheons and the time for the adjournment or recess be counted postcloture with the matter before the senate, the tobacco legislation. th

reid: i would be happy to. mr. dorgan: madam president, last thursday the majority leader and i stood in that aisle and the question was going to be under what conditions would this travel promotion act come to the floor of the senate, and we said, do you know what? tell us what amendments you ne need, tell us which amendments you wish to offer and we'll give you some. and so it ended up five amendments on their side, three on ours, just as a start. it wasn't going to be a limit or anything but we'll just start with five and three. so they showed us their five and none of them had anything to do with the bill and we said okay, that's fine. those five are fine. you can offer those. they were all about tarp, troubled assets and so on. so we said fine. and then we showed them the three that were to be offered on our side and they looked at three of them and said, this one we will not allow to be offered. so all a sudden it became a circumstance where the my north was deciding -- the minority was deciding they could of

reid: mr. president, at this time the oath shall be administered in conformance with article 1, section 3, clause 6 of the constitution, and the senate's impeachment rules. i move that the senator from kentucky, mr. mcconnell, be designated by the senate to administer the oath to the acting president pro tempore, the senator from hawaii, mr. inouye. the presiding officer: without objection, it is so ordered. mr. mcconnell: do you solemnly swear that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of samuel b. kent, judge of the united states district court for the southern district of texas, now pending, you will do impartial justice according to to the constitution and laws. so help you god. mr. inouye: i do. mr. reid: the oath shall now be administered by the presiding officer to all senators. is it an appropriate time for all senator who has cause to be excused. 6 the presiding officer: is there objection? the chair hears none. it is so ordered. senators shall now be sworn. do you

reid: will my friend yield for a brief moment? mr. corker: yes. mr. reid: i want to go to the bill. i want to follow regular order. that's what i was asked to do. and i'm happy to have my staff work through night to see if we can agree on a finite list of amendments. but senator nelson is the man to do that. he's a wonderful person, i've already said. i'm just disappointed that it is such a struggle to get things done. mr. corker: mr. president, if i could talk back to the respected leader. i thank you for bringing it forth. i do think it's important that we work through eight bills before the recess ends or begins and i hope that over the next couple of hours that you and the distinguished senator from south carolina hopefully can reach some resolve that is an accommodation and we can move through this. and i thank you very much for your patience. i notice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

reid: madam president, that is really kind of insight. i don't know who's on first, but it is pretty interesting. madam president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i now dishact we proceed to a period of morning business with senators allowed to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: madam president, as if in -- well, first of all, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 132, the nomination of william sessions to be the chair of the united states sentencing commission. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. mcconnell: madam president, we have not had an opportunity to get that cleared on this side as yet. so, therefore, i will have to object for the moment. the presiding officer: objection

reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: madam president, with the senate chaplain, admiral black, standing by, we all listened to the prayer of one of our jewish brethren from las vegas, rabbi harlig. the chaplain, i'm sure, was pleased with the prayer. those of us here were pleased with the prayer. it was a wonderful, meaningful prayer. i want to welcome rabbi harlig for helping us open the senate and for the beautiful prayer that he uttered. rabbi harlig and his wife dina opened a center in their living room in 1990. it was -- it has grown dramatically since then, and successfully grown. there are now five such community centers in southern nevada. the organizing rabbi harlig and his friends -- i'm sorry. the organization rabbi harlig founded has taught many children and many adults and done so many good deeds for so many people. as rabbi harlig mentioned in his invocation, the day is significant. it's significant because it's the day of the chabad community -- important in the day of the chabad community. it is the

reid: of course. the presiding officer: so the senate may receive a message from the house of representatives. >> mr. president, a message from the house of representatives. the clerk: mr. president, i've been directed by the house of representatives to inform the senate of the appointment and the managers on the part of the house may exhibit the articles of impeachment against samuel b. kent. the presiding officer: the message will be received. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: later today democrats will move forward on a bill sponsored by democrats and republicans, lots of republicans, a bill that creates jobs at a time when we need them the most. i encourage the republicans to join with us. i want us to move forward on this piece of legislation. democrats will do our job using this great legislative body to legislate and make life better for struggling americans. i encourage my republican colleagues to do the same. the travel promotion bill is critical f

reid: i ask that we proceed to s. res. 186. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 186 condemning the murder of army private william andrew andy long and the wounding of private quinten esqula shot outside the navy center in little rock, arkansas, on 2009. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. reid: i ask that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table there be no intervening action or debate and any statements related to this resolution be place in the appropriate place in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask consent as if in executive session that the injunction be removed from the senate on june 16, 2009, protocol amending the tax convention of new gleed land, treaty document number 111-3. further ask that the treaty be considered as reads the first time and be to the committee on foreign relations and the president's message be printed in the or. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: madam president, i now ask consent that when the senat

reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: the senate is not having a quorum call, is that true? the presiding officer: that's correct. mr. reid: madam president, there will be no more votes today. we will have no session tomorr tomorrow. when we come back a week from monday, we'll have a number of votes beginning at 5:30. as i've told everyone more than once, the next five weeks after we get back here is going to be jam-packed with stuff to do. members should understand that we'll have votes on mondays and fridays with the one exception that's already been announced, on the 17th of july. we will have -- we hope we don't have to have weekend sessions. we have a lot to do. everyone knows the workload we have. and i would hope that the -- we understand the amount of work we have to do. we're going to be in a week longer than the house of representatives. as everyone knows, because of our rules, we can't move as quickly as they do. but we have an immense amount of work to do. we have the sotomayor nomination. we have defens

reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: could i ask the distinguished senator from massachusetts if he would yield for a unanimous consent request or two? mr. kerry: of course i would yield, mr. president. mr. reid: as usual, i appreciate the courtesy of my friend from massachusetts. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that all postcloture time be yielded back except for 30 minutes, and that tienl divided as follows: 10 minutes for senator kerry, if you count the time he's already used. you need more time? okay. i just have people -- you know how they call thursday afternoon wanting to leave. 10 minutes each: senator kerry, 10 minutes for senator cornyn, 010 minutes for senator coburn. each 10 minutes. or their designees. upon the united states or yielding back of time, the senate proceed to vote on confirmation of the nomination. upon confirmation, the president be immediately notified of the senate's action and the senate then resume legislative sessionme

reid: mr. president, i ask consent that the names not be read. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: i now ask unanimous consent that on tuesday june 16, following a period of morning, the senate resume to the motion to proceed to s. 1023 and there be one hour of debate. the motion to proceed with the time equally divided and controlled between the leaders or designees, upon the use yielding back of that time the senate proceed to conscious to -- to -- on the motion to invoke cloture. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. mr. dorgan: mr. president, the piece of legislation that was just described by my colleague, the travel promotion act, is a piece of legislation i want to explain some. the travel promotion act is a bipartisan piece of legislation that i have introduced here in the united states senate with senator ensign, senator inouye, senator klobuchar, senator reid, senator martinez, and many, many others. i believe in t

reid: mr.r. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: i was outside to meet some students from reno and las vegas and there is a lot of stuff blowing around and i got it this my eyes. i wanted to say to this personally but i will take the opportunity to say this now: the presentation you made on the senate floor today regarding health care was stupendous, terribly impressive. i'm going to take much of what the presiding officer said today and use it and information that i give to the people of the state of nevada and the presentation i make on the floor. it was very, very good. mr. president, as a health debate has heated up this week, republicans have once again rolled out one of their standard, stale talking points. they question the efficiency of our government. when all else fails they berate government. if republicans want to have an honest d

ialso, senators agreed and, -- senator reid and mcconnell will be involved.hree or 4000 cases right now. records need to be examined, and they will be, and i do not think it is good for the rest of them. i look forward to talking. i think that would be a good time. we have until october 7 or 5 for the nominee to take office. that is when justice souter will be departing. >> what about concerns that she might be an activist? >> we really have not talked about her experiences beyond being a lawyer and a judge. >> what is your take on the language and criticism we have heard about her being racist? >> well, i did not think that that is the wine which -- language -- i will now use that kind of language. -- i will not use that kind of language. those sorts of questions, people who feel strongly about it use strong line which. i think they're right thing to do is ask people what is and how she will decide those cases. >> when you see that line with, is that damaging for the republican party? >> the people out there are not officials. they are not republican officia

reid the senate will be in morning business until 10 p.m. with senators allowed to speak four ten minutes each, and the time will be equally controlled with the republican controlling the first half and the majority the next half. following morning business the senate will resume consideration of h.r. 1256, family smoking prevention tobacco criminal act. time until 2:30 will be divided and controlled as indicated, that is, from 2:00 to 2:30 between senators dodd and enzi and at 2:30 we will vote on passage of the bill. madam president, there are two bills at the desk due for a second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the titles of the bill for the second time. the clerk: s. 12312 to amend the federal food, drug and cosmetic act with respect to the importation of prescription drugs and for other purposes. 2751, an act to accelerate motor fuel savings nationwide and so forth. mr. reid: madam president, these are the drug reimportation legislation that has been around for a number of years and we're trying to move forward on t

reid: mr. president, i'll withdraw that. i think there is an announcement that you want to make prior to me suggesting the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leader time is reserved and there will be a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak up to 10 minutes each. mr. reid: i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. warner: mr. president? the presiding officer: the jorn senator from virginia. mr. warner: i ask that the quorum be rescinded. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. warner: i rise to help introduce legislation to help seniors navigate through a complicated and often overwhelming health care delivery system. because of the fragmented nature of our health care system, we often fail to provide patients, their families, and caregivers with the necessary tools, information, and support to both age well and with dignity in their setting of their preference, oftentimes their homes. i believe that

reid plap? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks, the senate will be in period of morning business. senators will be allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each. there will be no roll call votes today. senators dorgan and martinez, the managers of the travel bill that's before the senate, have indicated that they're ready to move forward on amendments being laid down. we'll have a series of votes monday night. and we'll move toward completing that legislation as quickly as possible. important legislation it is. we look forward to completion of that legislation. as the debate escalates over the best way to ease the crushing burden of health care, it is easy to become sidetracked by misrepresentations or attemp teo point fingers. when we do those things, we lose sight of what is at the heart of this debate: this reform. i want to remind all of us what this is all about -- the health care debate. it's about hard-working americans. they deserve better than to be casualties of misleading politics. the millio

in perhaps we could proceed to the discussion on senator reid. >> thank you mr.chairman, thank you senator mikulski baron and would offer an amendment to section 218. this is on behalf of myself as senator as a, a month to thank them for their thoughtfulness and i also ask unanimous consent that senator hatch be added as a co-sponsor. >> without objection. >> this is what amendment goes to the drug tax box which has been shown by researchers to give consumers significantly better information and more understandable information. recently fda's risk committee recommended the fda adopt standards to disregard the change, the essential changes that would apply to promotional labeling and printed advertising so it would not a and sustanon beyond the model itself would be promotional advertising, the magazine circulars etc. and this has been agreed to with ranking member. we do not intend angelina to this place in the decision. if they propose this before than the have a year to promulgate the rules so i think this is entirely consistent with a reasonable approach to ad

reid: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: mr. president, we will soon vote on a motion to waive a point of order. in the last congress we heard our colleagues say things like -- and i quote -- "i cannot understand how we can claim to support our troops and yet put them in increased jeopardy as a result of our failure to act." here's another: "it is so irresponsible to tell the young men and women serving in uniform with the orders of our commander in chief that you are not going to get them the ability to take care of themselves." and "it's time to put politics behind us and support our troops with the funds they need." each of these quotes, mr. president, spoken by republicans, when a republican was in the house -- the white house -- each of these quotes was spoken by republicans when a republican was in the white house. today, with a democrat in the white house, some republicans threatened to stand i

reid brignac, b. j. upton and carl crawford. brignac 0-for-1 with a dprowb a -- a ground ground ball and a walk. that ball right off the mask of josh bard. >> rob: we may have to explain to joe west how much money masn spends to televise these games. he needs to take a chill pill. we have the best crew in the game. top of the order now, b. j. up ton after the base hit by reid brignac. upton is a right hander. ron villone is ready for carl crawford. so this becomes a vitally important hitter for joel hanrahan. here is b. j. upton bunting -- is b. j. upton bunting as early as the 7th inning, knowing it will be lefty-lefty after this? >> i don't think so. 8th inning maybe. 9th inning maybe. >> rob: you already have the tie at home. you go for the jugular right here if you are the rays. they just beat the yankees 11- 1. >> bob: they lead baseball with 353 runs scored. >> rob: i think they go to ped and they score run. oops, they just scored another. they have a very good offense. >> bob: third in homers behind the yankees and ranger

let me turn to senator reid. and thank you very much.e look forward to moving your nomination as soon as we possibly can. thank you again for your willingness -- >> thank you. >> welcome to your family as well. delighted to have them. >> thank you very much. >> thank you also, mr. allison. chairman dodd. senator warren raised the issue of warrants which is close to my concern, also. just once again to emphasize with the recent legislation, you have complete flexibility on the use of the warrants. and i urge you to use that flexibility wisely. there's an issue that, frankly, a question that's just come to mind. the t.a.r.p. fund has received two forms of payment, the principal that was advanced and also interest on the preferred. does that interest refer back to the t.a.r.p. program and another question related was the value of the warrants, the profits from the warrants. does that go back into the top program? >> moneys that are received go into the general funds of the u.s. treasury. the amount advanced initially is then deducted from t

reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: mr. majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks the senate will be in a period of morning business with senators to be allowed to speak for up to ten minutes each. republicans will control the first 30 minutes and the majority will control the next 30 minutes. the senate will be in recess from 12:30 to 2:15 today to allow for weekly caucus luncheons, to continue work on an agreement to continue the legislative branch appropriations bill, to be able to reach an agreement senators could expect votes in relation to that bill during today's session. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the "help" committee be discharged from further consideration of h.r. 1777. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 1777, an act to make technical corrections to the higher education act of 1965, and for other purposes. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate proceeds to the meas

ball and reid brignac was hitting like a guy who has hit 12 homeruns, not 0. base, dioner navarro, the catcher. the rays lead 4-3 here, bottom 8. hits even at 8. ballgame started with the nats scoring three runs after five batters had stepped to the plate. now, they are down a run in the 8th inning and a foul ball off the bat of reid brignac. >> rob: well, on nats xtra a couple of night going, ray knight made a great point that the nats are now in almost every game, playing a more exciting game, much more exciting to watch. >> bob: that's true. >> rob: this is a team that went to the world series last year. you have them up one run, in the 8th. you have done a pretty good job. >> bob: you know, when you are in tight ball games, you have to keep doing all the basic things and that includes catching the ball. >> rob: that's true. >> bob: your point is well taken. this is a lot better than getting beaten 12-6 or 11-3. these are competitive ball games and the nats are right in them. beimel with a fastball in there and brignac just stands there and watches it. for

reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: mr. majority. mr. reid: i ask that the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: at 11:00 today there will be a vote on the nomination of mr. koh, the attorney for the department of state. i tell all senators i had a conversation with the republican leader today. we're doing our best to move to a couple of appropriation bills. the first one online is the legislative branch appropriation bill. the next is homeland security. we hope we can get on those. the republican leader said he would do his best to help us to that. i hope that, in fact, is the case. we'll keep members advised as to what we're going to do for the rest of the day. the presiding officer: under the previous order the leadership time is reserved. under the preefs order the senate will proceed to consider the following nomination with the -- which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination: department of state, harold koh of connecticut to be the legal adviser of the department of state. the p

senator reid, harry reid, declared -- and i agreed with him -- in a press conference after my bipartisan senate amendment was passed that -- quote -- "we will never allow terrorists to be released into the united states." i think that's a good statement. i agree with it. he went on to say -- and i'm quoting now -- "we don't want them around the united states. i can't make any -- make it any clearer than the statement i have given you. we will never allow terrorists to be released in the united states." well, that sounds real good and i agree with him and i hope that he's right. however, the problem is, if you try to try these people in our federal court system when the rules of evidence are different in terms of admissibility of evidence, many times you would not be able to get a prosecution and they would be turned loose. finally, senator durbin said the feeling was at this point we were defending the unknown. we were being asked to defend a plan that hasn't been announced. well, i have to say, it still hasn't been announced. now, two weeks ago, the obama administration again went again

now, i signed that letter harry reid. now, mr. president, the hearing date, which is 48 days after judge sotomayor was selected is consistent with the 51-day average time between announcement for a presidential selection and the start of the hearings. it has been that way for the past nine court nominees. -- that were confirmed. the proposed g.o.p. alternative, that the hearings be heard after the senate returns from recess, the first tuesday after labor day, tuesday september 8th, would subject judge sotomayor to the longest confirmation hearing to any supreme court nominee in history so far as we could tell. we stopped checks when we got back to 1960. the g.o.p. plan would delay her hearing until the 107th day after her selection. robert boric, the current record holder, waited 76 days, thomas alito waited 64 -- 64 and 67 days respectfully. mr. president, we are doing our utmost to have this nominee have a fair -- we want to -- a fair hearing, we want to make sure that the republicans have all the time they need. but history doe

reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks, the senate will be in a period of morning business for up to one hour. senators will be allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes eesm the majority will control the first 30 minutes and the republicans will control the final 30 minutes. following that morning business, the senate will proceed to consideration of the concurrent resolution relating to an apology for slavery. there will be up to an hour for debate equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees prior to a vote. we do expect that vote to be a voice vote. upon disposition of the concurrent resolution, the senate will resume consideration of the conference report to accompany 2346, the emergency supplemental appropriations bill. we hope to reach an agreement that would allow us to vote on motions to waive points of order. a time for a vote on adoption of the conference report. but if we're unable to reef an agreement, there would be a cloture vote on the conference repor

reid: i ask that the quoarp call be terminated. officer woiks. mr. reid: i ask that the majority leader be authorized to sign any resolutions from montana tai june 15 to thursday, june 1. i ask that the senate adjourn until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. following the prayer and pledge, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the the morning hour be deemed expired, toot time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day and thereby a period of morning business with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with the majority controlling the first half and the republicans controlling the final half. the senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. i ask that the senate recess from 12:30 tomorrow until 2:15 p.m. t to allow for the weekly party caucus luncheons. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: following morning business, the senate will resume the motion to proceed to s. 1123. there will be one hour of debate fryer a cloture vote. the senators should expect the

it's a very traditional curriculum, saying reid, when i talked to the reid students, we discussed academic freedom issuers an they didn't insert horowitz or a right wing. and so i took that as a good sign as well. they don't have those departments. : who was in revolt against the revolutions of liberty in the 18th-century. ayars are regarded as they are still pushing castro totalitarianism. you can see it in the t-shirts. he is an icon -- this is a mass murderer who executed 14 year-old. is it is the coward it is what he was an as for ballast. retarded -- i was a new lift test, we don't think that much of maoism and i didn't think that much of it were oral because of the university of texas the entire board of trustees appointed by two republican governors, bush and perry, a red state. you could take a course in the world scene through j guevara's eyes. that is the course, you read three works by him and the professor introduces from rating support of material because of a forest to sides, that is so antiquated there should be to use of some like jacob rivera or anybody. any left is so i a

reid: mr. president, following leader remarks, the senate will be in a period of morning business for an hour. senators will be permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. the majority will control the first 30 minutes and the republicans will control the next 30 minutes. following that morning business, senate the senate will resume the motion to proceed to s. 1023, the travel promotion afnlgt there will be within hour for debate prior to the cloture on that motion to proceed. senators should expect a vote to begin as early as 11:45 today. the senate will recess, as we do on every tuesday, from 12:30 to 2:15 for our wkly caucus luncheons. mr. president, every day, like every senator, i get mail from men and women across my state. people still write letters. it's not all over the internet. people still write handwritten letters, lots of them. people offer advice and criticism, suggestions and stories for making sure their representative democracy works the way they believe it should. if anyon

reid: mr. president, following leader remarks the senate will be in phorbg with -- will be in morning business. following morning business the senate will resume consideration of the tobacco legislation. and immediately proceed to a cloture vote on the dodd substitute amendment. senators should expect the first vote to occur at 5:30 p.m. today. the filing deadline for first-degree amendments is 3:00 today. filing deadline for second-degree amendments is 4:30 p.m. today. i ask consent that the time from 5:00 until 5:30 be equally divided and controlled between senators dodd and enzi or their designees. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, at 5:30 today we're going to have an extremely important vote. it's on whether or not this body will invoke cloture on the tobacco legislation. sunday -- yesterday -- 3,500 children who never smoked before tried their first cigarette. today another 3,500 will do the same and tuesday will be the same and wednesday will be the same.

national surface transportation policy and revenue study commission by senate majority leader harry reid. in january of 2008, after two years of meetings, hearings and research, our commission recommended to congress a vision for transportation policy and funding in america. a new vision which includes a framework that will reform and hopefully revolutionize the way we do transportation policy and funding for the next 50 years. one of our recommendations was substantive reform of our passenger rail system. over the next half century, the united states is projected to add 150 million new residents. this increase will cause travel to grow at an even greater rate than the population will. we will need to provide new mobile choices which will require a cultural shift for the traveling public. we presented our report to congress in january of 2008. we recommended that the entire country should be connected by passenger rail by the year 2050. the recommendations also defined that the passenger rail corridor should connect population centers within 500 miles of each other. just 11 months later

this president and senator reid and this congress have a vision for transportation in our nation much like that of president eisenhower which is connecting america. the united states is behind the curve in passenger rail service, as we know. the far east, near east, europe and the middle east are investing billions in passenger and freight rail systems for many years. our lack of vision and investment is deteriorating our global competitiveness and way of life. the nation's new vision should not just focus on existing passenger rail lines but expand beyond the current corridors. in my opinion the vision to improve a western connection much like the recommendation of our commission, connecting 22 western states in phases as a system, not as pieces, should be a priority. the first phase of the western connection is being considered, the desert express' high-speed rail passenger corridor connecting california to las vegas. this project will ultimately connect victor ville to palmdale, calif. from los angeles to san francisco. this project will connect 3 major western metro mama ted -- me

president obama and senator reid and this congress realesed that that investment in passenger rail iseeded now, not over the next 50 years. so $8 billion was put into the stimulus bill to not only create jobs but to kick-start the program to begin a valiant new vision for america's transportation modes. i think this president and senator reid and this congress have a vision for transportation in our nation and is much like that of president eisenhower, which is connecting america. the united states's way behind the curve in passenger rail service as we all know. the far east, europe and the middle east have invested billions in passenger rail system for years. our lack of vision and investment is deteriorating our global competitiveness and our quality of life. the nation's new vision should not just focus on existing passenger rail linds but should expand beyond the current corridors. in my opinion, the vision should include a western connection much like the recommendations of our commission. connecting all 22 western state in phases as a system, not as pieces, should be a priority.

reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: woubg. mr. reid: mr. president, let me say a few words regarding the excellent work of the judiciary committee, the work that has been done by chairman leahy. and he has informed me that senator sessions has been most cooperative during the entire time that senator sessions has had this new assignment. senator mcconnell asked me one day last week to delay a floor vote until after the august recess on judge sotomayor. and he sent me a letter which i was happy to receive making his case for this delay. i indicated to him this morning that -- to him, senator mcconnell -- that i had a telephone call scheduled with the chairman of the judiciary committee and the president to go over the content of skphapbl's well-written -- of senator mcconnell's well-written letter. we had quite a long conversation with the president. the time, i don't know,

well, last thursday and friday, i worked and senator reid worked and many others worked to see, we're on the bill, now can we figure out what kind of amendments will be offered. we had a discussion in the middle of the aisle with senator mcconnell, senator reid, senator martinez, and others, and we agreed to begin with amendments on each side. perhaps we started three and two and five amendments on the republican side and three amendments to start the process. so can you give us a list of the amendments? yes. we got a list of the amendments. five amendments on what is called the tarp program, troubled asset relief program. having nothing to do with this bill. we said, that's fine. you want to have five debates and votes on tarp, ok. so here are our three amendments, two of which had to do with studies and the other was an amendment by senator sanders that said to the commodity future trading commission that we want them to use all the authority they now have, plus any emergency authority, use the authority you now have to start finding a way to shine the light on these unbelievable sp

and senator reid said i'll consider it bipartisan if i can get three or four republicans. that's it. and after, democrats control 59 senate votes and i believe 258 house votes. touf check me on that. they don't need republicans at this point. mike pence and the others know it. they're putting out proposals to their credit, they're putting out detailed ideas. but i'm not sure anybody is listening. >> but they also have the strategy of handing it all to the democrats saying you own this bill. so if it falls flat, they can later use it as a political weapon when the 2010 elections come up. and that's exactly what they're intending to do with the energy bill and potentially health care as well. with the energy bill, if it does raise energies rates and people are still without jobs tand economy is still not doing well, that can be a really powerful thing for the republicans to harness, to use against the democrats in maybe recapture a few seats. that's really how the political machine works. every election you try to pick up a few more seats. this could be a strategy that reall

harry reid is moving through the upper chamber. he later said if the house can move a bill, then he can move a bill. this is speaker policies -- nancy pelosi is flagship bill. whether she can get this through the house. if the kids to the house, it will pick up momentum with a push from the white house. you never know. host: in more mundane issues such as spending bill, the word is the house will take up the homeland security spending bill this week. how was congress doing in getting their work done by the beginning of the end of the year? calleguest: they have made some progress. the chairman wants to move all the appropriations, one by one, through the house by the august recess. that is a tall order. it has not been done in recent years. on the senate side, the senate wants to move every bill one by one by the beginning of the year. now with the war supplemental, they need to get that off the agenda this week. whether they will get them all done by september 30th, we will see. host: we talked about a lot this of our -- this hour

julian tavarez against michel hernandez, reid brignac and b.j. upton for the rays, bottom of the 8th. >> rob: julian tavarez worked a couple of innings for his 50th win in the major leagues. >> bob: guys like mariano rivera, hoffman, wet they ares on that list. >> rob: i think arthur rhodes is on that list. >> bob: threw his bat at the ball. it will be uncatchable down in the bullpen. >> bob: is that ludacris? >> rob: throwing his bat? that's what you call throwing the bat head out there. literally. >> bob: the line on andy sonnanstine who will go 7 1/3, six hits, a walk, five strikeouts. he threw the same number of pitches in 7 1/3 that jordan zimmermann did in five innings, 92. did he go? the appeal takes forever. paul shriver finally says no. >> rob: check this out from the side view. he may have held up. >> bob: that bat broke the plane. look at zimmerman. he always starts the glove down low and then sweeps it up right into the ball. beautifully done for the first out here in the 8th. >> rob: imagine this score is a one run ballgame, this wou

over on that aisle on thursday, we had a discussion, senator reid, senator mcconnell, myself, senator martinez, and then back and forth in the cloakrooms, we offered amendments back and forth that -- just to get started on the bill. there wasn't a list that said here's the end-all. it said, let's just try get started. and all five of the amendments offered by the minority, we said, fine. have nothing to do with the bill but that's fine. you want to offer them? offer them. but don't come to the floor on monday saying that the majority's obstructing your right to offer an amendment for which we said you could offer. i mean, how do you explain in contradiction? and, again, my point, if this congress can't even agree on tourism, how's it going to agree on the -- how are we going to make progress on health care? how are we going to make progress on comprehensive energy legislation or climate change or a range of difficult international situations? how are we going to reach some sort of understanding that we represent one interest in this country? that ought to be the public interest in the

bruce reid is an idea man's idea man. he possesses a rare blend of brilliance, humor, and humility. to be honest, after his eight years in the white house, i never thought i'd leuer him back to the d.l.c. he was harder to recruit than bill clinton. but i always believed bruce was the person to lead the d.l.c. into a new era and i could not be more delighted that he is doing so. thank you, bruce, for giving the d.l.c. a great future and you're going to make the d.l.c. an important source of new democrat ideas for president obama. [applause] the last 14 years have been a blessing for me, and i'm not going to detail every one of them. the d.l.c. has far exceeded any dreams that i could have had for it when we began. and you've heard plenty about that tonight so i'm not going to talk about that. what i want to say a few words about are some of the beliefs and values that guided me. that i tried to instill in the d.l.c. and that i hope bruce -- the d.l.c. will continue to reflect under bruce's leadership. first, call me old fashioned, but i still believe that substance matters. that valu

reid: i ask consent the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: in my office i received a call from admiral mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. i wrote down what he asked and what he said. he said, senator, there is a sense of urgency that general mcchrystal be able to go to afghanistan tonight. there is no commander in afghanistan. he said -- admiral mullen said -- and i wrote it down, admiral mcchrystal is literally waiting by an airplane. it's 2:00 in the morning thursday in afghanistan. dawn will soon be breaking, and our troops will not have a commander there. is this wh

reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks, we'll be in a period of morning business for an hour, senators will be allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each. the republicans will control the first half, the majority will control the second 30 minutes. following morning business, the senate will resume the motion to proceed to the travel promotion act, postcloture. following adoption of that motion to proceed to travel bill later this afternoon we'll turn to the consideration of the emergency supplemental appropriations conference report. mr. president, i'm disappointed that we are again wasting time on a heavily bipartisan bill, the travel promotion act. wide support by both the democrats and republicans. but the republicans forced us to have a vote on cloture to allow us to get on the bill. all the republicans voted for it. they're filibustering things that they even agree with, just to stall for time. now, mr. president, this is 30 hours we could use on a lot of good things. i don't know what

our leader, harry reid, insisted we stay here on this matter. that's leadership. he could have said, let's move on to another issue. it's taking too long, another couple of weeks, three weeks, to get it done but because harry reid and dick durbin and my friend mike enzi have stayed with us and insisted we go through a normal process which was right to do in our committee, good staff people who worked hard on this, we will get this done today. it might just move along to the next issue but for the first time we're going do make a difference by requiring that the food and drug administration regulate the production, the sale and the marketing of these products much that is history. and i can't tell you how proud i am to be involved in it in the name of ted kennedy, in the name of others who is come before us, mike defin dewine of ohio who championed this along with henry waxman in the other body and the thousands of organization whose have joined us today. mr. durbin: i thank the senator from connecticut for his leadership on this issue. just a few week he had histo

reid: mr. president, following the remarks of the leaders the senate will be in morning business for one hour with senators allowed to speak for up to ten minutes and the majority controls the first 30 minutes and the republicans control the second 30 minutes. then the senate will resume consideration of h.r. 1256, family smoking prevention and tobacco control act. last night, cloture was invoked on that matter and we also agreed last night that we would have a vote in relation to the burr substitute amendment at 4:30 p.m. today and i hope we can reach an agreement to consider other amendments prior to the vote in relation to the burr amendment. senators will be notified if any other votes are scheduled. staff is working now trying to come up with a list of amendments we can vote on. the senate will recess from 12:30 until 2:15 for caucus luncheons. mr. president, h.r. 31 is at the desk and it is my understanding it is due for a second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the bil

guest: i believe it was snard reid the other day who said it wasn't going to be introduced in the senate or he didn't have -- i'm afraid it's been an insane week. i'm trying to think if that was the domea repeal or -- don't ask, don't tell. i believe that's what senator reid was -- and then he was suggesting that part of it could be done administratively. we have to press on that. i'm not sure what the status is. i believe something has been introduced in the house. but we have -- we really do have to press. i mean, barney frank i think has a legislate point not in getting the president off the hook but in saying don't complain if you haven't called your members of congress. he said that 16 years ago before the march in washington in 1993, that people can spend a lot of money on coming to washington to have a rally but they couldn't spend the cost of a first class postage to send a letter to their member of congress. and we really do have a lot of work to do to implant a back bone on the part of many of our supposed to allies on the little. >> there was a letter of criticism sent by the

>> aye by proxy. >> senator murray. >> aye by proxy. >> senator reid? >> eye by proxy. >> senator sappeders? senator brown? senator casey? >> aye by proxy. >> senator haguen? >> aye by proxy. >> senator murphy? >> senator whitehouse. >> senator enzi? >> no. >> senator gray? >> aye by proxy. >> senator bier? >> senator anderson? >> aye by proxy. >> senator mccain? >> aye by proxy. >> senator hatch? >> aye by proxy. >> senator coburn? >> aye by proxy. >> senator kennedy? >> aye by proxy. >> the vote is 13 ayes, 10 neys. >> the amendment is agreed to. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and, you know, you kint of sit back and listen to the colleagues on both sides and i think you said it senator enzi. we're all in agreement on it about 80% of what we're talking about is always in the details. but the goal is certainly there when we talk about prevention. we all recognize this will be integral to whatever plan we put forward. and the hope truly is that we'll see a reduction in costs. i appreciated your comments, senator dodd, about the differences that we see throu