senator alexander was in involved in that, other senators were brought in, senator bennet, senator franken, others on the republican side were brought in on that. i would say this, mr. president: the senator from kentucky had every day since he was sworn in in january to come to me or to go to senator enzi and say, i'm on the committee. here's what i would like in the bill. and that would have been considered. other senators did that. i see two of them sitting here right now who came and said, here's what i'd like to have in the bill. well, i sat down with senator enzi, we discussed it, some "yes," some "no," some modifications, work it out through the process, as we went through. now, i don't know if the senator from kentucky ever went to see senator enzi about what he wanted in the bism i know he didn't come see me. our doors are open. there was no secret that we were meeting. meeting about this. we started in january. everybody in our committee -- the staffs all knew that. so that is the legislative process. and when it's all done, we want to put together a bipartisan bill. that's what

>> no. >> senator burke? >> no. >> senator aye sackson? >> no. >> senator hatch? >> [inaudible] >> senator mccain? >> no, by proxy. >> senator roberts? >> no, by proxy. >> [inaudible] >> no. >> senator -- [inaudible] >> no. >> senator harkin? >> no. >> three ayes 18 nay, the amendment is not agreed to. now we're vote on sander's amendment 1, title 9. did you wish to -- >> [inaudible] >> feel it's been explained enough? >> yeah, i do. >> okay. roll call vote on sanders amendment one to title nine. >> >> i need to pass because i've just come in. i want to make sure i know what i'm doing here. >> okay. >> senator -- >> no, by proxy. >> no by proxy. >> [inaudible] >> no, by proxy. >> senator sanders? >> [inaudible] >> senator casey? >> no. >> senator -- [inaudible] >> no. >> senator merkley? >> no. >> senator franken? >> no. >> senator bennet? >> no. >> senator whitehouse? >> no, by proxy. >> senator blumenthal? >> no. >> senator enzi? >> no. >> senator alexander? >> no. >> senator hatch? >> pass. >> senator mccain? >> no, by proxy someone >> senator roberts? >> no. >

senator sessions and then senator -- mr. udall: i thank the senator for the clarification. i look forward to hearing the senator from alabama. ms. mikulski: and then we turn to the senator from colorado for his comments. the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. sessions: i ask unanimous consent that the senator from colorado be recognized after i complete my remarks. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sessions: mr. president, pursuant to the unanimous consent agreement, i call up the sessions number 810. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from alabama, mr. sessions, proposes amendment numbered 810 to amendment numbered 738. mr. sessions: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to waive the reading of the amendment in its entirety. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sessions: mr. president, amendment 810 is to -- the purpose of it is to eliminate the categorical eligibility for supplemental nutrition assistance program, the snap program or the food stamp program, a categorical eligibility standard has been im

the senator from alabama, senator sessions, would change that. what he would add to it is a new red tape requirement that these people who are by and large some of the poorest people in america, will now have to go through another bureaucratic process, fill out another application. i don't think that's necessary, and i'm urging my colleagues not to support senator sessions' amendment. he recently said on the floor something that i want to point out. he said no program in our government has surged out of control more dramatically than food stamps. and then he went on to say we need people working with jobs, not receiving food stamps. i will readily concede to the senator from alabama that the number of hungry americans have increased. it's evident at the food pantries, at the breakfast, lunch and dinner feeding programs available across illinois and across america. i've been there and i've watched who comes through the door. it's a heartbreak for them and for me to watch. many of these people have never in their lives asked for anything, and now t

and the other maine senator, senator casey from pennsylvania, democrat, and the other maine senator, republican, senator collins. that just shows the bipartisan support here. we had this legislation today, senate bill 1619, pass this body 79-19. the cloture was 79-19, which is a strong message to the house and to our colleagues that this legislation as we debate this week is so important, it's deserving of basically a week of the senate's time to discuss and debate what china trade's all about. we know what china trade is all about. we know, as senator snowe said, the trade deficit with china, has ballooned in the ten years since china has been part of the world trade organization. think of it this way, mr. president. we -- every day, we buy $750 million more from china than we sell to china, every single day, sunday, monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday, saturday, every day of every week, every year. so for the past year, $750 million, we buy from china more than we sell to china. you just can't keep doing that, mr. president. you can't keep doing that and hold the industria

loren, the senator said that to the education bill could get to the senate floor. there might be a bipartisan path forward. the first time we have heard him say that. he mentioned that senator alexander has found a -- an interesting way to move the bill forward. he would not elaborate, that was. buddy said they have been -- he said they think they might be able to do this. this will happen to happen after november 8. they have agreed to have an additional hearing november 8 to get rand paul on board. i guess it'll have to save. he did not give many details. >> there needs to be a way to put it on the senate floor, bob. both sides can offer amendments, but they have to be relevant amendments. does this sound familiar to you? >> i think is going to be challenging. clearly, they have some type of deal. it is very fascinating. this is something that is moving on capitol hill. no indication -- he said that he has not spoken to speaker john boehner. it is fascinating that there is a bipartisan legislation moving. >> on the house side, are house republicans looking for so

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. a senator: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to address the senate regarding judicial nominees from pennsylvania. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. toomey: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today to offer my full support for the nomination of judge cathy bissoon to serve as a u.s. district judge for the western district of pennsylvania. but before i begin, i'd like to quickly express my appreciation to my colleague, senator casey, whom i see across the chamber at this moment to thank him for his collaboration in our joint efforts to fill the vacancies on the federal bench from pennsylvania. as i think many of our colleagues would agree, the confirmation of federal judges is one of the most important constitutional functions of any member of the senate, and since i was sworn in, senator casey and i have worked together on a bipartisan basis to identify and advance qualified candidates for the federal bench. as part of this effort, i have supported president obama's thre

>> i have senator kirk, senator franken, and then senator sanders. >> we allow turn-around strategy, strateeblingic -- strategic strategy, and hometown strategy. those are the only options allowed. in my home state of illinois we train all the navy, the navy's only boot camp, the north chicago district doesn't fit those strategies. the problem there was theft, corruption, and an fib -- f.b.i. investigation of the school system and the school board. so i have enormous faith in mr. duncan. he helped with tremendous improvement for the chicago public school system. the foundation he put in, mayor emanuel is now leading. this is the number one issue in chicago. much of what romney is doing doesn't fit this he's either. it was a unique situation of f.b.i. investigation into corruption. what mayor emanuel is doing, as well, is fairly unique. i think arnie should have the ability to sign off on it. i think it is a very good amendment. i would say let's call this the duncan employment strategy, because i think arne duncan does have the ability to do it. >> i don't see anywhere in the amendme

of the amendment: senator udall, senator crapo, senator risch, senator snowe, senator ayotte, senator johanns, senator nelson of nevada, senator hoeven, senator murkowski, senator johnson of wisconsin. the presiding officer: is that udall of colorado? ms. collins: thank you, udall of colorado. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. c ms. collins: and, mr. president, i want to thank the senator from business which wisconsin and the senator from colorado and the two senators for their help. i ask that senator kohl be added as a cosponsor of this amendment. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sanders: i ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendments and call up my amendment number 816. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from vermont, mr. sanders, proposes an amendment numbered 816 to amendment number 738. on page 87 -- mr. sanders: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from louisiana. ms. landrieu: mr. president, pursuan

senator alexander was involved in that, others senators were brought in, senator bennet, senator franken, others on the republican side were brought in on this. i say this, the senator from kentucky had every day, since he was sworn in in january to come to me or to go to senator enzi and say i'm on the committee, this is what i'd like in the bill, and that would have been considered. other senators do that. i see two of them sitting here right now and came and said this is what i want in the bill. well, i sat down with senator enzi, we discussed it, some yes, some no, some modifications, work it out through the process as we went through. now, i don't know if the senator from kentucky ever went to see senator enzi about what he wanted in the bill. i know he didn't come see me. our doors are open. there's no secret that we were meeting about this. we started in january. everybody on our committee, the staffs all knew that, and so that is the legislative process, and when it's all done, we want to put together a bipartisan bill. that's what we did. i see my friend from kentucky it was not

senator schumer and south carolina senator senator graham that would put tariffs on chinese imports if the government did not let its currency appreciate. in other words to take away, tall did was wipe clean -- all it did was wipe clean the advantage that china had created by manipulating its currency. that bill passed the senate, but it did not pass the house. it was never signed by the president. what it did do was get china's attention. beginning in 2005 china began to do a slight currency appreciation which allowed for a few years of modest progress towards letting its currency appreciate. but then in the summer of 2008, china abandoned its feigned interest in fairness. it once again fixed the value of the r.m.b. of the suns dollar. in june -- of the u.s. dollar. the peterson institute for economics found that despite the intervention appreciation, the r.m.b. is more undervalued today against the dollar than it was a year ago. that's the recent history of china's currency manipulation. the chinese, in other words when they know people are watching, when they see the u.s. governm

senate. right? [applause] how wonderful it would be to see senator dole working his magic in the united states senate today. i remember 1983. i had just been elected to the congress for the first time. i was looking over my shoulder, wondering how hard senator dole might come at me in the next election, out in kansas. interestingly, the first tough vote that we have was the social security reform of 1983. i often think back to that time and compare it to today. the social security trust fund was bankrupt. they were saying that checks would be laid by april or may. everyone was a little nervous. and that is putting it mildly. many people were just terrified. they knew what had to be done. they knew that we would have to change the eligibility period that we would have to cut out benefits. that we would have to raise revenue. all of which we did. senator dole, along with president reagan in speaker o'neill, in the ways and means committee, led us through that mess. one of the things that i will always

, senator ayotte. the amendment i believe would tie the hands of our national security and law enforcement efforts to secure our national security. i'm a little bit concerned the amendment is being offered at this time. you know, just a week ago we learned of the foiled asenior senator nation attempt in the united states of the saudi ambassador to the u.s. we learned that because the justice department, the d.e.a., thephyte, others -- the f.b.i., others worked very closely to stop what would have been an horrific, who have riffic terrorist attack on our soil against a foreign national, an ambassador. we pride ourselves on protecting ambassadors from other countries as we expect them to protect american ambassadors in their countries. now, i was pleased in that instance that we didn't do the quarterbacking of saying, whoever we picked up should go to guantanamo. i think about when we had a terrorist -- the so-called underwear bomber on christmas day who was going to attempt to blow up a plane. and we he

congressman lynch, oxman cummings, in the senate a bill by senators lieberman, collins, and senator mccain. and among other things, they would provide the establishment of a federal financial pro board in case we default in their change worker compensation will and so forth. so in conclusion, i know you know about it. in conclusion, and a lot of smart people within the beltway, groping for solutions that would establish a model that works. and that's good, because the old model, the old business model doesn't work. and in my opinion, postal service must be given more freedom to operate as a business if it's to remain part of the broader postal market, and avoid substantial continuing subsidies from the federal government. i appreciate your time. i will stop and answer questions. [applause] >> chairman, if i could take the moderators prerogative and ask the first question, could you describe for the audience the structure of the governing bodies question referred to by postal regulatory commission. and a just curious, do they have any responsibilities other than regulating a government appo

>> well, we know that in the senate, senator hutchenson from texas and senator kerry, senator john kerry, have introduced he is on the infrastructure bank. that's really what when the president introduced his plan, he modeled the infrastructure after their legislation. i believe the, you know, the debate in the senate, part of the debate in the senate will be about the infrastructure state, about that legislation, about how to implement it. it is a way to leverage billions of dollars to do infrastructure. >> in other republican oppositions, speaker john boehner and eric cantor urged them to drop the requirements on hours for trucking drivers. are you beginning to rethink the need for proposed hours of service changes? >> that's a rule that's pending, and so i can't really comment much more than to say that it is pending in the administration, in the department, and we'll just ask you to stay tuned and we'll see where it takes us. >> also in trucking, the mexican trucking program is getting off to a bit of a slow start after you faced pressure to get that program written and out the door.

senate passed senate 270, senate 292, senate 333, senate 334, senate 404. that the senate passed without amendment h.r. 489, h.r. 765. with best wishes i am. signed sincerely, karen l. haas. the honorable the speaker, house of representatives, sir, pursuant to the permission granted in clause 2-h of rule 2 of the rules of the u.s. house of representatives, the clerk received the following message from the secretary of the senate on october 20, 2011, at 10:50 a.m., that the senate passed senate 894. with best wishes i am. signed sincerely, karen l. haas. the honorable the speaker, house of representatives, sir, pursuant to the permission granted in clause 2-h of rule 2 of the rules of the u.s. house of representatives, the clerk received the following message from the secretary of the senate on october 20, 2011, at 5:42 p.m. that the senate passed senate 1412. that the senate passed without amendment h.r. 1843, h.r. 1975, h.r. 2062, h.r. 2149. with best wishes i am, signed sincerely, karen l. haas. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the house stands

i see the senator from texas, senator hutchison here. she works so closely with senator rockefeller. i'll tell you what that means. that means that we have wonderful progress in the commerce committee, which we would never have. senator inhofe and i work very closely in e.p.w., and everyone kind of smiles about it because they know on the environment side, we don't work closely. that's true. we know that. he thinks global warming is the biggest hoax ever perpetrated on the american people. i think it's happening, it's real. so we know we don't see eo eye on that and we've decided that that's just a fact. so we don't engage in long arguments about it. we just pursue our agendas and we try to get the votes. but on infrastructure, you know he's one of the most conservative, i'm one of the most liberal members here and the fact is there's really no daylight between us on infrastructure because he believes that's one of the major functions of our government, and i do, too. and it makes a lot of sense. i want to note the mccain amendment is op

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: i rise in support to the -- in support of the amendment which specifically addresses the transportation bill we're talking about and addresses one of the new provisions in the bill this year that is a mandate that i think is not appropriate. a lot of states have infrastructure challenges right now. and the last they think we should be doing here in the congress is to make it more difficult for them to pay with their infrastructure with the limited transportation dollars they have. with the fiscal crisis we've got, we need to make sure that states have flexibility to meet the requirements from the federal government. at a time when unemployment is over 9%, we have over 14 million americans out of work, we also need to do what we can do to protect jobs. this legislation would hurt jobs and the amendment i'm offering would give states more flexibility and help keep some jobs. there are countless miles of guard rails around our country and many are manufactured in my home state o

the senator republicans are different from senator -- i'm sorry the senate republican are different than republicans in this country. why do i say that? because not only do the american people by a vote of 76 support what we're trying to do with this legislation, but republicans supported also a majority of. so the republicans in the senate should understand they don't even represent republicans throughout the country. so we need to go forth from this gathering here today and thank you very much for being here. we're sorry about the rain. had we not had the rain there would have been twice as many, three times as many. we're glad you're here. we're glad you're here because because this is important. for my five children, my 16 grandchildren, there's nothing more important than their communities having a good set of educational opportunities. and you can't do that when you lay off in the state of nevada about 4,000 teachers. you can't do that when firefighters are laid off. you can't do that when police officers are laid off. you can't do that because we heard senator biden, i always call

will retain the senate. that is going to be an uphill climb. >> on the super committee, he said it would be better if the super committee does not reach some sort of deal. then he gets a crack at these automatic spending cuts. >> what happens next if the super committee does not have any final recommendations, you get different answers from different people. it could be a bit of a mess if the super committee does not come up with anything. >> thank you for being part of "newsmakers." [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> on monday, ia congressional health care caucus to address the uninsured. that is live monday on c-span2. also on monday, the creator of tmz.com and the executive producer of tmz tv talks about the landscape of coverage. that is live at 1:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span.

, senator barrasso, senator snowe. and i'm pleased on this side of the aisle to have senator nelson and senator schumer and senator levin as cosponsors. that pretty much spans a spectrum of opinion in this chamber that everyone can agree that china should be held accountable, and if they are subsidizing their manufacturing, which they are, they have to disclose it, which they aren't, and that we can have a better debate about how to end their rule breaking under w.t.o. if we have that information. in closing, i just want to note that this debate should have happened a decade ago, should have happened five years ago, because over that time span, we have continued to hemorrhage jobs, we have continued to hope that china would apply the rule of law on intellectual property. we have continued to hope that they would end their manipulation of their currency. we have continued to hope that they would end their illegal subsidies undermining american products. while those hopes have not been realized, china has not chosen to h

blunt: i want to join senator kohl in thanking senator collins for the amendment. i think it is a good addition to the bill. i also think we had a good exchanges of ideas on the floor yesterday and would note that we've received a number of amendments to the bill. and i encourage my colleagues to offer amendments that they feel would improve the bill that is in front of them. senator kohl and i believe this is a good product, but we also believe that it will benefit from debate and discussion. we're looking forward to an open amendment process and are glad to have the pending amendments to discuss, plus particularly the one that senator collins has just offered that we both believe is a good addition to the bill. and i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: reid mr. president? the presiding officer: majority leader. mr. reid: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes, we are. reid scried that be vitiated. officer without objection. reid rioted call for consideration of amendment 750. the amend

first of all, one of the outstanding senators in the united states senate, your senator, kay hagan, isn the house. kay's daughter just got married congratulations to kay's daughter. we are so thrilled by that. and we also have your lovely and intelligent mayor of asheville, terry bellamy, is in the house. the last time i was here terry said she could play basketball. and so we went out -- it turned out she was a cheerleader and not a basketball player. but she's doing an outstanding job overall. thank you both for coming. now, as you may have noticed, i came here on a plane. it's a pretty nice plane. but i'm leaving on a bus. the bus is pretty hard to miss. and over the next few days, we are going to take this bus through north carolina and virginia and i'm going to get a chance to hear from folks about how they're doing, what direction they want to take the country in. and i'll be doing a little bit of talking, but mostly i'm going to do a whole lot of listening -- because there doesn't seem to be much listening going on in washington these days. people don't seem to be paying much at

what they will do -- and senator graham and i have seen this and senator sessions and senator brown -- when they're faced with the hard reality that they will no longer be allowed by legislation -- or i wish by administration action, but that hasn't been forthcoming from either president bush or president obama -- they, then, adjust plaindz fairer. that is what has happened every single time, and that will happen again. so i want to first compliment my colleagues on this legislation. i want to hope and pray -- i really pray in this one, me -- for the future of america and the future of america is linked to free and fair trade with china. the future of america is linked to the fact that we can no longer let china unfairly take advantage of american workers, american wealth, and the american future. i yield the floor and reserve the balance of my time. mr. graham: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator south carolina. mr. graham: thank you very much. i rise in support of moving forward on this legislation. i wish i could fix the senate. it's not functioning the way any of u

the senate when he was elevated to the senate. he has to run in his own right. his opponent is a congressman who represents las vegas. another terrific battle that is going to be close all the way through. they both have a lot to bring to the table. the fund-raising has been stellar. she is tireless on the campaign trail. the gentleman has held a stake of as. he is well known. host: he has pulled in just $670,000 for a three month period. in the same amount of time, rep berkley has raised over $1 million. is there something we should see from that? guest: yes, she represents las vegas. [laughter] here is something about money that i do not think has been appreciated. we pay a lot of attention to what candidates raise and how much they spend and on what to read these outside groups -- and on what. these outside groups, they are putting so much money into these races that candidate fund- raising is becoming secondary. berkeley has more money right now pending, it does not concern republicans. there will be enough outside money in th

so i salute senator schumer, senator brown, senator graham, senator burr, snowe, stabenow, and othersn. i think it's time for us to act, and i ask my colleagues to support the legislation as we move forward. i would yield the floor. dur -- you mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, i want to take those who are following this debate on a little trip through the world of plastic. i'm talking about the world of credit cards. in this case, specifically about debit cards. because something happened over the weekend which has changed that world dramatically. and it's important for consumers, retailers, and voters across america to understand what happened. on october 1, on saturday, the rules on how much a credit card company and a bank that issues a debit card can collect every time you use the debit card changed. they call it a swipe fee. it makes sense. you hand them a credit card, or you do it yourself, and

>> aye by proxy. >> senator whitehouse? >> aye. >> senator blumenthal? >> aye. >> senator enzi? [inaudible] >> aye. >> senator alexander? >> >> aye. >> senator burns? >> aye. >> senator isakson? is. >> aye. >> senator -- [inaudible] >> aye. >> senator hatch? >> aye by proxy. >> senator mccain? senator roberts? >> aye by proxy. >> senator murkowski? >> aye. >> senator -- [inaudible] >> chairman harkin? >> aye. >> [inaudible] >> wait, would you hold the vote? senator sanders is not here, and i don't know how to vote his proxy. so would you put him down as a pass. .. >> with the amendment say what amendment this is? >> its title i, amendment three, an amendment for, which i'm dropping. i split this into two separate amendments because it was a debate a grant program and i'm dropping the grant program, for now anyway. and the grant program is relatively small. i thought it fulfilled, it was in a bipartisan display in hearing last year to help foster children, to help children who are in foster care, but i've been told that this would be too problematic for my friends on the other si

the senate--the senator that mccarthy replaced, the one that got him into the senate, was his underdog campaign against robert la follette jr. c-span: how old was he when he was elected? >> guest: well, there's two versions to that. again, mccarthy's skill in playing with the--in playing with the truth--he was, actually, in fact, the youngest senator when he took off--when he took office in--in 1947. he would've been--well, let's see, he was born in 1909. he would've been (makes noise) 38. but just to make sure that people understood that he was, in fact, the youngest senat--senator, in his official biography, he knocked off a year--lopped off a year from his birth date to make himself even younger, to appear as sort of fresh, young blood the young maverick arriving in the us senate. c-span: elected first in 1946... >> guest: yes. c-span: ...took his seat in 1947. who controlled the senate? which party? >> guest: then, it was the republicans. it was a stunning coup that had really taken place in the sense of a change from democratic dominance of all the branches of government since ro-

senators -- it was led by senator demint and senator colburn picked up on it quickly.uspending rules for filed. as i said today if that was done in this instance, and i know my republican friends say the reason we did that because we could not offer amendments on the underlying bill. i disagree with that. i think people could have offered amendments, but we were at the point where we were. we had nine or ten amendments relating -- nine or ten motions to suspend the rules. i worked all day, much of the time later this afternoon with senator mcconnell trying to come up with a list of those amendments that had suspended. i had -- i 4 to get approval of my caucus to move all of those amendments. i couldn't do it. i couldn't. in effect, i made a number of my senators very unhappy by moving to amendments that are extremely difficult. they are not the only amendment i'm aware of that germane to what we work on with senator hatch's amendment. the rest of them are not germane, and they may be good amendments, great message amendments causing pain here, but i agreed to do seven

on a sense of the senate resolution, sense of the senate resolutions are not law.t of them are not controversial. a lot of them pass unanimously. many of them just sound like hallmark greeting cards and legislative language. like this one from january 11th. it is the sense of the senate that the people of the united states should observe and celebrate the 150th anniversary of the admittance of the state of kansas to the united states as the 34th state. typical sense of the senate resolution. but the sense of the senate resolution that harry reid introduced 89 days ago turned out to be sharply partisan. it was written by majority leader reid and contained this preamble. congress makes the following findings. "the wall street journal" reports median pay for chief financial officers of s&p 500 companies increased 19% to $2.9 million last year. over the past ten years, the median family income has declined by more than $2,500. 20% of all income earned in the united states is earned by the top 1% of individuals. over the past quarter century, four-fifths of the income g

>> senator enzi. estimate is there an industry racket priced technology that is used by all of the state's? because this would -- to follow a student it has to go between states as well as within the states. i know of several states that have the data currently. they just have it year by year they don't follow the child with a i don't think and that gets into some privacy situations and who owns the data, but is there an industry recognized process for having the state of follow the student to another state? >> this doesn't set the standard. there are a number of standards that can be used, and there are industry to recognize the standards already in place. what my amendment does is withstand rigorous testing for the security and privacy. so that's what the amendment is focused on doing. >> i think i would agree with that if it was within the state but once you start moving the data between the states, than all the states have to have the same industry recognized interoperable communications. and i'm

senator baucus, senator crapo, senator widen, senator risch, senator reid of nevada, senator cochran, senator tester, senator blunt, senator feinstein, senator heller, senator tom udall, senator boxer, senator cantwell, senator murray, senator bennet, senator merkley, senator sanders, senator johnson, senator begich, senator mccaskill and senator mark udall and senator al frank -7b, all of whom are cosponsoring this important legislation. i hope the rest of the senate will join us again to support the continuation of these important programs and enact this legislation. mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: mr. president, thank you. i'm happy to rise today to speak about the three trade agreements that are working their way over to the senate. at a time when unemployment is over 9% and we have over 14 million americans out of work, it's past time for us to take up these three important agreements. these agreements with korea, colombia, and panama are going to create jobs and put americans back to work. tha

>> senator?>> well, i don't know what value -- i don't know that there would necessarily be an extraordinary value to someone having a ph.d. in foreign relations in congress. there's more or less value than someone having a ph.d. in economics. that's nice, it's good education, but it depends how they translate that knowledge into practical value, crafting legislation, understanding public policy, understanding the impact that public policy has, i think, as a matter of course, what we need in congress generally are people with more practical experience who are working in the real economy, both domestically and internationally. someone with business experience, with a company that did importing and exporting, shipping products overseas or manufacturing overseas and bringing that product here that understood the real ramifications of a number of the issues that have been mentioned; right? intellectual property protection, the impact of the stronger versus weaker currencies and whether or not those c

a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: our country has endured a 9% unemployment rate for a longer time than since the great depression yet the majority leader is reluctant to address this joblessness in a serious way. one way to address it would have been to take the three trade agreements northed four and five years -- negotiated four and five years ago and send them up to the senate and house and let us ratify them and let us move ahead to avoid losing 350,000 jobs, as an estimate of the united states chamber of commerce, or create as many as a quarter million jobs. that's an estimate of the white house. yet, yet those three trade agreements had been sitting on the president's desk since the day he took office nearly three years ago. they arrived yesterday, or monday i suppose it was. and they're here waiting for us to act on them. every day we don't act on them delays the day when we avoid losing 350,000 jobs or create 250,000 jobs. that's been the case every day for the last nearly 1,000 days. that would be

late tuesday night the senate stopped the american jobs bill dead in its tracks. the 99% i think have every reason in the world to be out on the streets after this vote. washington is completely dysfunctional because elected officials, they are brain dead to what the american people really want and need. it's no wonder that congress has a record low approval rating of 13%. not a single republican voted to fund schools, build roads, or give middle class americans a freaking tax break. just a little tax break. freshman democratic senator john tester along with sellout ben nelson voted against taxing millionaires in their back yard of montana and nebraska respectively. nelson didn't vote for the $447 billion package because quote, it represents billions of dollars in new spending and more taxes. you know, that reminds me of the old bullet point. we got to hold it right there, folks. this is the, i think, perfect time for liberals to destroy the tax and spend bullet point that the democrats have had to put up with for years. here's what the demes need to do. you're da

i want to commend senator mccain and senator paul for their leadership on this issue. .. all of us do business brown tables. we sit down with our business community and respect his state contacted them about what is happening. a frequent question asked is how his business? how are you doing? when we asked the question to our job creators, to her business community, what is holding you back? what is there going on that is making the difference between you expanding and hiring and bringing new people into a business and just staying put and invariably? they will start working their way through the back policy that exists out there. they'll talk about the regulatory affaires. i believe this series of those that's coming up, i'll sit down with a group of small business people from nebraska to talk about osha regulations that are just crashing then in the home building and is three. if there was ever an industry where we need to try to give them a list, that would be it. i go out and tie to small business people are farmers and ranchers and immediately they turn to the epa. i

reid: i ask unanimous consent that the senate -- when the senate completes its business today, the senate adjourn until 10:00 a.m. tomming morning, thursday, october 20. i would note, mr. president, the unique reason we're coming in tomorrow -- i would like to come in very early -- but the -- senator harkin and senator endescree working very hard -- and senator enzi are working very hard in the committee to come up with a rewrite of the no child left behind." they've -- of the leave no child behind. they've worked very, very hard. there's 140 amendments pending. more than 70 of them have been offered by one senator and that senator has objected to the committee meeting. it's hard how they're going to be considered when you to be a committee meeting. under the rules of the senate autograph right to object, if -- if the meeting takes more than two hours. after the senate comes into session. so, anyway, that's where we are. i think it's absolutely hard to comprehend how anyone could rationally do that. but that's what we have. so, anyway, we're coming in at 10:00 tomorrow morning. toll follo

mccain: i thank the senator. mr. nelson: i thank the senator. mr. president, i came to the floor in order to talk about over the weekend a very noble lady in cuba passed away of a heart attack. and i want to tell you about her. her name is lara poja. she founded the group of ladies in white. and she did so to protest this brutal castro regime in cuba. her protest was specifically the jailing of 75 people in a crackdown on dissidents in 2003, one of which was her husband. many of those that were imprisoned were married to the ones that became known as the ladies in white, including senora pojol's own husband hector. since 2003, lara gathered the group on most weekends in central havana after church. everybody was wearing white and they were holding glad i don'tia flower that is typical in warm climates. and they would stage their marches, and they would demand the release of their loved ones. since 2003, when their husbands were jailed. dames de blanco defied this brutal dictatorship, the castro regime. and for its human rights work, the european par

and a whole host of other senators in both parties, senator stabenow, senator snowe, senator collinssenator hagan. i thank my colleagues for the vote last week, well in excess of 60 votes, bipartisan votes, allowing us to consider this measure. i'm struck by some of my colleagues, though, who dismissed this bill. there are opponents to this pill. there are always people who don't want to stand up to china and i think they are frankly undercutting our ability to stop the hemorrhaging in on manufacturing jobs. that's their decision to make, but i'm struck by how some of my colleagues dismissed this legislation as, quote, a message bill. i don't know what a message bill means to anybody outside of washington, d.c. but i know this bill is all about, this is a jobs bill. we've lost -- i was just talking to -- to an anchor on msnbc who said and he's right, we've lost almost three million jobs in the last decade to china, most of them manufacturing jobs. this isn't a message bill. this is legislation finally standing up to the chinese saying no, you're not going to game the currency system,

i want to thank my colleagues, senator blumenthal, senator durbin, senator gind, senator kerry, senatorurces are being directed at suspects actually demonstrating illegal behavior. former department of homeland security secretary michael chertoff stated in response to a question about the december, 2001, bomb attempt by richard reid is that the problem is the profile that many people think they have of what a terrorist is doesn't fit the reality, and in fact one of the things the enemy does is to deliberately recruit people who are western in background or in appearance so that it can slip by people who might be stereotyping. racial profiling diverts scarce resources from real law enforcement. in my own state of maryland in the 1990's, the aclu brought a class-action suit against the maryland state police for illegally targeting african-american motorists for stops and searches along maryland's highways. the parties ultimately entered into a federal court consent decree in 2003 in which they made a joint statement that emphasized in part the need to treat motorists of all races with res

[applause] >> thank you, senator. now we invite pastor of the desmoines church of christ to give the benediction. would you stand as we pray? >> we thank you, heavily father, for your grace to us in spite of we are and as a nation, father, we are seeking a new leader. our current leader has turned its back on righteousness and truth and is leading us further into decadence as a nation. and even though there is a cacophony of voices in our current culture that say that we are antiquated fools for following you, father, we know you are the only place we can turn as we seek out a new leader. so we ask you, father, to help us elect a leader that is a true christian, one who is guided by your word and your spirit and is a person who desires to make his or her days count for the kingdom of christ. we ask for a leader whose commitment to christ and love of country compel him or her to stand for truth and righteousness in government. we need a leader who recognizes that he or she will ultimately give account to you, father. w

aproptly, the senate adopted an amendment offered by the senator from -- senator collins from maine, which i supported, that allows school nutritionists to continue to make their own recognizrecommendations rather n follow the mandates issued in this latest f.d.a. rule. in my view, that's exactly where these decisions should be made -- in schools around our country by nutritionists, not mandated here by our government in washington, d.c. furthermore, we must keep in mind the impact that this rule will have on school budgets and food suppliers. unfunded mandates like this one will make it even harder for schools to provide healthy lunches for students. the department of agriculture estimates that the cost of compliance over a five-year period will reach $6.8 billion. the federal reimbursement already does not cofort full cost of preparing a meal in many schools across our country. this new usda will further drive up the cost providing school districts will have to make up the dinners. this doesn't seem like a reasonable approach when many school districts already struggling. let me gi

hatch and by the chairman, senator crapo, senator wyden and senator kerry.more especially senator wyden who got a little static from the audience undeservedly. the good news, the pending trade agreements add up to $13 billion in additional exports. they estimated 250,000 jobs, that's estimated by the american chamber of commerce. just a few big picture highlights right now. korea imposes an average -- a 54% tariff for agricultural products. within three years after implementation, 95% of these tariffs drop off with the most zeroing out after a decade for beef producers, and that's a big thing for kansas. that means the 40% tariff on beef products will be fazed out over 15 years. around 75% of the ag and non-ag exports entering colombia will be duty free upon implementation of the agreement duties on many other tariff lines will be fazed out over a five to ten-year period. panama while reducing import duties is important, expansion of the panama canal is not only an important project for u.s. bidders, it is a geographical key for international commerce, trans

now, what occurred was senator coburn offered his motion to coburn offered his motion to senator coburn offered is a motion to suspend the rules on his amendment.e and we assumed that we would bea able to do this on at least a few amendment.ndment t but the very first amendment that was offered, the majority of the very suggested to the chr chair and make the point of order to the chair that that was dilatory.endment one amendment. one amendment we wanted. and that was deemed dilatory byr parliamentarian correctly instructed the chair to overrule reat suggestion by the majorityp leader. upholding the precedents of the senate. and one by one, democratic, members of this body had to of march down and vote to overrule the parliamentarian of the senate for the very purpose of shutting down the chance to offer one single amendment. when the majority leader well knew he had the votes to win, but our rules have i thought they designed it and i think our society is designed around the concept that the minority has an opportunity to be. the minority has an opportunitys to be heard in this body o

that's why i've joined several of my colleagues, including senator bingaman, senator burr, senator baucus, the presiding officer, and others to fight for full funding of lwcf. the point i want to emphasize on the floor today is when we talk about natural resources, we aren't just talking about beautiful landscapes and future generations. there are incredibly important economic benefits to preserving and protecting these land. in that spirit, i want to briefly discuss another key component of our public lands system: wilderness. lands classified as wilderness with a big "w" are critical to our multiple-use management strategy. some areas should be preserved as wilderness, just as some areas are better suited to mining, oil and gas verntle or off-road -- oil and gas development, or off-road vehicle use. wilderness provides opportunities for backpacking, fishing, hiking, grazing and hunting, as well as protecting these precious landscapes for future generations. wilderness, madam president, also provides opportunities for our veterans to reenter, reconnect, and heal. and i have a column here