The Senate is convened.

• Today --
  • We will have one hour of morning business.
  • Following morning business, we will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 6049.
  • At 5:30 PM we will have a vote on cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 6049.
• Spoke on gas prices.
  • SUMMARY "republicans talk about high gas prices, alternative energy, housing crisis, job loss but each time there's been a proposed solution for the challenges, republicans have said no." our republican colleagues can fill endless pages of the "congressional record" about the affordability prices that the republican president nominated and the republican nominee john mccain hopes to continue but the american people need more than empty words"

• Spoke on the passing of Tim Russert.
• Spoke on the Democrat Tax Extenders Bill (H.R. 6049).
  • SUMMARY "i, along with several of my colleagues, introduced a stronger version of the house bill that contains longer extensions of the expired provisions, provides a.m.t. relief excluded from the house bill, and does both in a form that would avoid a veto -- that is, of course, without raising taxes. the tax provisions in question are an enormous help to millions of americans -- and long-term extension provides the comfort of predictability into the family budget and the small business balance sheet in the midst of a difficult economic time"

• Spoke on floods in the Midwest.
  • SUMMARY "while we didn't need it, the floods provide justification, as i said, four first-ever permanent program of disaster assistance under the farm bill"

• Spoke on floods in the Midwest.
  • SUMMARY "iowans are seeing record floods throughout the central and eastern part of our state and i can tell you that television hardly does justice to this historic situation"
  • SUMMARY "there are no better friends to these communities than their own local emergency management people, the local police, and the local fire and the iowa national guard members. these people have been on the front line. they're analyzing each movement of water, watching the bridges, water treatment plants and ensuring the safety of every community member"

• Spoke on floods in the Midwest.
  • SUMMARY "an early estimate of damage to iowa's agriculture economy, i can tell you right now, will exceed over a billion dollars. that's just agriculture. well, mr. president, iowans are a resilient and resourceful people, but as with the gulf coast in the basic katrina, we're going to need generous federal assistance to help us get back on our feet"

• Spoke on floods in the Midwest.
  • SUMMARY "we know from looking at neighboring states that the severity of this flood will be more than the people of illinois alone can absorb. the magnitude of this disaster will require action from the federal government. mr. president, i have stood in congress for over 20 years every time some section of our nation has been victimized by a disaster. and i've always felt that's the way we come together as a family. we draw on the national treasury, the effort of american workers all across this country to come to the rescue of our neighbors in trouble. well, it's time for the midwest to ask for that help"

• Spoke on the Democrat Tax Bill.
  • SUMMARY "extending current tax policy is not a tax cut. extending current tax policy is just that. it's maintaining the status quo. and we don't believe that we should have some rule in effect that says that when we continue exactly what we have in tax rates, that somehow or other we have to raise other taxes in order to pay for that. that doesn't make any sense"

• Spoke on parental leave time for federal government employees.
  • SUMMARY "the federal employees paid parental leave act presently provides that of the 12 weeks of unpaid leave guaranteed by the medical leave act, our bill is going to allow federal employees to substitute four weeks of paid leave as well as any accrued annual or sick leave for the birth or adoption of a child"

• Spoke on energy supplies.
  • SUMMARY "they tend to think that unless you suck in a hole in the world and suck oil out, you're not producing. drilling alone is not going to solve our problem. there are other things we must do that represent change that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle simply can't embrace. and that is being aggressive on renewable forms of energy"
  • NOTABLE "i know why they don't want to suggest that we should be able to drill oil off of cuba. spain's doing it. canada's doing it. india's doing it. china's doing it. so, i know why they don't want to do that. because president george w. bush is the one who says they can't do that."
  • NOTABLE "i want to see who comes to the floor of the senate to talk about production in the future. do they really want to produce enough renewable energy to help us reduce our dependence on saudi arabia and kuwait and iraq and venezuela? i hope so."

• Spoke on foreign trade.
  • SUMMARY "over the last eight years we have had, at best, a fractured approach to trade. in the last two years, since voters elected candidates who support smart, fair trade, not this orthodox free trade, which clearly hasn't worked, congress has reasserted itself in trade policy-making with some -- i underscore some -- improvements to proposed deals with peru and panama and colombia and south korea"

• Propounded a UC that the cloture vote on the motion to proceed to H.R. 6049 be suspened until 2:15 PM on Tuesday. (without objection)

• Tomorrow --
  • We will convene at 10:00 AM.
  • We will have one hour of morning business.
  • Following morning business, we will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 6049.
  • We will recess from 12:30 to 2:15 PM for caucus luncheons.
  • Following recess, we will vote on cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 6049 at 2:15 PM.

The Senate stands adjourned until 10:00 AM tomorrow.