Madam President, how much time is remaining on our side? The PRESIDING OFFICER. Four minutes fifty-five seconds.

Mr. President, thank you very much. I think this is a healthy discussion we are having. We do not usually discuss much the Fed Chairman or the appointment or the nomination of a Fed Chairman. Yet monetary policy affects all of us in a huge…

Mr. President, as I understand, there are no further votes this evening, and there will not be votes tomorrow. We will have this up Thursday, and we will debate it then and vote on it. I will put in somewhat of a statement tonight and then…

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to add the following members as cosponsors to the amendment: Senators Chambliss, Ensign, and Vitter. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

I think under a previous agreement I was to call up an amendment. I ask that my amendment be callled up, No. 3309, which is at the desk. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The pending amendments are set aside and the clerk will report. The assistant…

Mr. President, I thank my colleague from North Dakota. I will miss his voice around here. He and I both are leaving this body at the end of this year, and I have appreciated the chance to serve with him and work on many different issues of…

I rise to speak on the budget deficit and a mechanism this body has embraced in two prior budget agreements that I think it is time to put in place now. It is called the CARFA mechanism, the Committee on Accountability and Review of…

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Shaheen.) Without objection, it is so ordered.

Since the earthquake hit Haiti on January 12, we have all watched with sadness as the death toll rose, prayed for those affected, and rejoiced when survivors were found. It is an event that has directly touched the lives of people around…

I appreciate the gentleman from Illinois for recognizing me today. I am here today to honor former Kansas Congresswoman Jan Meyers, a fiscal conservative and a true public servant. Jan served in the House of Representatives from 1985 to…

Last month I wrote Speaker Pelosi and insisted that the Stupak-Pitts amendment be preserved in any final version of health care reform legislation. The Stupak-Pitts amendment would maintain the current policy of preventing Federal funds…

A year ago Israel was engaged in defensive operations to protect its citizens from terrorist attacks. In doing so, Israel was exercising the most basic right and responsibility of a state, to protect one's citizens. Troubling, many in the…

You are saying that the duration, the mean, the average duration of unemployment decreased in March of 2008 to 16.2 weeks from 16.8 weeks in the preceding month, and a year ago it was 17.2 weeks.

68,000 in all housing-related. So that would include your durable goods that you put into a house?

So that is telling us that companies are not putting on temps? Is that what you are saying to us?

I have been touring a number of places in my state and manufacturing industries had experienced a significant fall off of employment over the past several years but have been experiencing some strength recently with the declining value of…

Thanks for the data and the information.

Today's news that the economy lost 80,000 payroll jobs last month and the unemployment rate rose 5.1 percent is disappointing to all of us.