mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: we're in a quorum call, is that true? the vice president: that's correct. mr. reid: i ask that it be virkted. the vice president: without objection, it is vitiated. mr. reid: mr. president, what is the business before the senate? the vice president: the swearing in of the senator from massachusetts. the chair laser before the senate a certificate of election to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of senator john f. kerry of massachusetts. the certificate the chair is advised is in the form suggested by the senate. if there's no objection, the reading of the certificate will be waived and will be printed in full in the record. if the senator-elect will now present himself -- mr. reid: mr. president, reserving the right to object, i know a lot of people want to say some real nice things about this good man. but they're going to have do it later. we have a lot of things to do here. and as he will learn, the senate i

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: it's my understanding a motion to proceed to s. 1238 is now pending. is that correct? the presiding officer: narc. mr. reid: i have a cloture motion at the desk. ifer officer the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to proceed to calendar number 14, s. 1238, a bill to rammed the higher education act of 1965 to extend the current reduced interest rate for undergraduate federal direct stafford loans for one year, to modify required distribution rules for pension plans, and for other purposes, signed by 18 senators as follows: reid of nevada, harkin, reed of rhode island, gillibrand, leahy, klobuchar, udall of new mexico, whitehouse, wyden, cardin, blumenthal, coons, brown, casey, warren, franken, durbin, stabenow. mr. reid: i ask

mr. reid: mr. president, if there is no further business to come before the senate i ask it adjourn under the previous order. the presiding officer: the the presiding officer: the i have to define what that is because as we know today, we have students of all ages. we've got financial impact that is applied to a 19-year-old, entered for the first freshman year, and depending upon where the income of their family is depends on under the current system they get a subsidized loan. the maximum they can receive under the subsidized loan as an undergraduate is $3500. i would be willing to bet the that president and i can't pick an institution in the state where the tuition on anen yule -- annual basis is $3500. it doesn't happen today. that's the reality left out of the debate so far. this debate has been politics and not about students. it's not been about how to apply affordability, as broadly as we can in the marketplace. let me describe where we are today. between 1965 and 1992, the cap on the studen

mr. reid: so, mr. president, we are going to have a caucus monday at 6:00 in the old senate chamber. we're going to vote at 5:30. and i would hope with something this important we'll have attendance. i know my caucus will be there. and if nothing is resolved there, which the way things have been going today, likely it won't be, so we'll have a vote sometime early tuesday morning on these nominees. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, the majority leader always reminds me he can have the last word, and i'm sure he can have the last word again. speaking for senator vitter, he did ask for a lot of information from the new prospective director of the e.p.a. so did senator boxer. she asked for 70,000 pages herself. but he was satisfied with the responses that he got. this is how the process ought to work. this is how it's worked for decades. you're trying to get answers to questions, you're trying to engage in some kind of prediction as to how somebody might operate in the future. what the majority leader has real

mr. reid: will the senator yield? mr. udall: i would be happy to. mr. reid: i ask that the senator's statement not be interrupted in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask that at a time to be determined by me ands the senate proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 220, thr that there be two hours for debate equally divided between the proponents and opponents. the senate proceed to vote with no intervening action or debate on the nominations the motions to reconsider motion to reconsider with no intervening action or debate, no further amendments be in order. that president obama be immediately notified of the senate's action and the senate then resume legislative session. the presiding officer: i -- is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. udall: madam president, as i was saying, we have a unique opportunity to engage in an important discussion and debate about the power of the federal government to put in place the vast dragnet of americans' phone records under section 215 of the patriot a

mr. reid: mr. president, i ask coaskconsent the reading of thes be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report the next nomination. the clerk: national labor relations board, nancy jean schiffer of maryland to be a member of the national labor relations board. mr. reid: mr. president, there is -- my understanding is there's a cloture motion at the desk to be reported. the presiding officer: that is correct. the clerk will report cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion. we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, hereby move to bring to a close the debated on the nomination of nancy jean schiffer of mare to be a member of the national labor relations board. signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. the presiding officer: the clerk will report next nomination. mr. reid: mr. president, there's a cloture

mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: with my friend's permission, i would ask -- i would suggest the absence of a quorum because i need to talk to him about something that deals with the consent agreement i have here. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: madam president, i know that my intend has the floor. here's a brief unanimous consent request. and i'm going to proceed as follows, i ask unanimous consent that the cloture on calendar number 208 be withdrawn, the senate proceed to vote on the confirmation of the nomination at 5:30. how much long -- we'll vote at 5:35. that will give my friend time to finish his statement. the motion to reconsider made and laid on the table -- the motion to reconsider made and laid on the table be considered made and laid on table, no intervening action or debate, no furthe

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following my remarks an those of the republican leader, the time until 12:30 today will be equally divided and controlled with the republicans controlling the first 30 minutes and the majority controlling the next 30 minutes. the senate will recess from 12:30 to 2:15 for some caucus meetings that we are going to have. mr. president, last month the republican leader spent a great deal of time talking about the importance of keeping one's word. i agree without any question. senators and everyone else should keep their word, and i also believe that a deal is a deal, a contract is a contract, an arrangement is an arrangement, a bargain is a bargain. and as long as each party to such an agreement holds up his end of the bargain, senators should stick to their word. but an agreement is a two-way street. if one party fails to uphold their end, the agreement, of course, is null and void. the republican leader wants everyone to b

mr. reid: i have a cloture motion at the desk. i would ask the chair to report that, please, order it reported. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: cloture motion, we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to proceed to calendar number 99, s. 1243, a bill making appropriations for the department of transportation and housing and urban development and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2014, and for other purposes, signed by 18 senators as follows -- mr. reid: madam president, i ask consent that the names be waived -- reading of the names be waived, not the people. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum required under rule 22 be waived, the vote op the motion to invoke cloture and the motion to proceed occur at 12:00 noon on tuesday, july 23. after cloture is invoked, all postcloture time be yielded bac

mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the morning hour deemed manned -- manned tower quorum be waived and when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until monday, july 15, following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for use later in the day and that i be recognized and following the remarks of the two leaders the time until 5:30 be divided equally between the two leaders or their designees, with senators permitted during that time to speak for up to ten minutes. further at 5:30 i will be recognized. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, then there will be roll call vote at 5:30 p.m. on monday. there will also be an all-senators joint conference at 6:00 p.m. on monday in the old senate chamber. if there is no further business to come before the senate i ask it adjourn under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands

mr. reid: mr. president, we hope to have a little more business of the day, but we'll wait and see. when we complete our business today i ask unanimous consent that we adjourn until 9:30 a.m. tomorrow morning, wednesday, july 24. that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date and the time for the two leaders be reserved for use later in the day. following leader remarks, the senate be in a period of morning business for an hour with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leader or their designees, with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each with the republicans controlling the first half and the majority the final half. following morning business, the senate resume consideration of s. 1243, the transportation appropriations bill. further, that at 3:40 tomorrow the senate observe a moment of silence in memory of officer jacob chestnut and detective john gibson who were united states capitol police

reid co-authored the book with historian william manchester who while in failing health asked mr. reid to finish the third and final volume on winston churchill. mr. manchester passed away in 2004. [applause] >> thank you very much and thank you all for turning out on a sunday morning for this event. i'm excited to be here with paul reid. we met before and we have talked before and we are both churchill buff so it's a pleasure to see them again and paul thank you for coming out to chicago. we are going to talk for maybe 40 minutes and there will be plenty time for questions so i hope you can keep that in mind and we will hear from as many people as possible. paul will be signing books so feel free to talk to him after. paul is really a wonderful guy. on top of that he is a journalist who got his start in journalism after a career manufacturing

mr. reid: mr. president? the president pro tempore: the majority leader. mr. reid: following morning business there will be a period -- following leader remarks there will be a period of morning business until 4:15 today. following that morning business the senate will resume consideration of s. 1243, the transportation bill. at 4:30 the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of james b. comey to be director of the f.b.i.. i'm sorry to report, mr. president, there will be a cloture vote on him at 5:30 today. our chief law enforcement officer, we had to file cloture on that. mr. president, every respectable economist has said that the shortsighted arbitrary cuts known as sequester will cost american jobs. medical researchers say that these painful cuts will set medical research in this country back decades, potentially costing the world a cure for cancer, flu, aids, and many other diseases that we're on the cusp of making great headway. the sequester will make cuts in ed

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader is recognized. mr. reid: mr. president, just a brief word or two about the presiding officer. when he took the oath to become a senator, we had a lot of things going here. i didn't have the opportunity to say as much about him as i would like because we were in some, the middle of a real battle here that we seem to have resolved. i don't know if there is anyone in my 31 years of congress that has been better prepared to be a senator than the senator from massachusetts, who now is the presiding officer. a stunning record has already been established with his work in the senate. i have from afar admired this good man, and for four years up close when i served in the house with him. the work for the environment has been unparalleled, and one of the rare voices that has for many years understood the dangers of nuclear waste and been aware of the benefits of nuclear power but also the dangers. there's a long resume that this presiding

mr. reid: mr. president, i move to proceed to calendar number 99 which is the transportation appropriations bill. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 99, s. 1243, a bill making appropriations for the departments of transportation and housing and urban development and related agencies, and so forth and for other purposes. mr. reid: mr. president, tpoelg my remarks and -- following my remarks and those of republican leader there will be an hour of morning business with the majority controlling the first half and republicans the final half. following morning business the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of thomas perez to be secretary of labor. we hope to confirm both the perez and mccarthy nominations today. we're ready to move on this whenever my republican colleagues say that they want to , but probably the right thing to do would be to vote on perez this morning and vote on the cloture petition

mr. reid: why don't we -- modify this, 3:35. the presiding officer: is there objection to the request? without objection. mr. reid: 3:35. the senators then, mr. president, confirming that request, should expect two votes. the vote on confirmation of hochberg, for export-import bank and the motion to invoke cloture on perez. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the question occurs on the confirmation of fred p. hochberg to be president of the export-import bank of the united states. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? the ayes are 82, the nays are 17. the confirmation is agreed to. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table. the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action. under the previous order, the clerk will report the motn to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersign

paul reid sits down to talk about his book "the last lion." mr. reid co-authored the book with historian william manchester who while in failing health asked mr. reid to finish the third and final volume on winston churchill. mr. manchester passed away in 2004. [applause] >> thank you very much and thank you all for turning out on a sunday morning for this event. i'm excited to be here with paul reid. we met before and we have talked before and we are both churchill buff so it's a pleasure to see them again and paul thank you for coming out to chicago. we are going to talk for maybe 40 minutes and there will be plenty time for questions so i hope you can keep that in mind and we will hear from as many people as possible. paul will be signing books so feel free to talk to him after. paul is really a wonderful guy. on top of that he is a journalist who got his start in journalism after a career manufacturing which he said in his bio, which i didn't know and was a reporter at the palm beach post in florida where he came across a group of marines who

mr. reid: if there are quorum calls, mr. president, during this time, i would ask that they equally divided. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. ms. warren: mr. president, i ask that the quorum be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection, the quorum call be lifted. ms. warren: thank you, mr. president. i rise to speak about the consumer financial protection bureau and the renomination of rich cordray to serve as its director. years ago i began working on the idea for a consumer finance agency because our consumer credit system watts badly broken. the laws were inconsistent, they were often arbitrary. the basic rules changed for the same kind of product like a mortgage depending on what kind of company sold it. people got cheated. and as we know, in 2008 reckless and dangerous mortgage lenders and wall street

mr. reid: mr. president? tepl the majority leader. mr. reid:ing following remarks of senator mcconnell and me the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of calendar 22 this, the nomination of kent hirozawa phaoepbdly have a cloture vote on that nomination. i'm told h.r. 22181 due for a second reading. the clerk: an act to amend subtitle d of the solid waste disposal act and so forth. mr. reid: i would now object to further proceedings at this time, mr. president. the president pro tempore: objection is heard. the bill will be placed on the calendar. mr. reid: mr. president, the senate is poised to consider nominations of the national labor national labor relations board. this board is an important safeguard for workers in america regardless of whether their employees are union or nonunion. without the work of the nlrb employees would have no entity to address the wrongs. union elections would remain to employers and employees. i'm glad the senate is moving forward as ag

thank you, mr. speaker, and also my good friends, mr. reid and mr. mcconnell. you have honored me greatly. madam leader, thank you for your kindness. you have brought goodness and kindness into my life. thank you for that. my very special friend, mr. hoyer. and mr. cantor, thank you for your kindness. and to the esteemed members of the president's cabinet, i'm delighted to be with you, particularly madam secretary. we have worked together on so many things. i want to say i am probably the luckiest man. i am proud mostly of the friends that i have made. that has been the most important thing in my life. i have a wonderful wife. i want to tell her how much i love her today and how much she means to me and why. i was looking at some books and i found in the proverbs in the bible a set of verses, 31:10. if you will take a look at that, you will see why debra is so important and dear to me. i will endear her more to you. i have been blessed with a wonderful family. a father who was an inspiration to me and a mother whose goodness was cherished by all who knew her. i

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: could we have order. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. mr. reid: colleagues, we'll likely have one more vote tonight and then we'll have senator murray and senator collins determine what's going to happen on the appropriations bill before us. i rise now, mr. president, to honor our colleague, orrin hatch. the next vote cast will be orrin hatch's 13,000th vote. 13,000. this is a tremendous accomplishment. and it speaks to his dedication to the state of utah, his constituents, and the united states senate and our country. he's the republicans' most senior member. he's now serving in his seventh term in the united states senate. before running for the senate, senator hatch received a bachelor's degree from brigham and young university, a law degree from university of pittsburgh, and worked in -- was in private practice for a number of years. he's the ranking member on the finance committee today. as we know, he made a great reputation for himself when he was chair of the judiciary committee

thank you, mr. president. mr. reid: mr. president, even though i disagree with my three friends, i appreciate their sincerity, their advocacy. they are all three very intelligent men, good senators. but i'm going to move on to another subject. i ask unanimous consent that following senator coburn's remarks which are 15 minutes senior senator i understand it, and all postcloture time on calendar 223 be yielded back and the senate proceed to vote on the confirmation of the nomination with no intervening action or debate, further that disposition of calendar number 223, the senate proceed to consideration of 224, 104, 102 and 103. further there be two minutes of debate equally divided in the usual form prior to cloture votes on calendar number number 224 and 104, that if cloture is invoked on the nomination all postcloture time be yielded back and the senate proceed to vote on confirmation of the nomination with no intervening action or debate, further that if calendar number number 223, 224 and 104 are confirmed that the sena

the thing is, if mr. reid -- who i asked personally, i asked one of his aides if he believed in the constitution -- if he does believe in the constitution, then the senate's responsibility is add view and consent -- advise and consent on all nominees. the thing is, that involves having to reach the point where they decide that they are going to close down any further discussion about the nominees, and they're going to vote cloture. >> host: okay, bob, thanks for the call from kentucky. again, you're seeing some movement in the area known as the ohio clock. we know from our brief conversation with ed o'keefe at least two senators have departed the peating, menendez and rand paul, republican freshman of kentucky. not sure if others have left as well. but the reporters are standing by. the senate is in recess for the night, so they won't be back until tomorrow morning, but the podium is there if senate leaders decide to speak to reporters to explain exactly what happened in this two-hour-plus meeting in the

mr. reid: mr. president, following my remarks and those of the republican leader, the time until noon will be equally divided and controlled. at noon there will be a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to s. 1243. if cloture is invoked, all postcloture time will be yielded back and we'll vote on the adoption of the moaghts motion to proceed. -- on the adoption of the motion to proceed. we hope that will be a voice vote and we can begin consideration of the bill immediately following the vote at noon. the senate will recess until 12:30 -- recess from 12:30 to 2:15 today for our weekly caucus meetings. i ask unanimous consent that the senator chiesa be recognized for up to 15 minutes at 2:15 today to deliver his maiden speech. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: mr. president, so happy to see the presiding officer. you could have presided before, but i haven't been able to witness that. so i'm very happy to have you here. we're so fortunate to have you here with your wid

but come, who believed harry reid's options. who takes those threats seriously? harry reid? mr. reid backed down on the filibuster threat, but guess what, he actually won the day any way with a little help from his new friend. you see what harry needed was a hero, a real live american hero riding on a white steed with the wind blowing away all memories of his ill conceived vice presidential pick. enter senator john mccain who worked in a bipartisan fashion. i'll say that again for those who are unfamiliar with the determine, bipartisan passion to broker a deal to confirm five nominees, and he did it behind mitch mcconnell's back. >> a lot of people have been extremely helpful but this was all directed towards john mccain from me. no one was able to break through but for him. >> john: it's like the return of 80's john mccain, and he did it behind mitch mcconnell's back. here to discuss kumbaya moment, we're joined i rick unger of forbes.com. and karen hunter is a politzer prize winner who owned her own publishing company karen hunter and sam seed seder. is this a victory for john

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following my remarks and those of senator mcconnell, there will be a period of morning business until 11:00 a.m. with the first 30 minutes controlled by the majority and the second 30 by the republicans. following that morning business, senate will resume consideration of s. 1243, which is the transportation appropriations bill. senator murray will continue to work through the amendments with susan collins, the ranking member from maine. we hope to vote on confirmation of the west nomination today to be associate attorney general. senators will be notified when votes are scheduled. mr. president, about 80 years ago when president franklin roosevelt first proposed social security as an insurance against poverty in oldagers the idea was controversial. it was new, never been done before, nothing like it. but in 1935, 97 republicans joined democrats in congress to create one of the most successful social programs in history, if not "the most" successful social program in our country

mr. reid: mr. president, i returned from nevada this sund sunday. on saturday i had a briefing by the head of the forest service in nevada. and we thought things were going really well with the fires in nevada, and they were. progress was being made. limited, but progress was being made. but since then the fires have gotten much worse. not everyone can see this, mr. president, but i have here a picture that i -- of course i didn't get this until earlier this morning, didn't have chance to blow this up so we could put it on an easel. but, mr. president, this is the beginning of the las vegas strip. this is downtown las vegas. and i.t. calle it's called the r fire. you can see it burning. it is only about 10 miles from las vegas, maybe 12 at the most. you can see these -- mt. charleston is a 12,000-foot mountain. the names are shooting way above that. the smoke -- we don't get many clouds in southern nevada, but the smoke cloud here is intense. one of my staff indicated that where she lives it's rain

mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader smed. mr. reid: i move to proceed to calendar number 124, the student loan -- the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 124, s. 128, a bill to amend the higher education act of 1965, to extend the current reduced interest rate on undergraduate stafford loans for one year and so forth and for other purposes. mr. reid: following my remarks and those of my republican counterpart, the time until 11:00 will be equally divide you had and controlled with the majority controlling the first half, the republicans the final half. at 11:00, the senate proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of jennifer dorsey. at noon there will be a roll call vote on confirmation of the dorsey nomination. i would also add that the chairman of the judiciary committee has asked that i -- that we hold that vote open until 12:30 today, because they're having a confirmation hearing on the new director of the f.b.i., mr. comey. so we will do that. so the vote w

so i do hope mr. reid will have some, be respectful of his colleagues instead of just calling senator mcconnell mcconnell. that is downgrading and demeaning to the whole process which is why washington is not worthy of the people, of the people's vote at this time. they are not representing who the people, what the people want. >> host: beth, i'll leave it there. thanks very much for the call. laura has this point, again, the hashtag is c-spanchat. send us a tweet, we'll share some of your thoughts. her point is this: the senate doesn't need new rules, it needs new senators and new leadership. 202 is the area code, 585-3880, our line for democrats, and 202-585-3881 for republicans. we also have a line for independents and longtime capitol hill reporter jamie duh prix has tweeted out that senator rubio's office is in florida because of a family commitment, and chad -- [inaudible] of the fox news channel has also tweeted out that in addition to the senators inside the old senate chamber, there are two o

mr. reid: mr. president, i'm going to talk just for a minute about the national labor relations nominees. the nlrb has helped to protect the rights and safety of workers for about 80 years. it is a vitally important watch-dog for working americans. it's also important for employers. it also protects employers. but unless we act before the senate recesses in august, the nlrb will lose its ability to operate and will fail to have a quorum, it can't work, it can't -- it can't be effective. so the nomination of the full membership of the nlrb is really a priority. i understand that republican senators are frustrated by president obama's recess appointment to two members of the nlrb. i accept that. so no one has raised any questions, however, about these two good people, griffin and block. they're really fine public servants and the record should be spread with that fact. however, republicans have insisted on the president's nominating new people and he's done that. it's a right they had and this is a c

mr. reid: i move to proceed to calendar number 124. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 124, s.1238, a bill to amend the higher education act of 1965 and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: mr. president, following my remarks and those of the republican leader we'll proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of president fred hochberg to be president of the export-import bank. at 10:00 a.m. there will be a vote on cloture of the hochberg nomination. following that there will be eight hours of debate. i doubt seriously if democrats will take any of their time. so we should be able to finish that sometime soon; have a vote on confirmation of him if we invoke cloture. then we have left on the calendar for this week, we have to do the secretary of labor and the head of the e.p.a.. so we should be able to finish that tomorrow. mr. president, i'm so glad that -- to see the presiding officer. for those who may perhaps aren't aware, senator levin is a longtime member of the united states senate. he'

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. reid: following leader remarks, there willing an hour of morning business. the first half is controlled by republicans. the second half is controlled by the majority. following morning business, the sna the will resume consideration of the transportation appropriations bill. senator murray and collins have done good work on this. we hope to wrap this bill up in the next 24 hours. we hope to vote in relation to the portman amendment this morning sometime. we also expect to consider the student loan legislation today. mr. president, we have, under the orders that have been entered here, we have the rights -- the ability to vote on the student loan bill, which is so important. there are several hours of debate -- four hours plus other time on various amendments. so i would think members should consider our having the ability to vote on this at about 4:00 this afternoon or thereabouts. we could have a series of votes. we also have other nominations that are subject to votes, so we should

mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: under the previous order the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid on the table. the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the senate resume legislative session and proceed to a period of morning business with senators allowed to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from ohio. mr. brown: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that senator stabenow be recognized for up to 3 minutes and that i be recognized for up to 5. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you, madam president. ms. stabenow: thank you, madam president. i appreciate my friend from ohio yielding for just a moment. i just wanted to indicate as it relates to moving forward on the farm bill, i want to congratulate the house for sending their version of the farm bill to us this morning, so we now have it. and tomorrow it would be our intent, senator cochran and

reid instead of the little boy that i know him to be and would judge anything he'd ever tweeted or text to say a-ha, there he is, he is a thug, he deserved to die, you know, i've had the experience of making sure i knew what my kids are wearing every morning before they go to school because god forbid anything happened to them i want to know exactly what they had on because i need to be able to identify them. and i used to worry about police profiling my kids. for god's sakes, i don't even know what to tell my kids about how to fear every civilian because so many of them are carrying a gun and so many of them think that they're suspicious and assume them to be a criminal when they're just walking down the street. so we're still working at my house on what to tell my kids. >> reverend al sharpton, thank you very much for joining me on this important night of this discussion. and joy reid, a very special thanks to you. i know your very first appearance on this program was to discuss what was going on in florida on the killing of trayvon martin where no charges had yet been brought. you we

mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: mr. leader. mr. reid: i -- i'm 95% certain there will be no more votes today. the question i'm not as certain about is what happens on monday. we'll know before the day is out whether we'll have to have a monday vote or votes. so we'll keep that in mind the. everyone should keep that in mind. i ask unanimous consent the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table, there be no intervening action or debate and no further motions be in order and the senate -- and president obama be immediately notified of the senate's action and the senate resume legislative session. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. bennet: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. bennet: thank you, madam president. i'd ask to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. bennet: thank you, madam president. on saturday, july 20, colorado will commemorate a solemn anniversary because a year ago almost exactly to t

mr. reid: mr. president, 5:00 p.m. today, the senate will proceed to ciewftion to provide the consideration of nomination of gregory phillips of wyoming for united states district judge for the tenth circuit. there will be a roll call vote on the confirmation of the phillips nomination. mr. president, i certainly welcome back the presiding officer, the president pro tem of the senate. i hope that he and all my colleagues had a restful and productive week, with our in-state work that we did during the ten days that we were gone. it was a pleasure to spend time with my constituents in nevada toafer break and with my family. i had a wonderful time with my family, four of my children were there, actually five were there for a short period of time, all five of them. we had a wonderful fourth of july at one of my sons' home, everyone was there, neighbors, it was a great party, my grandson set off the fireworks, i'm not going to ask where he got them but there were a lot of fireworks, a lot of fun. it was a real celebration.

mr. reid and mr. mcconnell were going back on whether it was a bill or a law. i know a law is something that has been established. a bill is something in the works. how could the supreme court rule on a law that is still being written. we do not understand. could we be assured that anything, any law that is passed will not be susceptible to the when it comes to assuming that something is passed. sure ii am not understand the question. i do not know if he was talking about a specific law or bill. were you able to pick up the context? host: we can take another call. charles from west virginia. caller: i have two quick questions. tax, ibamacare is a thought it was under article one, section seven that any tax has to come from the house first and didn't obamacare start in the senate? guest: that has to do with the parliamentarian mechanics that we have in congress. all spending that and taxing measures have to begin in the house. the senateed was took a bill that was unrelated to obamacare and stuff their version into that bill and send it back to us. they did that

reid to go to conference but no effort to go to conference to as you say in cam ral bipartisan way to resolve differences. everybody is sitting in their corner and patty murray wants to come to have a conference. i've talked to her. she's the chairman of the budget committee but we have not moved. unlike the senate, they haven't succeeded because of republican opposition. but they've tried to go to conference. we haven't made any effort to go to conference mr. leader, ral u can't have a bicam compromise and bipartisan if you don't is it down and touk in conference. asking do it my way is not going to get us there. a conference may. i would hope we can go to conference and follow regular order on the budget. september 30 is when we should have adopted a budget of course five months ago -- four months ago. we need to adopt a funding resolution by september 30 in some form or fashion. the failure to go to conference is undermining our ability to do that. and i yield to my friend. >> i thank the gentleman for yielding. the gentleman knows he speaks of two different things when he speaks o

r -- of mr. reid. when is the republican party going to get their act together? and ted cruz paul and we could have it all. guest: there is a difference between marco rubio and rand paul. they have both taken similar positions on economic policy and fiscal policy. when it comes to foreign policy, that is where they converge. your piece begins on wednesday, march 6 as rand paul took to the floor of the senate to block the nomination of john brennan to serve as the senate nomination. here is part of what senator paul had to say on the floor of the senate. [video clip] >> i will speak until i can no longer speak. i will speak until the alarm is sounded coast-to-coast. the constitution is important. your rights to trial by jury are precious. no american can be killed by drone on american soil without first being found guilty of a crime in an american court. that an american can be killed in a cafe in san francisco or in a restaurant in houston or in their home in kentucky is an abomination. it is something that should not and cannot be tolerated in our country. march

reid's comments. i think that -- i didn't catch his whole speech but he says this is about the constitution, and i'd like to know where the in the constitution it talks about filibusters in article one or article one section a, and parliamentary procedures is roberts results of order. i'd like no know why there is not three-fourth of the vote when the minority's rights are going to be taken away, you knee 3/4 of a 0 vote. both parties for play. both parties need to know and that's the only way to save our country. >> host: you can china in on the conversation. the filibuster is not a rule of debate. it blocks debate and gives a veto to 41 senators over the entire legislative process. >> carl, good evening from kansas city. democrats line. go ahead, place. >> caller: hello, is this me? >> host: if you're carl go ahead. >> caller: great. here's what want to point out. we're throwing around a lot of rhetoric about minorities and majorities and tyrannies and the like, but the 13 colonies were more or less

stuart varney is on deck with a warning for mr. reid as a result. >>> the discovery that has some divers in florida swimming right to the bank. ♪ somewhere ♪ beyond the sea ♪ somewhere waiting for me ♪ my lover ♪ stands on golden sands ♪ stands on golden sands ♪ [ female announcer ] it balances you... it fills you with energy... and it gives you what you are looking for to live a more natural life. in a convennt two bar pack. this is nature valley. nature at its most delicious. ♪ it's about where you're going. the new ram 1500. best-in-class 25 mpg. ♪ north american truck of the year. ♪ the truck of texas. better residual value than ford and chevy. it's the fastest-growing truck brand in america. guts. glory. ram. ...and a great deal. .. thanks to dad. nope eeeeh... oh, guys let's leave the deals to hotels.com. ooh that one! nice. got it! oh my gosh this is so cool... awesome! perfect! yep, and no angry bears. the perfect place is on sale now. up to 40% off. only at hotels.com [ dog ] we found it together.upbeat

host: what about the hypocrisy argument, republicans pointing to mr. reid holding up the nomination by president bush to go to the ftc. -- guest: you can argue quite honestly that both sides have used obstructionism in the last many years. that is clear. i am an independent, not democrat. want to say democrats have played in extraction this role, you are right. they have. role, youtructionist are right. they have. the publicans have taken that -- republicans have taken it in a very giant step in the wrong direction. been majorityas leader. democrats have been in power. he has had to bring forth over 400 closure votes. this is far more the case that ever before. as well. are guilty republicans have taken this to a whole new level, making the senate dysfunctional. host: independent mind. guest: i have been listening about abstractions and. he was speaking about having a debate of philosophy's. i am thinking about what happens when this takes over to to let him decide like denying to live up to the bill to audit the fed. i know that you have been a major

mr. reid: i enter a motion to reconsider the vote by which cloture was not invoked. the presiding officer: the motion is entered. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: a senator: mr. president? mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new mexico. mr. udall: thank you, mr. president. i ask to be recognized to speak --. the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. mr. udall: i ask to vitiate the quorum call, mr. president. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. udall: thank you. last week, 40,000 students --. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. the senator from new mexico. mr. udall: last week, mr. president, 40,000 students in my state got some very bad news. the rates on new stafford student loans doubled and today these students got bad news again. today, our nation's students are once again, they wait in vain for relief. these students work hard, they're ambitious, they know how important a college education is, they know what it means to t

senator harry reid taking some shots at speaker john boehner. here's mr. reid commenting on the house speaker's workload. >> speaker boehner is trying to decide where he is, pick an issue. how about the farm bill. last year's farm bill, this year's farm bill. he has dissension in his own ranks. we know that. now immigration, he is saying a bipartisan bill that we've done, he is not going to touch that. they are running ads, conservative organizations are running ads saying mr. boehner and republicans why don't you do something about this. i guess i feel sorry for the speaker. >> chuck, bring us up to speed with where we are on immigration, referring to the fact that speaker boehner said his house will not take up the senate bill. where are we? any hope for a movement on this? >> looks like we're in a bad place on immigration if you were an immigration reform advocate, hoping to see this bill die, you should be very happy this week. what you've seen is if you look at the republican party and the elected officials, they're basically three different groups. t

mcconnell had made on harry reid that i want you to promise that you will not even talk about making this rule change and reid said, no i'm not going to do that. >> what is the relationship at this point between harry reid and mitch mcconnell? they had some very harsh words before one another before the compromise was reached? where does that leave that? >> it's not good, dan. the two men i think generally have gotten along fairly well with a mutual respect. this is clearly damaged that relationship. it's not the end of the rule. they don't have to get along. but the way the senate worked it certainly would help somewhat. you know, the bigger problem might be for the republicans is that -- now you've got this unrest within their own ranks and, you know, there's a testy meeting on wednesday night, a private meeting in which mitch mcconnell was trying to distance himself from this deal and said i didn't know very much about it. one of the members said in -- words we can't use here saying that ain't so. [laughter] >> although small some progress in terms of bipartisan, does it pertain a

the clerk: amendment offered by mr. reid of new york. page 25 -- reed of new york. $18,956,000.ease page 28, line 10, after the dollar amount insert, reduced by $9,478,000. page 3 1, line 1, after the second dollar amount, insert, reduced by $9,478,000. the chair: the gentleman from new york is recognized for five minutes. mr. reed: thank you, mr. chair. mr. chair, i rise today in support of my amendment involving the nondefense environmental cleanup programs for america. what i seek to do with this amendment is increase this line by $19 million. i recognize the hard work of the subcommittee and the subcommittee chairman in addressing the fiscal needs of our country and reducing the overall spending in this appropriations bill. but in regards to this line in particular, this line is presently scheduled as proposed to be reduced $42 million. and i recognize the fiscal crisis that we face in america. but this amendment re-establishes $19 million to that line because it is a wise investment. it is a wise investment because of sites such as