The Senate is convened.

• Spoke on the Housing Bill.
  • SUMMARY "it's going to be a tremendous help to those people around america who are suffering as a result of this housing crisis. and they are suffering."
• Filed cloture on the Dodd Amendment to concur with the House Message.
• Propounded a UC that the vote on the Dodd Amendment occur one hour after the end of leader time on Tuesday.  (without objection)

• Spoke on gas prices.
  • SUMMARY "americans are growing frustrated with gas prices democrats in the house of representatives show where their priorities lie: they scheduled a vote on whether to ban the interstate sale of monkeys. house democrats also recently took up resolution commemorting national plumbing industry week and the international year of sanitation. these resolutions were important, no doubt, to some, yet none of them do anything to lower gas prices."
• Propounded UC that the Senate consider confirmation of several Federal Election Commission nominations. (Reid objected)
  • SUMMARY "the only way the d.n.c. can maintain this suit is if there is a nonfunctioning f.e.c. thus in order for the d.n.c.'s already failed lawsuit to go forward, this package must be objected to, and they have done just that. i hope that this continued delay in the f.e.c. is not related to the fact that the d.n.c. is trying to -- we think -- file a lawsuit monday. that is the kind of shenanigans which i don't think we ought to export from the campaign in here to the senate"
• Spoke on the passing of a Marine.

• Responded.
  • SUMMARY "i underscore the fact, mr. president, that we'd have a functioning federal election commission today if the republicans had accepted our offering before memorial day"
• Spoke on Republican obstructionism.
  • SUMMARY "it's the republicans. what is the holdup, mr. president? they have become addicted to red ink. it's as if they are addicted to one of the illegal drugs, but this is red ink. they're addicted to it"
• Spoke on Senator McCain.
  • SUMMARY "john has been opposed for drilling in anwar for a long time. will he do a flip-flop on anwr? folks, don't be surprised. john mccain don't have the temperament to be president. he's wrong on the war. he's wrong on the economy."

• Propounded a UC to call up an amendment (Chambliss Amdt. 5008). (Dodd objected)

• Spoke on objecting to all Republican amendments.
  • SUMMARY "our colleague from vermont, senator sanders has expressed a strong desire to have an amendment considered over lie heat. there is difficulty about that amendment coming up so out of respect for senator sanders who could not be here this morning i will object to any amendment being offered."

• Responded.
  • SUMMARY "it is unfortunate because we're not allowed to move ahead with amendments here that we're stuck in this quagmire. i know it's not the desire of the chairman to do anything other than move forward with amendments. amendments that are germane to the particular bill. unfortunately, the sanders amendment is not germane to the pending business before the senate"

• Spoke on refugees in Iraq.
  • SUMMARY "iraq and the neighbors are in the midst of a humanitarian crisis that threatens the stability of the entire middle east. wherever one stands on the future of the u.s. combat presence in iraq, we have a moral responsibility to those innocent iraqis"
  • NOTABLE "sectarian militia groups are quickly filling the vacuum to provide services. the largest "humanitarian" organization in iraq today is the sadr movement affiliated with anti-american shiite clerk whose program provide food and shelter to hundreds of thousands of shiites in iraq. the international community, including the united states, has been largely in denial over the magnitude of this humanitarian crisis"

• Propounded a UC to call up an amendment (Ensign Amdt. 5020). (Dodd objected)
  • SUMMARY "it was part of the housing bill last time. i believe that the housing bill has the best chance of any piece of legislation to get signed into law by the president of the united states. and that's the bottom line is, do we want the renewable tax credits extended and signed into law? i think that this is the best vehicle that we could possibly have to ensure that."

• Responded:
  • SUMMARY "there are objections on the republican side for that to be considered, as a result of that, he's objecting to any unanimous consent request to lay aside the pending amendment. so there is a reason why i will momentarily object to this"

• Spoke on oil futures markets.
  • SUMMARY "if the best people we have in our agency who are constructed to do this analysis say, this is the estimate of the supply and demand and the fundamentals of the marketplace should reflect supply and demand. we think and i assume that they thought that people will drive less as prices go up, so you'll have more conservation. we think we're going to be ok on supply. we'll have a little less demand and therefore prices will moderate. instead prices went just like this. how can we be so wrong for so long?"
  • SUMMARY "there is a massive amount of speculation here and there are plenty of experts who say that this market is like a casino, open 24/7. now, what does it matter? well, what matters is this is doing unbelievable damage to our economy. and to our country. i would understand it -- i wouldn't accept it, but i would understand it at least if the supply and demand relationship here justified an increase in price. but it does not."

• Spoke in honor of the Solicitor General.

• Monday --
  • We will convene at 3:00 PM.
  • We will not have any votes until Tuesday.
  • We will resume consideration of the Message Accompanying HR 3221.
  • The filing deadline for amendments to the Dodd Amendment is 10:30 on Tuesday.

The Senate stands adjourned until 3:00 PM Monday.