[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Page 20821]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                SCHEDULE

  Mr. REID. Madam President, following leader remarks, there will be a 
period of morning business until 10 a.m., with Senators permitted to 
speak therein for up to 10 minutes each. It is my understanding the 
senior Senator from Iowa wishes to speak on a sad note in his life, and 
if he needs more than 10 minutes, I ask unanimous consent that be the 
case.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. REID. At 10 a.m., the Senate will resume consideration of the 
nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme 
Court of the United States. The debate until 2 p.m. will be controlled 
in alternating hour blocks of time, with the Republicans controlling 
the first hour and the managers and leaders controlling the time from 2 
p.m. until 3 p.m., with each permitted to speak for up to 15 minutes. 
At 3 p.m., the Senate will proceed to vote on confirmation of the 
nomination.
  Upon disposition of the nomination, the Senate will turn to the 
emergency supplemental appropriations bill for the Consumer Assistance 
to Recycle and Save Program, known as cash for clunkers. Under an 
agreement reached last night, seven amendments are in order prior to a 
vote on passage of the bill. Each amendment has up to 30 minutes of 
debate prior to a vote. I am hopeful that some debate time can be 
yielded back so that we will be able to begin voting at a reasonable 
time this afternoon.


                  Appreciation for Cooperative Spirit

  Madam President, I wish to spread on the record my appreciation for 
the cooperation from all Senators. We worked through some difficult 
things yesterday to get to the point where we are today. I especially 
wish to express my appreciation to the Republican leader, Senator 
McConnell, who had to work through some difficult issues on his side, 
as I did on mine. We spoke and met yesterday many times. Of course, our 
most helpful staff was with us every step of the way--on our side, Lula 
Davis, and on McConnell's side, Dave Schiappa--and we appreciate very 
much their expertise in this area.


                         Franken Maiden Speech

  Finally, I wish to say briefly that our newest Senator, Al Franken, 
gave his maiden speech last night. It was really very good. I was so 
impressed with how well prepared he was. I was very impressed with how 
well he delivered the speech. Here is a man who is a Harvard graduate, 
best-selling author, and entertainer. Now he is a U.S. Senator, and the 
people of Minnesota are so fortunate. If things work out as I think 
they will, he will be presiding over the Senate when the historic vote 
is called today on the new Supreme Court Justice.


                     Historian Retirement Reception

  Madam President, Senate Historian Dick Baker will be retiring. In 
honor of his service to the Senate and the Senate community, there will 
be a reception today from 3:30 to 5:00 in the LBJ Room, S. 211. He is a 
wonderful scholar, a great writer, and a lecturer, and we are going to 
miss him very much.

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