Mr. President, today I join Senator Shelby and other senior Senators to introduce the Libyan Assets for Humanitarian Relief Act of 2011, designed to explicitly authorize the President to confiscate and distribute some of the assets of…

Mr. President, if I might just say to my colleague from Minnesota, I appreciate her good work and advocacy on this subject. This is something we have been working on for some time, along with some of our colleagues on both sides of the…

Mr. President, if I might add one point. I think the Senator from Minnesota did point out that there are a significant number of jobs that are associated with this industry--in fact, one-half million jobs. They are American jobs. They are…

Mr. President, the Senator from Oklahoma has a strongly held view about ethanol, particularly on this issue, on the VEETC, and I understand that. I understand there are Members who would like to see that particular tax credit go away. I…

I also ask unanimous consent I be allowed to enter into a colloquy with my colleague from Nebraska, Senator Johanns. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered. ____________________

Mr. President, in closing, I wish to, first of all, thank the Senator from Nebraska for joining us. He has a great wealth of experience, not only having grown up on a family farm in his early years but representing his State as a mayor, as…

When we characterize what you called tax expenditures, there are a bunch that fall into that category. I know the Senator is familiar with that as he served on the President's debt commission. It is about $1.1 trillion a year. In some way…

Madam President, I rise in support of the amendment that has been proposed by my colleagues from Maine and Oklahoma, Senators Snowe and Coburn, the Freedom from Restrictive Excessive Executive Demands and Onerous Mandates Act of 2011. This…

Mr. President, point of clarification. My understanding is the Senator from California cannot yield time to another Senator.

I appreciate that, Mr. President. I don't know if there is any time agreement, but I think it is appropriate to go back and forth. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California.

What are the rules of discussion or debate right now? When the Senator from California wraps up her remarks, would it not be appropriate to have someone from the other side speak at that time? The PRESIDING OFFICER. There is no order for…

Mr. President, last week I had the opportunity to travel my State of South Dakota, as I think most Senators did who were home over the break. During the week, I was able to be part of a couple of events in my State with former Comptroller…

Mr. President, the request was that at the conclusion of the remarks of the Senator from California, the Senator from Ohio would have how many minutes? The PRESIDING OFFICER. Ten minutes.

Mr. President, today I join with my colleague and friend from Iowa, Chuck Grassley, in introducing the Rural America Preservation Act of 2011, which will provide for common- sense, meaningful farm program payment limitations. Particularly…

I don't have any objection to that. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection? The Senator from Maine.

Well, I would say through the Chair that there may be many efforts, as there typically are here in the Senate, to address some of the issues, and a lot of our Members have different ideas about how best to do that. I happen to believe the…

Mr. President, I want to express my support for the amendment by Senator Tester. Last year when Congress passed the debit interchange fee provision, I opposed the measure. I was not convinced that the provision would work for small banks…

The economy should be roaring back by now, but instead it's still struggling, and the unemployment rate is 9.1 percent.