doesn't require -- doesn't allow a member of the united states senate to sit down and listen to what richard burr is going to say. hopefully the staff has looked at the statistics i presented, looked at the facts i brought to the table, looked at the claims that i've made and understand that i'm right. 1256 is not a public health bill. the substitute does allow this to happen. and we allow it to happen because the substitute doesn't concentrate regulation in the food and drug administration, an agency by their mission statement is required to prove efficacy, pharmaceuticals, biologics, medical devices, food safety, cosmetics, products that emit radiation. that's the world of the f.d.a. they regulate 25 cents of every dollar of the u.s. economy. they are the gold standard for every american when they get a prescription and they go home to take that, they never wonder whether it's safe or whether it will work. because the gold standard in the world is the food and drug administration. that when they go to a doctor's office and they get ready to use a device on them, they don't question whether that

more work today on a bill regulating tobacco products, a vote offered by richard burr is set for about 4:20 eastern time. live senate coverage continues, now, on c-span2. gregg mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mr. gregg: i ask unanimous consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be set aside. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. gregg: i want to rise to talk about two issues. i know senator burr wants to continue his discussion on the f.d.a. tobacco bill. there are two issues very significant to the american taxpayer, especially to those of us concerned about how much debt this administration is running up on our children. the first is good news. the -- it looks like a number of banks are going to repay a fair percentage of the tarp money that's been put out by the administration, potentially $65 billion. now, when tarp was originally structured, the understanding was that we would buy assets in banks, or from banks, and that at some point we would get that money back as taxpayers. in fact, you would get it back with

this is not richard burr. this is the former commissioner of the f.d.a. saying that we may have to divert funds from other programs, such as, safety of drugs, food. you know, if the american people are given this choice, they would say uphold the gold standard of the food and drug administration. let me go to bed at night as i take that medication that my doctor prescribed and my pharmacist filled, and let me feel confident that the most qualified reviewer looked at that application, that they looked at the clinical trial data, that they made a determination that this drug was safe and effective for me. make sure that when i go to the grocery store and i buy food in a global marketplace where those melons might have come from chile or that spinach might have come from mexico, that they have the best and the brightest addressing food safety. well, they've already flunked that several times just in the last three years and we all dealt with the consequences of it. but think about what we're getting ready to do. we're getting ready to make it worse. we're ge

other cosponsors are senator dick durbin, senator judd gregg, ted kennedy, richard burr, chris

i want to go back to what richard burr said. if we don't design something that incentivizes people to utilize whatever program we put up and you all are in charge and you're going to ride it, but if we don't have the incentives for them to utilize it, it will be highly inefficient, and the second point i'd make is all throughout this bill there's not transparency once and there's not a metric anywhere to say what are we doing and what will we do? >> the transparency and accountability and metric, that's a good point, but tom harkin has a good answer. >> first of all, there are a lot of different things that have been brought up that i'd like to respond to and i'll take it in order. senator burr brought up the medical coverage and we have it in the bill and also that we're working with the finance committee right now@@ hv@ @ rr@' >> can i point out one thing to my friend? >> yeah. two examples, real quick. the u.s. preventive service task force as it relates to psa exams says the evidence is insufficient for recommendation in men

this afternoon a vote on the substitute amendment offered by north carolina republican senator richard burr. that's expected at about 4:20 eastern time. also some news as judiciary chairman committee patrick leahy said that confirmation hearings for supreme court nominee sonia sotomayor will get underway on july 13. more lives in a coverage coming up at 2:15, about an hour from now, live here on c-span2. >> to try caucus is made up of members from the black, hispanic and asian pacific american caucus is. this is about 45 minutes. >> okay, good morning and thank you all for being here. some of us may have to leave for a markup. but we will made our statement and we will be coming and going as scheduled permit. i barber later type represent the ninth congressional district of california, also the chair of the congressional black caucus. and i stand here before you today as a very proud, original cosponsor of the health equity and accountability act of 2009 with my colleagues who have worked on this bill for many, many years. congresswoman christiansen, this year will lead not only the efforts

we have the thing cleaned up with richard burr.i think that those were the only items, unless there is something else? staff will remind us. we will begin tomorrow at what time? 10:00 a.m.? we are back in the senate caucus room tomorrow with the mark-up. i want to publicly thank mike enzi, and senator enzi and all members. it is a long day again today, but we covered a lot of ground. i appreciate tom harkin's efforts and the staff's efforts over the weekend to get to over 50 of those amendments. it certainly made today a lot easier and i think that the workplace issues, there is a lot of agreement in that area, anyway, but a few differences to work on, and we will try to finish up the fraud and abuse potentially tomorrow as well, and the long-term care, the two other remaining issues to try to get done. my goal is that i would love to get this done by tomorrow or thursday and then we will still have when we come back from the break, and i presume i will have these numbers and i'm not about to bring up language without numbers, so o