The law enforcement community appreciates the opportunity to work with Senator Leahy and his staff to develop a workable solution that supports the needs of the forensic science community.

I appreciate what the Senator from Rhode Island has done. He has been a champion on this not only in the public forum on this floor of the Senate, but he has been a champion in the cloakrooms, in the committee rooms; everywhere we have…

I think that we can all agree on.

I am communicating continually with Senator Leahy's staffers to make continual improvement.

The Justice Department is well positioned to play this central role.

I would trust the adversarial court system before I trusted the Federal bureaucracy.

Notwithstanding that, that does not mean that we cannot have standards that apply--the same kind of standards to crime labs and forensic scientists, does it?

They do it, as I stated yesterday on the floor of the Senate, by spying on dissenters.

I thank the distinguished Presiding Officer, the Senator from New Mexico. Vermont National Guard Mr. President, let me begin by noting that this morning, while watching ``The Today Show,'' I saw a piece about the Vermont National Guard. We…

what is the current parliamentary situation? The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate is postcloture on the motion to proceed to S. 2237.

small businesses and working families throughout Vermont and around the country are facing incredibly challenging times. These problems are especially acute in my State, where we rely so heavily on small businesses to create jobs for our…

I see the distinguished senior Senator from Tennessee on the floor, and I will make sure he has plenty of time to speak. If not, I will ask unanimous consent for extra time for him. Today we will vote on only 1 of the 16 judicial…

I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the nomination of John Thomas Fowlkes, Jr., of…

I apologize for being late. We go through a city that will spend millions of dollars to enforce parking meters...

But I am concerned that the recent trend of seeking exclusion orders from the International Trade Commission rather than negotiating and seeking license fees is going to have the opposite effect.

Can we do more to stop the harassing of companies by people who just bought up the patents just for the sake of litigation?

An inventor, somebody who has worked hard, should be compensated for what they did.

This is not a partisan issue. Patent reform is a bipartisan issue.

I have long championed the strong enforcement of our intellectual property laws because enabling inventors to profit from their work encourages innovation.

I ask for the yeas and nays on the nomination. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There is a sufficient second. The yeas and nays were ordered.

I do not have a huge amount of sympathy for.

I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a letter dated June 28, 2012, to the Majority leader from myself and Senator Grassley. There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: U.S…

I know the distinguished majority leader has been working very hard to accommodate Senators in a vote. I know he has the support of every member of our caucus in doing that. I believe I heard the distinguished leader say we will come in at…

I am dismayed that the final conference report on the surface transportation reauthorization bill did not include funding and continued authorization for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, LWCF, program, despite the fact that this…

I want to commend three outstanding Vermont companies that were recently singled out for recognition at the 2012 Fancy Food Show in Washington, D.C. These vendors were among the select 110 Silver Finalists for the show's coveted Specialty…