Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Foreign Relations Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 1905, the Iran Threat Reduction Act, and that the Senate proceed to its consideration; that the Johnson of South…

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the cloture votes which were scheduled this afternoon on Watford be vitiated, all of the provisions of that order remain in effect. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so…

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There is a sufficient second. The question is, will the Senate advise and consent to the nomination of Paul J. Watford, of California, to be…

Madam President, I rise today to recognize the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's Hispanic American Resource Team's (H.A.R.T.) 10th Academy for their efforts to combat crimes against Hispanic-Americans, while building good will and…

Mr. President, I yield back all time and ask unanimous consent that the vote start now. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

Mr. President, based on this, we will have a vote that should start in 5 minutes, which will be the only vote of the day. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll. The bill clerk proceeded to…

We are expecting that there will probably be some amendments to this bill, and that is fine. That is the way the Senate should operate. We expect all amendments to this bill will be relevant to the bill. I hope Senators on both sides of…

Mr. President, after many months of bipartisan negotiation, the Senate will proceed this evening to vote on the motion to proceed to consideration of the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act of 2012. I hope it will…

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that William McConagha and Kathleen Wise be granted the privilege of the floor for the duration of consideration of S. 3187, the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act. The PRESIDING…

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered. Order of Procedure

Madam President, today I wish to commemorate the 110th anniversary of Cuba's independence. On May 20, 1902, after a series of rebellions against foreign rule, Cuba finally gained its freedom from the Spanish empire. I am honored to join…

The @BarackObama administration is pressuring contractors to fix job loss estimates from environmental regulations http://t.co/VOu2MZm1

I announce that the Senator from Missouri (Mrs. McCaskill) is necessarily absent.

China is now given preference to buy US debt by going directly to Treasury. I don't believe @BarackObama knows that he selling us out.

Madam President, today I congratulate the Salve Regina University men's rugby team for winning the 2012 National Small College Rugby Organization's Division III National Championship on April 29, 2012, in Glendale, CO. The Salve Regina…

When did you know? When were you aware of it? Could you have anticipated it?

I think it is really incumbent upon the regulators to figure out how to write a rule that allows legitimate hedging to go forward as it needs to, but it must be really, genuinely risk-mitigating hedging, and not anything people want to do…

For a nonfinancial company, you could be doing hedging as an end user, but you could also be very aggressive in your hedging.