economy would senator al franken, congressman sander levin, and richard trumka. later jeffrey imelt. we will have remarked from governors from the national governors' convention. that is live at 5:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. next week as the one-year anniversary of president obama's signing the dodd-frank act into law. on monday, a public meeting with the oversight council created under the legislation and chaired by treasury secretary tim geithner. the mandate is to identify and manage risks that threaten financial stability. you could watch live monday at 11:30 a.m. on c-span 2. >> i am very interested in what i call disappearing america. america that may not be here 25 years from now. >> for 30 years, carol highsmith has traveled the world documenting the country through our camera lens. follow her story sunday night on "q &a." we will have an original documentary, "the library of congress." >> you are watching c-span, bringing politics and public affairs for it every morning it is "washington journal" about the news of the day. weekdays, watch live coverage of

and i said, you know, i came to washington and served with your brother, sander levin, and you said, i've reminded several times, yes, he's my brother but also my best friend. mr. president, i appreciate who you are and all you have done for our country. i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business, it adjourn until 12:00 p.m. on sunday, july 31. the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day. following any leader remarks, the senate resume consideration on the motion to concur in the house message to accompany s. 627, the legislative vehicle for the debt limit increase, with the time until 1:00 p.m. equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees. the presiding officer: is there objection? hearing none, it is so ordered. mr. reid: the roll call vote on the motion to accompany message s. 627 with the reid amendment will occur at approximately 1:00 p.m. tomorrow. i would note, mr. president, that if cloture is not invoked, the debate will continue on the reid amendment. if the

during one of them, congressman sander levin said that the fight over raising the country's debt limit is hurting congress' ability to overhaul the tax code. his remarks came during a joint meeting. going to bring you a portion of congressman levin's remarks and see the entire hearing in our video library and later here on c-span. >> appreciate our holding the joint hearing. i think there is an opportunity for the ways and means committee and finance committee to work together. many areas, with the tax reform, both individual and corporate. we have been working together. the precedent has been set. i hope that is good precedent for future cooperation, because both -- with us working together it's clear we are more likely to get something accomplished. an author once wrote, debt is like any other trap. easy enough to get into to but hard enough to get out of. we share a common goal. we believe the tax code should boost american competitiveness and encourage economic growth and job creation. and it should also not encourage households or businesses to take on too much debt that they cann

the one exception it my friend, the ranking democrat on the ways and means committee, sander levin. congressman levin cautioned against treating tax expenditures as rich persons' tax benefits, and his position is well-founded. the source for this assertion, that tax expenditures are tax benefits for the rich, is a tax notes article dated may 3, 2011. i ask unanimous consent to insert it in the record at this point. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. hatch: the article is written by roberton williams of the tax policy center or t.p.c. t.p.c. is a tax policy think tank that is the product of two center left think tanks. the article presents conclusions from a t.p.c. distribution analysis of tax expenditures. the analysis concludes that about two-thirds of tax expenditures benefit the top quintile of households in the study. viewers on c-span may wonder what a quintile is. it refers to a fifth of a given population. the t.p.c. analysis is, therefore, measuring the top fifth of the population. according to that study, where does the top fifth of the population begin? it begin

nevada durbin, murray inouye, coons whitehouse boxer casey sanders lautenberg brown of ohio, reed of rhode island, feinstein merkley cardin, levin, schumer. mr. reid: mr. president i now move to proceed to calendar number 91, h.r. 2055. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to proceed. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 91, h.r. 2055 an act making appropriations for military construction, the department of veterans affairs and so forth and for other purposes. mr. reid: i have a cloture motion at the desk, mr. president. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion. we, the under undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the motion to proceed to calendar number 91, h.r. 2055 an act making appropriations for military construction the department of veterans affairs and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2012, and for other purposes. signed by 18 senators as follows. mr. reid: mr. president, i would ask unanimous consent that th