On the recordJune 18, 2012
the Senate will continue debate on the farm bill today. At 5 p.m. the Senate will proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of Mary Lewis to be U.S. District Judge for the District of South Carolina. At 5:30 this evening there will be a rollcall vote on confirmation of the Lewis nomination. Moving Forward Mr. President, I have spoken to Senator Stabenow several times in the last couple of days. In fact, I spoke to her today--what time did I get back? It is 3 o'clock--at 2 o'clock or thereabouts. She indicated to me they are making progress on the bill. There was one amendment she was concerned about. I worked that out and told her she could go ahead and have that as part of the consent agreement. So I have worked very hard to try to make the lives of Senators Stabenow and Roberts easier, and I have worked through some of the problems my people had. But, Mr. President, the issues on this bill overwhelmingly are on the other side, and I hope we can work something out. They have worked so hard--Senators Stabenow and Roberts--and I hope we can find a path forward. It is important. I commend them for their dedication to this measure which cuts subsidies and protects 16 million American jobs. We have spent so much precious time on this bill--precious time we do not have--and we need to move forward on it. We are going to move forward or off of this bill.…





