vitter. -- before we turn to senator vitter. i want to say to the senator from louisiana and her colleague, senator vitter, what an honor it has been for me to work with you on this. senator landrieu, you are the most passionate person i've ever met when it comes to fighting for your state. and what your state went through was nothing short of a disaster. it was a disaster many-fold. i was there. i saw it. senator vitter was eloquent in pointing out the many problems. senator sessions worked hard on the committee as well. and every democrat supported you in this. i would only say to my colleagues, who may be watching this debate, please vote "yes." we need 60 votes for this. this is going to take funding from b.p. directly to fix up the areas that they wrecked. this is not costing the taxpayers any money, and because of the negotiations, every state will now benefit, if it has a coastline. so i'm just -- i was honored to do it. i was excited we got this out of our committee. but, you know, we

vitter, proposes amendment number 1535. mr. vitter: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, amendment number 1535, the vitter amendment, is very simple and straightforward, and it goes to an awfully important issue. it goes to the issue of the price of energy, particularly the price of gasoline at the pump. and this amendment will be a vote today, mr. president. in fact, it will be the first vote we take this afternoon. the amendment is very simple. it would allow us to go back to the previous lease plan for the outer continental shelf, replacing the current obama administration lease plan which cuts that previous plan in half, moves us in the wrong direction in terms of producing our abundance of domestic energy, including oil and natural gas. mr. president, everybody is concerned about the rising price at the pump. it is on the rise again. it's significantly increasing. and that hits middle- and lower-class families right in their pocketbook, right where it hurts. and it's particularly harmful in a down economy. we're struggling to get out of this past recession

>> i agree with senator vitter on this. think the whole idea of the strategic reserve is, there's some political ly caused disruption of supply that impacts the price. if that's the case the price does matter. only if it's caused by some political disruption globally, not just the market. i think the overwhelming reason oil is so high is supply and demand. the senator's right we have to do more to make more american resources available and one point that is always missed is having zero interest rates, quantitative easing and a weak dollar, oil is globally priced on the dollar and we have a weak dollar, the price of oil goes up, the price of other commodities like wheat and corn go up and it has a devastating impact on working american families. >> that's absolutely true, a great point. ben bernanke is appearing before our banking committee in a few hours and that's one of the lines of questioning i'm going to pursue, because there are some negative impacts clearly to this zero interest rate policy. >> i think that's one of

vitter reportedly patronized, the gentleman from louisiana used contraception. meanwhile, on the campaign trail, mitt romney attempted to clean up the mess he created on the blunt amendment. romney came out against the measure just yesterday. >> i'm not for the bill, but, look, the idea of presidential candidates getting into questions about contraception within a relationship between a man and a woman, a husband and wife, i'm not going there. >> immediately after that interview, romney's campaign said the candidate supported the blunt amendment. romney tried to clear up the confusion earlier. >> i didn't understand his question. of course i support the blunt amendment. i thought he was talking about some state law that prevented people from getting contraception. >> rick santorum isn't buying it. >> we saw an insight into what's in the gut of governor romney yesterday, when he was asked a question about the blunt amendment. well, then after his consultants talked to him and then he came back and said, oh, i didn't understand the question. well, maybe he did, ma

leeland vitter shows us.e, you might find some of the images in this report disturbing. >> massive crowds took to the streets of damascus promising allegiance to the syrian president. he we sacrifice our blood and souls to you, they chanted, on the one year of the uprising. in vast contrast, pictures on state tv unconfirmable amateur video from activists reportedly show the syrian army continuing to kill its own citizens. in homs, fire balls reached toward the sky. in homs, snipers shot those trying to help the wounded. they tried to evacuate the wounded as government forces continued their assault. the prolonged crackdown leaves the military running low on ammunition, weapons, and spare parts. enter this refly route from iran. western intelligence sources tell fox news this opposition video shows unregistered, unscheduled, but civilian cargo planes landing at syrian military bases near the largest crackdowns like this one in hama. precious military cargo is then quickly unloaded. the photographer offers a na

leastland vitter is live in -- leland vitter is live in jerusalem for us, the israelis are keeping a close eye on iran. how are they interpreting the news? >> reporter: the israeli reaction is basically we told you so. i'll translate the hebrew for you, proof iran is developing a nuclear bap. we're talking about the parchin nuclear facility south ofter ran. inspectors asked for a long time to be able to go in there, the iranians have said no and now all of the sudden they're saying yes but as they said yes there's all this evidence they are trying to clone something up there. intelligence estimates say they're trying to clean up a neutron trigger experment and that's what you need to actually explode a nuclear bomb. this would be for the first time proof, a smoking gun, if you will, that iran is actually developing a nuclear weapon, and their nuclear program is not peaceful as their ambassador to the iaea today just said. he said no, no, no, despite this evidence, we only want to do nuclear power research. of course, the israeli prime minister has had a long running response to that,

first the debate on the floor, senator david vitter is a republican from louisiana. >> mr. president, the arguments made on the other side when you look at them carefully just don't hold water. first of all, there's president obama's so-called accommodation, so-called compromise which isn't an accommodation and isn't a meaningful compromise at all. what did he say? he said okay, we're not going to make americans persons of faith, religious institutions buy coverage that they will have moral quauxs with. we are merely going to make the insurance provider provide that coverage whether the customer wants it or not. well, mr. president, that is a completely superficial, completely meaningless word game. the insurers is providing this how? what payment is supporting it? the only payment the insurer is getting is from the customer who objects to the coverage. so who's supporting it? who's paying for it? clearly, this is just a word game. if it weren't clear enough for the typical person or institution involved, what about institutions and there are many of them which are self-ins

leland vitter is following this live from our jerusalem bureau.ictures are horrible to see, more to come, unfortunately, because this thing is far from over. what's behind the clashes now getting into damascus? >> reporter: it's terrible to see, as usual, arthel. we've been getting used to seeing these pictures coming out of syria. what's important is they're coming out of not some far flung capitol but damn as cas, the capitol. and president assad has held on to the power base inside the capitol and still his military has overwhelming force. the clash in this neighborhood, an upscale neighborhood with a lot of embassies around, this shows the rebels have the ability to push inside of that capitol. if all of the sudden damascus begins to destabilize a little bit that changes the power equation for president assad. as of now the u.n. says 8000 people have been killed. that number is certain to continue to rise. the question is, if this new clash, so close to his own presidential palace, means president assad becomes more desperate and starts killin

leland vitter reports on what the country may be trying to hide. >> reporter: 20 miles south sits with a intelligence experts could be the smoking gun of iran's nuclear weapons program. u.n. inspectors have so far been refused access to the military facility. iran recently said they would be allowed in, but soon, satellite imagery showed a cleanup operation underway. it's believed they are trying to cover up experiments on a trigger for a nuclear bomb. with air force at current strength, israel would have attack in the next six months to do any significant damage to the nuclear program. a secret deal reported but far from confirmed today would give israel more bunker buster bombs and advance air to air refeeling. that would give sanctions and diplomacy more time to work. at an emergency meeting, iran's ambassador reiterated his country's nuclear program was only for peaceful purposes. >> iran's leader says he welcomes president obama's window to find a diplomatic solution. to emphasize the point. iran's ambassador to france that his country ending or slowing uranium process was off the

vitter: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. vitter: thank you, mr. president. i also come to the floor to offer amendments to this bill. and, mr. president, through you, let me assure our colleague from illinois, they're not amendments about contraception or any other unrelated issue. they're energy amendments. they're amendments that go directly to one of the greatest challenges all of our constituents, fellow citizens face, which is the ever-rising price at the pump. i'm ghad we're on this men -- i'm glad we're on this menendez bill because at least it puts us on that major challenge that faces louisiana middle-class families, lower middle-class families and those families in illinois and all around the country. and so i bring amendments directly relevant to that. the first amendment has to do with supply. you know, first of all, let me say, mr. president, why i oppose the menendez bill. it's because when you tax something at a higher level, when you increase the tax on it you get less of it. rand so it'and so it's going toe

leland vitter is live in israel with the latest. leland. >> reporter: as of now, jenna, we have about 220 rockets coming out of the gaza strip, here into southern israel. the iran dome, missile defense system, has been about 90 percent effective in keeping any israelis from getting hurt or killed by these missiles, but i can tell you, as we've had incoming rounds here into this area, it's awfully scary in the line of fire. >> we're looking at iron dome battery, the differently defense system that the israelis have nut, and right now, it is tracking a missile coming out of gaza. that's the iron dome that just went off. and the reason it's fired is it's calculated the missile could conceivably hit some type of population area. we'll know in a second whether it actually stops. another missile from the iron dome. each one of those interceptors are headed towards the 200 missile that is have come out of gaza here in the past while. the sirens are continuing to go off here. it is impossible to figure out exactly where this missile from ga

. >> and louisiana senator david vitter predicts that congress will get the pipestoneile built. yesterday, the senate narrowly defeated a measure. mr. obama said that more time is needed to make sure the projects environmentally safe. >> we can keep talking about the issue with the american people. i think we're making games every day and i think yesterday's vote was proof of that and i think we're getting there. i think we will get there eventually. this is a no-brainer in terms of the project and in terms of policy. >> republicans claim the pipeline would create thousands of jobs and help tackle the nation's sky rocketing gas prices. >>> and about some good news at the gas pump this week. the gas prices leveled off and the national average for a gallon of unleaded is $3.75, down a penny from monday. and in d.c., $3.89; maryland, $3.70 and in virginia, $3.64. >> a new gallop poll thinks that president obama and congress should take immediate action to keep prices from going higher. they could top $4 a gallon by memorial day. if that happens, 28% of people would have to make maj

good thing senator david vitter of louisiana is not from laurens county, south carolina. it's a darned good thing that senator john ensign is from nevada and no longer a senator at all. the romneys are trying hard to appeal to joe six pack. mitt's quoting davy crockett. mrs. romney says she doesn't feel rich. howard fineman and john nichols tell us all about super tuesday what makes the sleep number store different? the sleep number bed. the magic of this bed is that you're sleeping on something that conforms to your individual shape. wow! that feels really good. it's hugging my body. it works in a minute. i can get more support. if you change your mind once you get home you can adjust it. so whatever you feel like, the sleep number bed's going to provide it for you. at our semi-annual sleep sale, save $400 to $700 on our most popular bed sets. sale ends soon. only at the sleep number stores. where queen mattresses start at just $699. >>> ed show survey tonight i asked you would you listen to a radio station that continues to carry the rush limbaugh show? 6% said yes, 94%

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vitter: thank you, madam president. i, too, rise to talk about one of the most pressing challenges that louisiana families, indeed most american families face, and that is the price at the pump and the enormous hit that is to their family budget, their pocketbooks, their wallet. it is really making life very, very difficult in the midst of a very weak economy. a few years ago the price was $1.84. that's on the day-bedroom was -- the day barak obama was sworn in. now it's $3.80 plus, seems to be rising every day and that is a real crisis to a lot of american families. we should be committed here in the senate, here in washington to connect with the real world and focus on real problems and real crises. and for millions of louisiana and american families, that is absolutely it. unfortunately, i don't see real solutions and a real policy to address that coming out of the president or some of my colleagues here on the senate floor. right now, to the minute, as we speak here on the senate floor, the president is speaking at

good thing david vitter of louisiana is not from laurens county, south carolina. thing that senator john ensign is from nevada, the other side of the country, no longer a senator at all. the romneys are trying hard to appeal to joe six pack. mitt's quoting davy crockett. mrs. romney says she doesn't feel rich. howard fineman and john nichols tell us all about super tuesday, coming up. [ shapiro ] at legalzoom, you can take care of virtually all your important legal matters in just minutes. now it's quicker and easier for you to start your business... protect your family... and launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side. than leading regular juice drinks. because less sugar is a better way to fly. ♪ just not literally. capri sun. respect what's in the pouch. not anymore. fiber one is bringing brownies back. at 90 calories, you can have brownies again. ♪ fiber one 90 calorie brownies. in the granola bar aisle. >>> ed show survey i asked would you listen to a radio station that continues to carry the rush limbaugh show? 6% said yes, 94% said no

vitter: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. vitter: i, too, come to the floor to talk about the most pressing issue facing so many millions of louisiana and american families, and that is the price at the pump. sometimes we seem to get ourselves in a cocoon here in washington, d.c., divorced from the real world. well, we need to reconnect to the real world, and back in louisiana and pennsylvania and every state across the country, middle-class, lower middle-class families are really struggling with this ever-increasing price at the pump. when president obama was sworn into office a little over three years ago, that price was about $1.84 a gallon. today it's over double that, $3.80 and beyond and that's about a big hit to american families. that hits folks where it counts and where it hurts, in the wallet and the pocketbook and the family budget. and all around louisiana families are huddled around the kitchen table trying to figure out how to make it work, because gasoline, transportation, driving isn't a luxury. sure, you can

senator david vitter, thank you so much for being with us. >> gregg, thank you very much.good to see you. martha? martha: there has been a very hot story this weekend. new developments in the controversy over the nypd's surveillance of muslims. what the attorney general is now putting forward in this case. gregg: trouble in the deep south for mitt romney. the former governor calling it a way game. former presidential candidate tim pawlenty and romney supporter with his take coming up next. >> now you have presidential candidates traipsing through al pam. everybody wanting to have a little piece of your ear. i appreciate you coming out and listening to what we have to say because i think what we have to say is really important because alabama, which is the heart of the south, the conservative reddest part of this country that understands what made this country great. your diet. carol. fiber makes me sad. oh common. and how can you talk to me about fiber while you are eating a candy bar? you enjoy that. i am. [ male announcer ] fiber beyond recognition. fiber one. gregg: att

. >>> later waging war against $5 gasoline, senator david vitter joins us with his battle plan.ow, entrepreneur,

sroefplt she has the support of both myself and the other senator, my partner from louisiana, senator vitter. and i am very pleased to speak on her behalf today. and i recognize, of course, the senator from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: today i introduce s. 2248, a bill that will ensure and clarify that we'll keep the regulation of the process of hydraulic fracturing at the state level as opposed to the tphrefrl. i'm joined by -- federal level. i'm joined by senators risch, cornyn and lee. however, since this is not about a judge, i would yield my time to the junior senator, who is also a cosponsor of this, from utah, senator lee. the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. lee: thank you very much, mr. president. mr. president, i rise to express serious concerns that i have with the nomination of miranda du to serve as a judge on the u.s. district court for the district of nevada. in 2007, the very same court to which ms. du has now been nominated, imposed sanctions on ms. du for multiplying the proceedings unreasona

ask unanimous consent the vote changes with senators mikulski, collins reflect that the vote on the vitter amendment was vote number 28. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, -- the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i failed to bring the senate's attention to the following. i ask unanimous consent that on tuesday, march 13, the senate resume the sequence of votes remaining under the previous order, the time to be determined by the majority leader after consultation with the republican leader, following the provisions of the previous order remain in effect. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, as i indicated, following morning business, the senate will resume consideration of the surface transportation bill. as previously announced, there will be no roll call votes on monday. the senate should expect several votes tuesday morning and into the afternoon and evening to complete the action on that bill. if there is no further business to come before the senate,

when vitter and baucus come in and they agree with the same thing that inhofe and boxer have agreed to, it's a good day around here. and that's what we have before us. so i call on colleagues to vote aye on the cloture vote and let's get on with this, and let's spare the people the suffering, the untold suffering that will come if we have to lay off 1 boy 8 million workers -- 1.8 million workers and hurt more than 11,000 businesses. thank you very much, mr. president. and i would yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mrs. boxer: mada mr. president,i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: i would ask unanimous consent that these quorum calls be charged to both sides equally. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: thank you. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: quorum call:

host: on the senate side, co- sponsors include chambliss, snowe, and vitter.is a list of the house co- sponsors, to many to name. -- too many to name. you can see the list. 33 co-sponsors signed on to that so far. let's get to the phones. liz joins us from texas. caller: i am proud you are making this effort. thank you so much. i noticed there was a bi- partisan list. i wanted to suggest, i have been in the senate with a filibuster. it has to be in constitutional when laws are supposed to be passed with a simple majority in the senate, at least certain laws. it seems to me this abuse of the filibuster, there has got to be a stop to that. that is one of the reforms that should take place. to take what should be and is constitutionally possible majority -- a simple majority in just by the threat of a filibuster, it suddenly becomes a 2/3 vote. to me it is unconstitutional. there has to be something that can be done about that. i wondered what you would say on that matter. guest: you made a number of good points. let me run through them quickly. your note to the

i also thank t want to thank ser vitter for his assistance. on the other key committees, senator tim johnson, chairman of the banking committee, senator richard shelby, the ranking member of the banking committee, they couldn't have been nicer. i called their staffs very often to make sure that they were moving forward, and they did move forward. and, by the way, just as the e.p.w. committee was able to vote out a bill unanimously, everybody supporting it, so did the banking committee. and i'm very grateful to them. senator rockefeller and senator hutchison, chair and rank member of commerce, i thank them from the bottom of my heart. they had some difficult bumps in the road. when the bill came out of committee, there was controver controversy. working with senator cantwell, we figured out a way to get a vote on something she cared a lot about. we were able to smooth out that bump in the road of the and frankly they came together like two true champions and were able to get over the partisan differences and come up with a bipartisan bill. so w

vitter: mr. president, i rise in strong, strong passionate support of the blunt amendment, a very important amendment which we'll be voting on as an entire u.s. senate at 11:00 a.m. this morning. the blunt amendment is an absolutely necessary measure to fix what is very egregious overstepping of the bound of government in terms of the new, newly articulated obamacare mandate on religion. as we all know through the debate and discussion of the last several weeks, the obama administration has made it clear that everyone, including persons of faith, including religious institutions, are not only going to be forced to buy a product in the marketplace -- and many of us think that itself is unprecedented and unconstitutional -- but it gets worse, because they will be forced to buy a product in the marketplace that violates their conscience, that violates their core beliefs. catholics, many other christians, many people of faith do not believe in certain activity and treatment that is mandated now to be

vitter: mr. president, i have returned to the senate floor today to talk about what is a true crisis for many louisianans, many americans, which is the ever-rising price of gasoline at the pump. this hits everybody in their tough, tough pocketbook in a horrible economy, and so it really is a true crisis for many american families all around the country. now, in this debate -- and it has been a significant national debate -- a lot of republicans say, well, president obama doesn't have a plan, doesn't have a policy to address the price at the pump. a lot of supporters of president obama say, well, no president can really have a significant impact, can determine the price at the pump. mr. president, i think both of those statements are equally wrong. i think the president, this administration, they do have a policy, they have made specific proposals, and it will -- would, if we enact it, have a significant impact on the price at the pump. it would just be the wrong sort of impact. it would drive the

so senator vitter and i don't agree on a lost subject, and we -- on a lot of subjects, and we go at it pretty hard in the committee. but on this we agree. so let's look at a few others and then i'll yield the floor, after we go through the rest of these. "highway bill would boost stafnlt" this is mississippi. mr. president, this is one of the redest states in the yiewfnlt i beg speaker bainer to open his ears and hear me. "a two-year, $109 billion highway bill that passed the u.s. senate this week buoys the hope of road builders and the travel industry that the house can be prodded by the senators' action to pass its own bill before a march 31 expiration date. this bill has no earmarks. mississippi could derive major benefits." i am just saying, when you have editorials from mississippi for a bill, you know it's a bipartisan bill. let's take look at some others, david. a solid transportation bill. this comes from oregon, "the register guard." "by an impressive bipartisan vote of 74-22, the senate on wednesday passed a two-year blueprint for transportation." "the house should move quick

vitter: madam president, i'm happy and honored to join my colleague from alaska, also both of our colleagues, senator barrasso, to talk about this vital, vital issue -- u.s. energy rin, doing something abot the price at the pump, including accessing more of the vital u.s. energy that we've right here on our shores. as the senator from alaska has said, madam president, at least i give the president kudos for using the right language, saying the right things, even if his policies have not caught up with that yet. he's talking about an all-of-the-above energy strategy, something we have been advocating for years. he's also talking about a release from the strategic petroleum reserve. i disagreed with that policy, but at least it acknowledges that supply matters. and if we increase supply, we would lower price. now, i think the important way we need to do that, of course, is to produce more energy right here at home. madam president, a lot of americans don't realize, but we are the single-most energy-rich country in the world, bar none. no one else comes close. so when you look at all of our ene

they worked closely with senator vitter and myself to incorporate the best ideas from all sides. and ultimately those good-faith efforts prevailed. they prevailed when the committee reported our highway bill title with unanimous support. we continued working together to meld that product with contributions from the banking committee and the commerce committee, along with a fiscally responsible plan to pay for this investment with the finance committee. earlier this month 75% of the senate came together to pass a highway bill that would create or sustain approximately 1.8 million american jobs each year. that's according to the department of transportation. what a tremendous achievement reached by working together, creating or sustaining 1.8 million jobs a year. from my state of montana, this bill would create or sustain 14,000 jobs each year, and it cuts through red tape to put people to work on jobs even faster. it gives the state of montana and our local communities the flexibility they need to fund the alternative transportation projects that work best for them. it invests in

purpose of further amendment and the following amsdz be the only first-degree amendments remaining, vitter 1335, baucus or designee relative to rural sexuals, collins, coburn 1738, 1822, wyden 1817, hoeven 1837, levin 1818, mcconnell or designee with a side by side to stabenow 181 demint number 1589, menendez-burr, 1782. coats 1517, brown 1819, blunt 1540, merkley 161563, portman 1763, kobe char 1718, shaheen 1678, portman 174 , corker 1810, carper 1670, hutchison 1658, alexander 1779, boxer 1816 and paul 1556. on thursday, march 8 at a time to be determined by the majority leader, after consultation with the republican leader the senate proceed to vote on the amendments in the order listed, following amendments be subject to a 60 affirmative throat threshold, vitter 1535, collins 1660, coburn 1738, knell bi-landrieu 1822, wyden 1815, mcconnell or designee side by side to stabenow 1812, stabenow 1812, demint 1589, menendez-burr 1782, that there be no other amendments in order to the bill other than the manager's package, no points of order or motions in order to any of these amendments oth

senator collins, number 1660, boiler mact, senator vitter, number 1530, o.c.s., a wyden side by side relevant to hoeven number -- senator hoeven number 1537, hoeven 1537 related to the keystone pipeline. levin amendment on offshore tax havens. a mcconnell or designee relevant to the levin amendment. a cantwell amendment on energy tax extenders. and mcconnell or designee relevant to the cantwell amendment. a menendez amendment on natural gas. and a coburn amendment number 1738 on duplication. i further ask consent that the following highway-related amendments also be in order. demint number 1756. coats number 1517. blunt number 1517. paul, 1556. portman, 1736. portman, 1742. corker, 1785. corker on highway trust fund number 1786. hutchison number 1568. and mccain number 1669. ten highway-related amendments to be offered by the majority leader or his designee. i further ask consent that following the disposition of the above-listed amendments and the managers' package of amendments to be cleared by both managers of the bill, the bill be read a third time and the senate proceed to vote