quorum call: mr. reid: madam president? 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: now ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by the majority leader, with the consultation of the republican leader, the republican leader or his designee be recognized to move to proceed to the consideration of s.j. res. 6, a joint resolution disapproving the rules submitted by the federal electiofederalcommunication comh respect to regularring the broadband industry practices. there be up to four hours of debate with the time divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees. the senate proceed to vote on the adoption of the motion to proceed and if the motion is successful, time for debate with respect to the motion be equally divided between two leaders or their designees. upon the use or yielding back of time, the joint resolution be read a third time, the senate proceed to vote on passage of the resolution, all the provisions o

mr. reid: mr. president, i've been authorized by the chairman of the senate appropriations committee to withdraw the committee-reported substitute amendment. the presiding officer: the amendment is withdrawn. mr. reid: ta*u, mr. president. i have -- thank you, mr. president. i have a substitute amendment at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, proposes amendment 596 -- 956. add the following division a, energy related agencies -- mr. reid: i ask further reading be waived, mr. president. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. menendez: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey is recognized. mr. menendez: mr. president, i rise to raise concerns about this amendment that would constitute a significant change to u.s. foreign and banking policies that should be carefully considered by the senate foreign relations committee and the senate banking committee. these provisions have far-reaching policy implicatio

mr. reid: mr. president, as i indicated, senator feinstein and senator alexander are working very hard to come up with a -- an agreement that we can move forward on the energy and water bill. i'm terribly disappointed that we weren't able to do the so-called minibus consisting of three appropriations bills, as we did a couple of weeks ago. it's too bad, it's unfortunate that we're not able to do that, but objection was raised that caused us not to be able to do that. they have not been able to reach an agreement tonight. they're going to continue working on this, and hopefully tomorrow something good will happen. it's my understanding the republicans have run a hotline with their members to see if they can reduce the number of amendments on the energy and water bill. remember, with that bill, you can't legislate on an appropriation bill and it has to be germane, so at least we have those restrictions. i would also say that while my friends on the republican side are working through amendments, demo

mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks the senate will be in morning business until 10:30 this morning. following morning business the senate will resume consideration of s. 1867. the filing deadline for second-degree amendments to the defense bill is 10:30 a.m. today. at about 11:00 there will be a cloture vote on 1867. it's my understanding the vote will be at 11:00. is that right, madam president? the presiding officer: the senator is correct. mr. reid: not about 11:00 it will be at 11:00. we'll continue work through the pending amendments. senators levin and mccain are the managers of this bill. senators will be notified when votes are scheduled. madam president, there was a little void here from 10:30 till the vote. that will be debate time on the motion to invoke cloture on the defense bill. madam president, the republicans love to talk about taxes. they like them low. we like them high. or so they would have you believe. by that logic, republicans ought to be lining up to support our p

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. i say to the two managers of the bill -- the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: pardon me? the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: i'm sorry, mr. president. i say to the marines of the defense -- to the managers of the defense bill, the republican leader is going to be here to give a speech. i'm going to give one but it shouldn't take long. we'll move immediately to the bill. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. mr. reid: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks, the senate will resume consideration of 1867, the defense authorization bill. at 5:00 p.m. the senate will be in executive session to consider the nomination of christopher droney to be united states circuit judge for the second circuit. at 5:30 there will

mr. reid: the business of the day, please. the presiding officer: under the previous order the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order the senate will resume consideration of h.r. 2112 which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 155, h.r. 2112 an act making appropriations for agriculture, rural development, food and drug administration and related agency programs for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2012 and for other purposes. the presiding officer: the senator from wisconsin. mr. kohl: the first amendment we will be considering today is the coburn amendment which will reduce funding for the rural development mission area by $1 billion or 41% spread equally over the agency. and i am opposing this amendment. this is not the time to curtail essential programs that support jobs and incomes in our rural areas. so i will oppose this amendment, and i urge my colleagues to do so as well. i'd like now to recognize senator sherrod brown of owe. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. the presiding officer: t

mr. reid: tomorrow we will debate s.j. res. 6 regarding net neutrality and the 3% withholding repeal act. if there is no further business coming before the senate i ask that we adjourn under the previous order. the presiding officer: the the presiding officer: the >> extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. [cheers and applause] and let me remind you also that moderation is the pursuit of justice is no virtue. [cheers and applause] >> he lost the 1964 presidential election to lyndon johnson, but goldwater's ideas and candor galvanized the conservative movement. he's featured on the contenders this week live friday at 8 p.m. eastern. >> public schoolteachers testified before the senate education committee today on the no child let behind act. the senate is expected to vote on reauthorizing the bill by the end of the year. in is two and a half hours. [inaudible conversations] >> come to order. today's round table will focus on moving beyond no child left behind and towards the reauthorization of the needs of the 21st

mr. reid: thank you. we now consider calendar 446, 447, 448, 449, 451, 452, 455, 457, 466, 467, 468, 469, 470, 471, and 498 that the nominations be confirmed en bloc, the motion to reconsider made and laid on the table, there be no interscreenings -- intervening action or debate, any related statements be printed in the report and president obama be immediately notified of the senate's action, the senate then resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. so ordered. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the judiciary committee be discharged from further consideration of s. 1541 and that we now proceed to its consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 1541 a bill to revise the federal charter for the blue stars mothers of america incorporated to change eligibility requirements for membership. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent there be no interveepg action or debate, any stat

mr. reid: i now ask, mr. president, we move to a period of morning business, senators allowed to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that a time to be determined by the majority leader after consultation with the republican leader, the senate proceed to executive session to consider nominations calendar number 353, 356, that there be an hour for debate equally divided in the usual form. that upon the use or yielding back of that time, the senate proceed to vote with no intervening action or debate on the nominations in the order listed. two minutes for debate equally divided in the usual form between the votes. that the motions to reconsider be made and laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate, and that no further motions be in order to any of the nominations, any statements related to the nominations be printed in the record, that president obama be immediately notified of the senate's action, and the senate then resume

reid of nevada -- mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i'm hopeful we won't have to have a vote on this matter. this is to protect us so that if we can't work something out, that we will have a vote thursday morning. i hope that we can work something out to have a vote on this most important measure, very important, a piece of legislation that an entire population of america supports by a ratio of some 76%. republicans support it, democrats support it, independents support t. the only support it. the only people in the world that don't support it are the republicans in the senate. so i hope we can work something out and it would be unnecessary for us to have cloture invoked or try to have cloture voacd. i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to executive session to consider numbe

the choice, mr. president, should be obvious. mr. reid: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: the highway bill has been worked on for months by senator boxer, the chairman and the ranking member, senator inhofe. and they've arrived at a conclusion. i had a are conversation yesterday with senator inhofe and they've worked out almost all the details on that bill. that bill we have to do something on that, because it expires at the end of this year. first of february i believe. mr. president, my friend the republican leader who i care a great deal about personally is absolutely wrong. the american people support our approach, 76% of the american people like it, of all political definitions support it. why? because it's so fair. we're asking the top .2% of people who make money in this country to contribute a surtax of .7% of the money they make over a million dollars. job creators? i don't think so. the funding mechanism that the republicans use this time is in violation of the agreement that we made last july. we have an agre

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: we'll be in a period of morning business until 3:00 p.m. today. during that period of time, senators will be allowed to speak for up to tenmans each. following that morning business, the senate will adopt the motion to proceed to h.r. 2345 -- actually, 2354. there will be no roll call votes today. the next roll call votes will be tuesday morning in relation to two district court judges. mr. president, last week something wonderful and unusual happened here in the senate. we passed a worthy piece of legislation with a nearly unanimous vote. we honored this nation's servicemen and women by passing legislation to support hiring of almost 900,000 out-of-work veterans. 250,000 of these unemployed veterans became members of the armed services because of the threat of global terror. i trust our action last week meant as much or more than our words of thanks and praise for the dedicated men and women who serve us so well. but th

quorum call: quorum call: mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: has the bill of the day been reported? the presiding officer: morning business is closed. under the previous order the senate will proceed to the consideration of s. 1867 which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 230, s. 1867, a bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2012 for military activities for the department of defense, for military construction, and so forth and for other purposes. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. reid: the republican leader is on the floor. he's going to offer an amendment. the one on this side is not ready. there's been an agreement. i ask unanimous consent that senator mcconnell be allowed to lay down his amendment when the one on the democratic side is laid down, which will be momentarily,

we're stuck having to choose between two great candidates in mr. reid's and mr. towers. i very much appreciate the way mr. reeds presented in it. i see on your application -- you did not mention this -- your professional work at san francisco state. thank you for all the work you do there. that said, i think we really have made a focus of bringing in some post-9/11 of debts to that commission, and i think hearing about mr. towers' involvement already, respectfully, i think he is the choice today -- we really have made a focus of bringing in some post-9/11 that's -- vets. >> i would be happy to support that. i think everyone here knew this was coming today, but this was one of those things where we cannot do enough for our veterans, and to have veterans come forward and apply for commissions like this, it is a horrible decision we have to make, but this is also a commission with these seats come up, and i am start your experience was turning in an application a year ago and just hearing about it. maybe it was not your specific seat that came up but others did, so we would

mr. reid: mr. president? could i ask my friend from new hampshire to allow me to ask a unanimous consent request? ms. ayotte: mr. president, i would grant that request. thank you. the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. reid: the reason senator levin and i have a briefing, a classified briefing that starts at 5:30. i ask unanimous consent that following the statement of the senator from new hampshire -- is the senator from listening? how much longer are you going to speak? it doesn't matter. ms. ayotte: i would say, leader, that probably five minutes. mr. reid: mr. president, i would ask unanimous consent that following her statement of ten minutes -- because she's been around long enough. she's learned to keep senator's time. five minutes really isn't five minutes. the senator from connecticut wish to speak? mr. lieberman: mr. president, i'd say to the leader i'm in this with the senator from new hampshire. we'll complete our colloquy within the ten minutes. mr. reid: followi

mr. 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: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, we would yield back whatever time was left here with the -- on the democratic side. the presiding officer: without objection, the time is yielded back on the democratic side. mr. reid: mr. president, we're going to continue to work tomorrow on the d.o.d. authorization bill. everyone has been told by the two managers of this bill if they have amendments, they should offer them. we're working on the energy and water bill. we're making progress on that with senators feinstein and lamar alexander. we have some nominations we're working on. the next vote will be 5:30 p.m. on november 28. we will be in session tomorrow. a senator: mr. president, i'd yield back the republican time. the presiding officer: all time is yielded backment -- yielded back. the question is -- is there a sufficient second? the

the hamadi case was an american citizen -- mr. reid: mr. president, would my dear friend from south carolina allow a being in -- alw a unanimous consent request? mr. graham: absolutely. mr. reid: i would ask my friend's statement not appear interrupted in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to consideration of the conference report to accompany h.r. 2112, an act making consolidated appropriations for the departments of agriculture, commerce, justice, transportation and housing and related programs. there be up to 90 minutes of debate equally divided between the two leaders or their designees, upon use or yielding back of their time, the senate proceed to vote on adoption of the conference report with 60-vote affirmative threshold. before there is response to my request, i would tell everyone we're going to be in session tomorrow. i have spoken to the two managers of the bill. we will likely not have votes tomorrow. in fact, i don't think we will have votes tomorrow, but

mr. reid:. mr. reid: the vote of this morning, tomorrow we're going to have a vote around 11:00 on cloture on this bill and we'll work with the managers to see how they're going to work through the germane amendments. the presiding officer: under the previous order, there will now be two minutes of debate equally divided on the landrieu amendment. ms. landrieu: mr. president, could we have order, please? the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. please take your conversations from the well. ms. landrieu: mr. president, thank you very much. we only will take a minute. i'd like to yield the majority of my time to the ranking member, who has worked so hard on this bill. i want to thank all the members of the senate for working on the -- the presiding officer: the senator will suspend. the senate will come to order. the senator from louisiana is recognized. ms. landrieu: i'd like to thank the cosponsors and thank all of my colleagues for supporting a very balanced extension of the sbir progr

if not, turned to mr. reid strostrom. supervisor campos: i have a quick question. i know at some point we will have a discussion and hear from some folks in the community about what the proper scope of the program should be. you outlined the original objectives of the 2007 ordinance, and i am wondering if you can generally speak to why this approach, as opposed to a larger program for the benefit of those who have not heard about the program, and one of the reasons we wanted to have this hearing, is because for those members of the boards that are not part of lafco, this is the first time they are hearing about this. >> we're really looking at this program offering as an opportunity to provide san francisco and with choice. over time, as we develop a consistent revenue stream and began to demonstrate on going sustainable nature of the program, we hope to include resources that are locally built. renewable resources that are on our san francisco-controlled land with san francisco in performing the work to own and operate them. the overall goal of the program really

mr. reid: it would seem appropriate, mr. president, we move to a period of morning business, senators allowed to speak for up to minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from louisiana. ms. landrieu:, mr. president, --. mr. reid: if i could ask my friend to withhold for a minute. it's important to announce because of this there will be no roll call votes tonight. the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. ms. landrieu: thank you, mr. president. i'd like to ask that miles ceety from senator grassley's office have floor privileges for the remainder of the day. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. landrieu: i ask unanimous consent that the health committee be discharged from further consideration of s. res. 302 and the senate proceed to its consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 302 expressing support for the goals of national adoption day and national adoption month and so forth. ms. landrieu: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed t

mr. 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 an hour. the majority will control the first half. following morning business we will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to h.r. 674. at noon the senate will be in executive session to consider the nomination of evan wallach to be united states circuit judge for the federal circuit. at 2:15 p.m. the united states will -- i'm sorry. i was behind myself a little bit. sorry about that. at 12:15 the senate will vote on the confirmation of the wallach nomination. following that vote the senate will be in recess until 2:15. expect to be in consideration of h.r. 674 today. senators will be notified when additional votes are scheduled. madam president, there are two bills at the desk. they're both due for a second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bills for the second time. the clerk: h.r. 2930, an act to amend the securities laws to provide for registration exe

quorum call: mr. reid: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be terminate evidence. following the morning business the senate will be in morning business until 5:00 p.m., senators permitted to speak up to ten minutes each. then resume consideration of h.r. 674 at approximately 5:30 the senate will vote on a motion to cloture to proceed to that matter. mr. president, every man or woman who puts on the uniform of the united states armed forces takes a solemn oath to defend it against all enemies. with that comes an obligation, upon which it was founded without regard to personal price. and for this service united states makes a promise to our soldiers, mail lowers, marines, and airmen in return. that promise isn't about flag waving or yellow ribbons. it lasts long after the parades and holidays are over through every day of every year of their lives. it's a guarantee that the american dream for which every service mib fights -- member fights for which many of their comrades have died will be waiting f

daily is he doesn't get along with mr. reid. harry reid over in the senate, the senate majority leader doesn't like bill daley according to the reports and things like the interview daley gave to politico last month help explain why. in particular they site one of his comments, this is daily who is getting some of his duties shifted, not a demotion, that he told both democrats and republicans have made it very difficult for mr. obama to govern, "wall street journal" reporting mr. reid was livid. is that not just true that the president has had a tough time with both sides of the aisle, you get fired, demoted and duties shifted over that? >> reporter: you get your duties shifted because you're echoing the same line you read from bill clinton in his new book, other centrist democrats, saying what the president needs to do is reach out to the middle, and instead they are going the other direction. it's worth pointing out here harry reid is about the only really valuable ally that president obama has in congress. he's about the only

mr. reid: mr. president, senate democrats' number-one priority of this congress is to pass commonsense legislation. for example, tax cuts, infrastructure investments. all of these ideas that we have will put americans back to work and revive our economy. republicans in the house, on the other hand, are focused on gutting the safeguards that keep our air clean, make our workplaces safe and check the greed of big wall street firms. never mind this whole package has no chance of passing in the senate. never mind experts say the so-called jobs agenda will create not a single job. house republicans complain we've not taken up and passed these policies which would risk american lives while doing nothing to improve our economy. they insist we should waste weeks or month to pass legislation that is dangerous and proven to fail. but the senate has too much work to do on legislation that will create jobs without risking american lives, to waste time on these ineffectual, purely partisan measures. unlike repu

mr. 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 an hour. the majority will control the first half. the republicans the final half. following morning business, the senate resume consideration of h.r. 2354, which is the energy and water appropriations bill. we need to work on an agreement for the bill. i'll advise senators when votes are scheduled. madam president, we are -- we have a lot of work to do in the next few days. we cannot have the defense authorization bill eat up a lot of time after we get back from the recess that we have for thanksgiving, so everyone should understand we're going to move forward on the defense authorization bill. it may not be tomorrow, it may not be the next day, but we have to do it before we have easter -- i'm sorry, easter ... thanksgiving. i hope everyone understands. i know everyone wants to get home for thanks giving. we all do. but we have an obligation here. the christmas period -- that is, after thanksgivin

. >> well, i know reid said it was disheartening, that whole factor, let's see if boehner and mr. reid can pull something through here, bob cusack of the hill, nice to meet you, thanks for coming on. >> thanks, brooke. >>> it is the story a lot of you are still talking about tweeting me about it through the last 24 hours. the story is this, this young girl, they kills herself after years of sexual abuse. she left behind words of pain, suffering and secrets all over her twitter page. coming up next, you're about to hear my emotional conversation with this young girl's mother. she talked to me about this investigation, including why the mother says police essentially ignored her daughter. stay right there. this silverado. i'm a big hunter. oh, what do you hunt? deer. fish. fantastic. ♪ [ male announcer ] this holiday, chevy's giving more. now qualified buyers can get 0% apr for 72 months on a 2011 chevy silverado. or 0% apr financing for 60 months plus no monthly payments until spring. ♪ >>> a lot of you tweeted me, in fact, still tweeting me now about the story of 18-year-old a

mr. reid: mr. president, the experiment that we just completed, these appropriations bills, has worked out traoepblgsly well. -- extremely well. one reason is because of senator kohl. senator kohl has been in the senate more than two decades. those of us who watched him know he doesn't spend a lot of time talking but he does spend a lot of time getting things done. this legislation is an example of how good he is. also senator blunt. this is a new experience for him, but he has been in the house. he's been in the house for many years and was part of their leadership and actually hit the ground running. has been a great partner in helping us move this legislation forward. so i congratulate both of these fine senators. the presiding officer: the senator from wisconsin. mr. kohl: i'd like to take a moment to thank my ranking member, senator blunt, for his support throughout this process. he and his staff have beened extraordinarily helpful to me and my staff. i'd thraoeubg thank my -- like to thank my

mr. reid: foblg leader remarks the senate will be in a period of morning business for one hour. the majority will role croal the first half, the republicans the second half. following that morning business the senate will redispliewm consideration of the rebuild america jobs act. a cloture motion to proceed to this last night, if no agreement is reached we'll vote on this tomorrow morning. i'm working with the republican leader to come up with an expeditious way of expressing the will of the senate in the next 24 hours or so. madam president, tomorrow the senate will vote on the rebuild america jobs act which is a plan to put hundreds of thousands of americans back to work constructing thousands of miles of roads, bridges, runways, and train tracks. the plan is paid with a small tax, less than a penny, on every dollar a person earns in excess of one dollar -- i'm sorry, in excess of one million dollars every year. it has millionaires and billionaires to contribute just a little bit more than they do today. a little bit more. knowing there's a price tag associated with getting ou

mr. reid: with this agreement, mr. president, the senate will resume consideration of the bill at 1:30 with up to 15 minutes of debate prior to the votes. there will be a series of up to four roll call votes beginning at 1:45. unanimous consent unanimous consent requests mr. president, that caroline tess, a state department detailee are granted floor privileges during the remainder of this congress. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader is recognized. mr. mcconnell: i'd like to start today on a positive note. later this very day the two parties will come together to do something we haven't been doing enough of around here. we'll pass a jobs bill on a bipartisan basis. then we'll send it back to the house where we hope it will pass shortly. in other words, we're going to legislate. i know that might sound like a little of a groundbreaking idea to some on my side who would rather spend their time on legislation sending a political message. as

mr. speaker, mr. reid, mr. mcconnell, ms. pelosi, members, distinguished guests, we gather in this remarkable monument to american history, this room, connecting the houses of congress. this room, where ideological differences fade in the presence of the overpowering force of pride in what we do and what americans have achieved. it is a privilege to be in this rotunda. high above us below the windows stretches a freeze with 19 panels -- friese with 19 panels depicting moments of american history. than most recent of them, number 19 just above -- the most recent of them, number 19 just above me here, the picks the first successful flight of a man in a powered aircraft. by the brothers wright 108 years ago. the depiction, indeed -- in addition to the craft and the responsible individuals, includes an american bald eagle carrying an olive branch. the wright brothers were the 45th recipient of the congressional gold medal, and the first for achievement in the world of flight. subsequently, congressional gold medals have been pres