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Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that on Monday, February 27, 2012, at 4:30 p.m., the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination: Calendar No. 409; that ...

The resolution (S. Res. 325) was agreed to.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Foreign Relations Committee be discharged from further action on S. Res. 325.

There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the resolution.

There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the resolution.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, ...

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the upcoming recess or adjournment of the Senate, the President of the Senate, the President pro tempore, and the majority and minority ...

Without objection, it is so ordered.

Without objection, it is so ordered.

The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

We are still on that matter.

The resolution (S. Res. 379) was agreed to.

Without objection, it is so ordered.

There being no objection, the Senate, at 2:27 p.m., adjourned until Tuesday, February 21, 2012, at 12 noon.

Following that morning business, the Senate will proceed to executive session under the previous order.

Without objection, it is so ordered.

Mr. President, following any leader remarks, the Senate will be in a period of morning business until 11:00 a.m., with the Republicans controlling the first half and the majority controlling ...

Objection having been heard, the bill will be placed on the calendar.

The clerk will report the bill by title for the second time.

Vol. 158WASHINGTON, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2012No. 27

The clerk will please read a communication to the Senate from the President pro tempore (Mr. Inouye).

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate resumes legislative session following the vote on confirmation of the Furman nomination, the Senate proceed to the consideration of the ...

Without objection, it is so ordered.

Following morning business, we will resume consideration of the matters that will be before the Senate. At a time to be determined, there will be at least two rollcall votes.

Mr. President, I have to give a few remarks. They are very short in nature. Then my friend can proceed, but I will maintain the floor for just a few ...

The Honorable Christopher A. Coons led the Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which ...

Without objection, it is so ordered.

Mr. President, thanks to bipartisan cooperation, the conference committee reached an agreement to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance. This compromise effort also protects Medicare patients' right to ...

Under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved.

There is 7\1/2\ minutes remaining on the Republican side.

Mr. President, in recent weeks, we have seen the Obama administration reverse quite a few of its positions on very important issues, so I am going to go through several ...

The Senator from New Hampshire.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I may consume 3 minutes and my colleague from California may also consume 3 minutes before we move on to the next matter.

Mr. President, I wish to thank my colleagues from California, New York, New Hampshire, and Washington State for the great job they have done. Before I speak about our judicial ...

The Senator from New York.

Mr. President, I have said it time and time again all across New York State at event after event: We need more women's voices in our decisionmaking process. We need ...

Mr. President, I thank my colleague from New Hampshire.

Morning business is closed.

I just wanted to make the point that I think Senator Hutchison has been probably one of the most productive members of the Commerce Committee I have ever seen. I ...

Would the Senator yield? And I ask unanimous consent that she have an additional 60 seconds.

By unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived.

Mr. President, I rise to urge my colleagues to vote no on cloture on Senator Reid's amendment No. 1633 to the highway bill. The bill we are getting ready to ...

The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 54, nays 42, as follows:

The legislative clerk read as follows:

On this vote, the yeas are 54, the nays are 42. Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn not having voted in the affirmative, the motion is rejected.

[Rollcall Vote No. 20 Leg.] YEAS--54 Akaka Baucus Begich Bennet Blumenthal Boxer Brown (MA) Brown (OH) Cantwell Cardin Carper Casey Conrad Coons Durbin Feinstein Franken Gillibrand Hagan Harkin Heller Inouye ...

The legislative clerk called the roll.

I am happy to yield.

Mr. President, today we turn to the nomination Jesse M. Furman, to be U.S. district judge for the Southern District of New York. Mr. Furman was reported out of the ...

Mr. President, I appreciate the fact that the filibuster has been dropped on this very good man. This nomination has taken months to get here. I would urge everybody to ...

Are there any other Senators in the Chamber desiring to vote?

Under the previous order, the Senate will proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination, which the clerk will report.

Mr. President, I thank the chairman and the Judiciary Committee for reporting Jesse Furman out without dissent. Furman is a truly excellent figure. He clerked for the Supreme Court, has ...

Mr. President, I yield back the remainder of our time.

All time is yielded back.

[Rollcall Vote No. 21 Ex.] YEAS--62 Akaka Alexander Baucus Begich Bennet Blumenthal Boxer Brown (MA) Brown (OH) Cantwell Cardin Carper Casey Collins Conrad Coons Corker Durbin Feinstein Franken Gillibrand Graham ...

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Kirk), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Roberts), and the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Vitter).

I announce that the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Bingaman) is necessarily absent.

Is there a sufficient second? There is a sufficient second.

The Republican leader is recognized.

[Rollcall Vote No. 22 Leg.] YEAS--60 Akaka Ayotte Baucus Begich Bennet Blumenthal Boxer Brown (MA) Brown (OH) Cantwell Carper Casey Cochran Collins Conrad Coons Durbin Feinstein Franken Gillibrand Graham Grassley ...

I yield back all time.

Mr. President, Congress has taken an important step today to address the looming spectrum crunch that our country faces as well as provide first responders with the nationwide network that ...

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Kirk), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Roberts), and the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Vitter).

The Republican leader.

I move to lay that motion on the table.

Mr. President, I yield back the time on this side.

The legislative clerk called the roll.

Is there a sufficient second?

The conference report was agreed to.

Are there any other Senators in the Chamber desiring to vote?

Mr. President, I assume the next business is the vote on the payroll bill. Before that, I will take 1 minute.

I announce that the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Bingaman) is necessarily absent.

I have an amendment at the desk. I now ask that the clerk report the amendment.

The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

Without objection, it is so ordered.

Very briefly, I just want to thank my friend so much. He has a lot of ties to the environment and public works community, and we know every State in ...

The Senator from Hawaii.

The Senator from California.

Mr. President, what we have just gone through is an effort to bring the highway bill to be closer to the end.

Mr. President, I appreciate the comments of the Senator before me. I wish to rise to inform colleagues and the public of some highly disturbing information that I have just ...

Without objection, it is so ordered.

The Senator from South Dakota.

I don't know what the Senator's average age of a farmer in Kansas is, but my understanding is, at least nationally, the average age of a farmer in this country ...

Mr. President, I share the genuine concern expressed by the Senator from South Dakota. Farmers have so many things to concern themselves with in the ability to earn a living. ...

The clerk will call the roll.

Mr. President, this week the Gallup poll came out with a survey that said 85 percent of small businesses in this country are not hiring. They just are not hiring. ...

Mr. President, if the Senator will yield on that point, what the Senator has touched upon I think is something that perhaps people who don't come from farm country don't ...

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I now choose to turn to another topic--a topic that is important to many Americans, a topic that relates to an important anniversary we are recognizing.

The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.

The clerk will please call the roll.

Without objection, it is so ordered.

Mr. President, earlier today, we were treated to some very partisan remarks from one of my colleagues on the preventive services mandate. That is the legal term. Here is what ...

Objection is heard.

Mr. President, we have about 90 nominations on the Executive Calendar. That is a lot of names--people who have set their lives aside, after having been asked by the President ...

Is there objection?

The Senate resumes legislative session.

Mr. President, I rise today to commend an organization in Kentucky that is working to build brighter futures for children by fighting the trauma of child abuse, violence and neglect. ...

[From Discover the Power of Southeast Kentucky, Summer 2011]

Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to one of the most vital components of the American economy, the family-owned business. For over a century, Kentucky's own F.S. VanHoose ...

Messages from the President of the United States were communicated to the Senate by Mrs. Neiman, one of his secretaries.

The PRESIDING OFFICER laid before the Senate the following message from the President of the United States, together with an accompanying report; which was referred to the Joint Economic Committee:To ...

The following bill was read the second time, and placed on the calendar: S. 2118. A bill to remove unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats from seniors' personal health decisions by repealing the ...

The following executive reports of nominations were submitted:

The following bills and joint resolutions were introduced, read the first and second times by unanimous consent, and referred as indicated: By Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. Bingaman, Mr. Conrad, ...

There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:

By Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Ms. Snowe, and Mr. Grassley):

SA 1709. Mr. BENNET (for himself and Mr. Moran) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 1813, to reauthorize Federal-aid highway and highway safety ...

The House met at 9 a.m. and was called to order by the Speaker.

Every year around this time, the President submits a budget, the House and Senate debate their own budgets and, well, nothing happens. Congress has not adopted a budget in over ...

Vol. 158WASHINGTON, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2012No. 27

(Mr. WILSON of South Carolina asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Madam Speaker, I rise today to talk about two wonderful Vermonters from Dummerston: Frances Herbert and Takako Ueda.

Madam Speaker, well, we're going to take up legislation which is targeted to fix the reimbursement for doctors, which is absolutely essential to Medicare. This threat should go away forever. ...

Madam Speaker, from the 1099 provision, to IPAB, to the hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Medicare, it's clear that President Obama's health care law is bad medicine ...

(Mr. BENISHEK asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)

Madam Speaker, I rise today to encourage my colleagues to support bipartisan legislation to create jobs. In December, Congressman Stephen Fincher and I introduced H.R. 3606, the Reopening American Capital ...

Madam Speaker, I rise today to talk about the housing crisis facing Americans. In California's San Joaquin Valley, we know firsthand the pain the housing crisis has caused our families ...

(Mr. SMITH of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Pennsylvania?

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to remove my name as a cosponsor of H.R. 1380.

The SPEAKER pro tempore laid before the House the following communication from the chair of the Committee on Ethics:

The resolution was agreed to.

The text of the resolution is as follows:

Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from California?

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at noon on Tuesday, February 21, 2012; when the House adjourns on that day, ...

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that my name be removed as a cosponsor of H.R. 3086.

Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Massachusetts?

Is there objection to the request of the gentlewoman from Kansas?

Mr. Speaker, for years the Federal Government keeps sneaking taxes into airline tickets. The airlines cannot put on the ticket all those hidden taxes because the law won't let them ...

There was no objection.

Mr. Speaker, recreational therapy embraces a definition of health which includes not only the absence of illness, but extends to enhancement of physical, cognitive, emotional, social, and leisure development. This ...

Mr. Speaker, it's day 7 since the loss of religious freedom for Americans guaranteed under the First Amendment. We know that last Friday, when the final rule was issued by ...

(Mr. MICA asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

(Mr. DOLD asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

(Mr. DREIER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I stand before you to congratulate an outstanding young leader in my community, Daniel Quesada.

Mr. Speaker, it's not difficult to believe that our Florida colleague, Connie Mack, could become a grandfather. But what is shocking is that our youthful and beautiful California colleague, Mary ...

Mr. Speaker, a lot of things going on in the Middle East, a lot of things needing to be addressed at this point. I have grave concerns about the manner ...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

A message from the Senate by Ms. Curtis, one of its clerks, announced that the Senate agrees to the report of the committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of ...

Mr. Speaker, when I looked at the television this morning and at that little crawler across the top of one of our stations, I noticed that oil was $103 a ...

The SPEAKER pro tempore laid before the House the following message from the President of the United States; which was read and, together with the accompanying papers, referred to the ...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate you being here with me on a Friday afternoon and for you providing the time.

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 2 o'clock and 8 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until Tuesday, February 21, 2012, at noon.

Under clause 2 of rule XIII, reports of committees were delivered to the Clerk for printing and reference to the proper calendar, as follows: Mr. SMITH of Texas: Committee on ...

Pursuant to clause 7 of rule XII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the following statements are submitted regarding the specific powers granted to Congress in the Constitution ...

Under clause 7 of rule XII, sponsors were deleted from public bills and resolutions as follows: H.R. 1380: Mr. Barletta. H.R. 1964: Ms. Jenkins. H.R. 3086: Mr. Frank of Massachusetts.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Andrew W. Chambers of Chester County, Pennsylvania on his retirement after 30 years of law enforcement service with the Tredyffrin Township Police Department.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday I chaired a joint hearing of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights and the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere to focus on just one ...

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remember the Armenian victims of the Sumgait, Kirovabad, and Baku pogroms who were killed in Azerbaijan in the late 1980s and early 1990s. As ...

Mr. Chair, in the aftermath of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, President Obama, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, a national commission, businesses and environmentalists reached consensus that 80% ...

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, on rollcall No. 64, I inadvertently voted ``no.'' I would like to be recorded as ``aye'' for rollcall No. 64.

Mr. Speaker, as the Co-Chairman of the House Azerbaijan Caucus, I rise today to bring attention to the tragedy that took place in Khojaly, Azerbaijan, a town and townspeople that ...

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute and honor the life of Mr. Leon C. Johnson, Sr.

Mr. Speaker, today I urge my colleagues to join me in recognizing the achievements of Muhammad Ali on the occasion of his 70th birthday, being celebrated by the Cleveland Clinic ...

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 50, Wednesday afternoon, I was participating in an important subcommittee meeting and was unable to make the first vote of the series. Had I been ...

Mr. Speaker, I rise to salute the men and women of U.S. Coast Guard Port Security Unit 307 who are being honored this morning at the Pentagon with the 2011 ...

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Jim Maxey for receiving the E. Floyd Forbes Award, which is the National Meat Association's highest honor. Established in 1946, the National Meat ...

Mr. Speaker, due to a previously scheduled doctor's appointment, I was absent from votes in the House last Thursday (February 9th) and missed rollcall votes 47 and 48. Had I ...

Mr. Speaker, James J. Coleman, professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Illinois, was one of 66 to be elected into the National Academy of Engineering. A ...

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Central Florida YMCA for their ``Red Tail Pilots Tribute'' event to congratulate the Tuskegee Airmen.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the life's work of Robert M. O'Neil, a lifelong resident of Pittsfield, Massachusetts who has served his community in many capacities, ...

Mr. Speaker, due to a commitment in my district, I had to miss votes on H.R. 3408. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye'' on Amendment 13, ``aye'' ...

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the life and accomplishments of Micron Technology Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Steve Appleton, who died in an aircraft accident on February 3,

Mr. Speaker, on January 26, 1995, when the last attempt at a balanced budget amendment passed the House by a bipartisan vote 300 132, the national debt was $4,801,405,175,294.28.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring recognition to a special lady who hails from the same section of Appalachia as I do. Elizabeth Joanne Shupe was born February 11, ...