thank you, madam president. mrs. murray: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator sph washington. mrs. murray: i ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside and the follow amendments be called up. coburn number 1756, mccain 1803, boozman 1785, and udall of colorado number 1789, that the amendments be agreed to en bloc and the motion to reconsider be made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mrs. murray: thank you, madam president. madam president, it is my understanding that we have a republican senator who is coming to the floor shortly to are make a motion to recommit. and i will just for the information of all members at some point to be agreed upon we will dispense with that amendment this afternoon. we're hoping to do -- a number of members have asked timing on that and i will work with the senator and our staffs to try and do that as soon as possible. i know many members are waiting for that. with that, i will ask -- suggest the absence of a quorum. the pres

madam president, i yield the floor. ms. mikulski: madam president, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: ms. mikulski: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: i ask the call of the quorum be vacated. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. mikulski: madam president, in a few seconds i will be propounding a unanimous consent request. we were originally scheduled to have a vote, a series of votes at 11:15. we think we have a way of working out some of our concerns. if we just take a little bit of a breather and do the kind of negotiation based on the civility and common sense that we've been using during this deliberation. so therefore, madam president, i hereby ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the previous order, all postcloture time be considered expired at 2:00 p.m. with the time until 2:00 p.m. with equally divided between the two leaders or their designees with all other provisions of the previous order remaining in effect. the presiding officer: is t

madam president, i would yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. mr. coats: madam president, breaking news. just a short time ago, the bureau of economic analysis issued their report for the fourth quarter of 2012 in terms of our economy. i'm sorry to say that the report said that we have contracted -- not gained but contracted our economy during this fourth quarter. .1% at an annual rate last fall. here we are about three and a half years from a deep recession and in normal recessions, recovery occurs at a significant rate, and that's what gets people back to work. that's what gets our economy moving again. this is the growth that we need to address our fiscal situation, and yet after nearly three and a half years of stumbling along and bumping along with the most tepid recovery since world war -- since before world war ii, we now learn that despite some of the optimism that has been projected lately in terms of things are getting better and things are growing and unemployment is going to -- is boun

thank you, madam president. mr. casey: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: thank you, madam president. i rise -- a senator: would the senator withhold? mr. casey: yes. mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: mr. leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that when i complete my request here that the senator from pennsylvania be recognized. the presiding officer: yes. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that following -- the following amendments be in order to be called up and that they not be subject to modification or division, with the exception of technical modifications to the merkley and paul amendments contained in this agreement. the amendments are manchin, 1268, pryor, 1298, merkley, 1237, as modified with the changes that are at the desk; boxer, 1240; reed of rhode island, 1224; cornyn, 1251; lee, 1208; paul, 1200, as modified with the changes at the desk; heller, 1227; and cruz 1320. finally, that no second-degree amendments be in order to any of these amendments prior to votes

madam president, i yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed mr. whitehouse: may i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business for up to 15 minutes. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. whitehouse: let me thank the distinguished senator from illinois for his statement. we serve together on the judiciary committee, and i hope that in that committee as well we can work on ways to improve the prosecution of particularly rape offenses within the military by the department of justice. and break through the agreement that now prevents the department of justice from prosecuting those crimes for the crimes that they are simply because they take place in the military. i'm here to speak today because washington, d.c. and the right-wing outrage machine are all abuzz about the scandal that the i.r.s. appears to have targeted organizations for inquiry based on tea party affiliation. obviously, that's wrong. but let's not forget, that's not the only i.r.s

thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. mr. hatch: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. hatch: madam president, there is an epidemic of abuse that is taking place in america today. recent reports estimate that hundreds of thousands of children and youth are at risk of domestic sex trafficking. individuals on the front lines in the fight against domestic sexual trafficking of children report that instances are on the rise. they tell us that former drug dealers have moved on to sex trafficking. they also tell us that technological advances have made this type of tracking -- excuse me -- trafficking easier as smart phones and other devices provide distance and increased levels of anonymity. in certain web sites that close classified ads, soliciting sexual partners also help facilitate trafficking. the risk of sex trafficking is compounded every year for up to 30,000 young people who are -- quote -- "emancipateed" unquote from foster care. when many of these youth turn 18, pack their few belongings in a trash bag and are driv

thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: madam president, before he leaves the floor, i just want to tell senator udall how much i've appreciated having him there in that intelligence room because he has been a strong advocate for making sure that our country can have security and liberty in those classified meetings just as he has been here tonight, and is -- it's great to have you on the committee and to have you as a partner in these efforts. and you are so right when you state tonight that this is a debate that should have begun long, long, long ago, and it's a debate that should have been started by elected officials and not by a government contractor. i very much appreciate your remarks and i think you made this clear, that we're going to stay at this till we get it fixed, and i very much appreciate your leadership. madam president, as senator udall has made clear, these issues are about as important as it gets. when you're talking about how you can secure thes

thank you, madam clerk. i yield the floor back. mr. grassley: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i voted for this nominee out of committee. i voted for this nominee on the floor of the united states senate. he is supremely qualified for this position. i come to the floor not to repeat what a lot of other people have said about this nominee but the process that was connected with arranging the vote for this nominee. basically, i want to speak about the needless shenanigans that have gone on before we get to this point where we vote at 2:00. today's nominee for the d.c. circuit was voted out of committee one week ago on may 16. a unanimous vote of 18-0. he was placed on the executive calendar three days ago, on monday, may 20. one day later, on may 21, the republicans cleared this nominee to have an up-or-down vote when we return from the memorial day recess. but the majority leader was not content with -- to take a yes for an answer. one day after this nominee was placed on the executive calendar and after republicans agr

thank you, madam president. mr. barrasso: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you, madam president. i ask unanimous consent to call up my amendment number 717. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: the senator from wyoming, mr. barrasso, proposes an amendment numbered 717. mr. barrasso: madam president, i ask the reading of the amendment be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: thank you, madam president. 345d, i rise today to speak about this amendment today which to me is very simple and very straightforward. this amendment is designed to protect the privacy and the safety of law-abiding gun owners. if a state or local government releases private information on gun owners, which we know has happened, well, then that state or local government will lose part of its funding that comes from the federal government. now, this information is private information on individuals that have licenses to purchase or to possess or to carry

thank you, madam president. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: madam president, i would like to speak to an amendment that's been filed by my colleague from north dakota, senator hoeven. and i expect he'll be here momentarily to speak specifically to his amendment. it has to do with the keystone pipeline. this is an appropriate, i think, opportunity to talk about the energy needs that our country has, the way in which those are being addressed. and we believe that there is a great opportunity for our country to benefit in so many ways from the building of the keystone pipeline. now obviously the senator from north dakota, senator hoeven, his state is benefiting enormously from the oil and gas find that they have in their state, lots of abundant energy resources. and as typically is the case you've got to have a way to get those to the ultimate marketplace. the most efficient way, of course, to do that is through pipelines. and the keystone pipeline which has been proposed now for se

botch box madam president? ferraro the senator from califo. madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from california. box i have seven unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session. they have been approved by the majority and majority leaders. i -- by the minority and majority leaders. i ask these requests be printed in the record. the presiding officer: are there any objections? the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from oklahoma. mr. coburn: i ask for the yeas and nays on my amendment 816. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? mrs. boxer: madam president? under the rules, i believe there is two minutes equally divided. could i ask my friend if he wishes to make a statement on this? mr. coburn: i was going to go on -- mrs. boxer: i think colleagues should hear the debate. mr. coburn: okay. mrs. boxer: i think so. mr. coburn: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. coburn amendment 816 expands the review commission so that in fact it can look at everything we've giv

that's really true, madam president. patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime. and if you look at the records, the careers of these new senators, that's the way it is. each person coming here reminds me of my first few weeks in the house of representatives, when tip o'neill -- we had a large incoming class of new democrats. so he called us in in groups of maybe 15 or so. and he told us something i've always remembered. he said each of you are successful politicians or you wouldn't be here. and that's really true. i say that to each of my new members. you're successful politicians, and there's nothing wrong with the word "politician." i'm proud i am a politician. i'm proud i serve in government, and we should each be the same. so i'm pleased now, and i was pleased yesterday to be surrounded by so many dedicated public servants, new members and old alike, who have devoted their lives to making their states and our shared nation a better place to grow up, gr

thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. mrs. boxer: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. boxer: madam president, the way my colleague and friend has drafted his amendment is very dangerous to the process because what he wants to do is say that if in the rule making where we will define the waters of the united states, if they even so much as refer to the guidance that has been put forward, the draft guidance, there will be no rule, and the problem of not having a rule is you leave in place chaos. states can't go ahead and handle this themselves. local governments can't. under the law, according to all the rules of the court and everybody else, we have to have the definition here. no one i know wants to classify a ditch or a puddle as a water of the united states. that's always brought up, but that's -- that's just a red herring. we need to make sure we have a clean water act that protects the people, protects their drinking water, makes sure they are safe when they swim in a lake, and if we don't move forward with a

thank you, madam president. i yield back my time. ms. mikulski: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: madam president, i rise to speak on the cruz amendment. as i said, i'm glad senator lee had his chance. as i said, the cruz amendment would prevent the department of health and human services from implementing funding for the discretionary spending aspects of the affordable care act. as the presiding officer knows of the affordable care act so well and played a major part in it when she was a member of the house of representatives, you know that this would be -- have disastrous consequences. its consequence would essentially defund the affordable care act. they call it obamacare. i call it obamacare. as i said earlier, obama does care, and that's why we passed that legislation in the first place. the cruz amendment would issue or enforce -- it means that c.m.s. couldn't do their job to, for example, issue regulations on ending gender discrimination. you can say there are all these pages of regulation, but why should you a

madam president, i yield the floor. mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: remember, ryan, congressman ryan, chairman of the budget committee, used these same -- want to use o.c.o. to -- i'm sorry. let's start over. congressman ryan used these overseas contingency funds to balance his budget. mr. president, let's -- madam president, let's not even worry about for purposes of this conversation overseas contingency fund. let's just talk about the war in afghanistan. so what my friend is saying, it's okay to borrow money for the war in afghanistan, but not to use those same moneys to reduce the pain that's being felt all over america today? even joe scarborough on "morning joe," a former republican congressman from florida, said today he can't believe that the pains being felt all over america today, and no one is concerned about the war in afghanistan. does anyone think we're going to be fighting in the war in afghanistan five years from now, ten years from now? that's the money people are trying to protect

thank you, madam president. mr. leahy: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: madam president, we have listened to the people. i recall we had a presidential election. we had two people running in bad economy. normally the nonincumbent would win. it was a republican. he ran on the thing, i will repeal obamacare if you elect me president. he was actually ahead in the polls when he started saying that. but we all know what happens. he lost disastrous lymph the american people -- did the american people speak? yes, they spoke pretty clearly on that one. the other body has voted -- they have wonderful press conferences. they all get out their press release. they can talk about how they stand up as they repeal it 40 times, knowing it will go nowhere. wouldn't it make a lot more sense if the other body, if their leadership said, look, we lost a presidential election saying we're running on doing away obamacare did, the american people shut us down on that. we've become the butt of late-night jokes every time

thank you, madam president. mrs. shaheen: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: madam president, i have nine unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. and i ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to and the requests be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. wha shaheen: and, madam president, i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. shaheen: thank you. today i rise with a heavy heart because our nation has lost one of its outstanding citizens and many of us have lost a dear friend. charlie morgan, chief warrant officer of the new hampshire national guard, passed away early sunday morning with her wife karen and their daughter casey by her side. chief charlie morgan was just 48 years old. for those of us who had the pleasure of knowing charlie, it's been a difficult week. however, as

i thank you, madam president. mrs. murray: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: i want to thank the senators virginia and hawaii for excellent statements and really laying out the framework why it is important that we have a bill that deals with both spending cuts and revenues and rulely appreciate their time both in committee abc news on the floor. i ask unanimous consent that at 3:45 p.m. today, there up to 60 minutes of debate equally divided between senators klobuchar and coats or their designees for a report on the economic goals and policies under section 305-b of the congressional budget act. ethe presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mrs. murray: on behalf of senator men then derksz i ask consent that margaret taylor, a state department detailee to the foreign reels committee, be given floor privileges on budget resolution. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: thank you, madam president. mr. sessions: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator f

madam president, i yield the floor. mr. brown: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of h.r. 1071 which was received from the house and is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 1071, an act to specify the size of the special metal blanks that will be used in the production of the national baseball hall of fame commemorative coins. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. brown: i ask unanimous consent the bill be read three times and passed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: i ask unanimous consent the judiciary committee be discharged from further consideration of the senate -- and the senate now proceed to s. res. 127. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 127, commemorating the ten-year anniversary of the lo

thank you, madam president. ms. stabenow: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: thank you, madam president. let me say first as i rise to talk about the budget that was released in the house of representatives, i want to first commend our chair, senator mikulski, and ranking member senator shelby for working together. i couldn't agree more than with what senator shelby just said about giving back to regular order, about working together. this is really an example, i think, of what we need to be doing, and so i want to commend both of you. we have obviously very difficult points of view and people can come together and listen to each other and be willing to compromise, which is not a bad thing. i mean, in life, i don't know any part of life where we don't compromise. trying to figure that out. when you have children, wouldn't it be nice not to have compromise, but somehow we always have to. and so i just want to commend both of our leaders on the appropriations committee. i am very hopeful that we can

madam president, i yield the floor. mrs. feinstein: good afternoon, madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. feinstein: thank you very much. i ask unanimous consent to speak for 25 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. feinstein: thank you very much, madam president. i rise to speak on the use of chemical weapons by the syrian regime and the decision that is before the united states senate on how to respond to such inhumanity. i also come to the floor with the hope that the use of military force will not prove necessary and that the proposal to place syria's chemical weapons program under united nations control will, in fact, be successful. last night, in my view, the president delivered a strong, straightforward speech that directly outlined the current situation in syria. he asked that a vote by the congress to authorize military force against the assad regime be delayed so that a strategy could be developed with russia and the united nations security council that would eliminate syria's deadly chemical weapons prog

corker: madam president, if i could? madam president? the presiding officer: senators are reminded to address each other each in the third person. not by their first and last names. mr. corker: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. corker: if i could, i'd like to say in response to my good friend from illinois, it's not the republican side that's asking to stall. we only have two republicans senators that are wanting to push this off. and so i don't want that to be mischaracterized, if i could. and to say that it's my understanding that the reason that we're putting this off is because they would like for people around the country that they have notified to be able to watch. and so it's that process of making sure that everyone watches that i think is slowing this down. it's not the entire republican side. i think most republicans -- i know all republicans other than two would actually like to give the house the opportunity to respond in an appropriate way. with that, i yield the floor and i've enjoyed t

nelson: madam president, i yield the floor. mr. udall: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from new mexico. mr. udall: thank you very much, madam president. as you noticed a minute or so ago, i had a discussion with the leader, and he was moving to executive session. but i've been down here, as senator nelson has and other senators, to try to move the wrda bill forward. and leader reid says that's the business of the day. we're trying to move this forward. we're trying to get our amendments in. i really hope that we can do that, and do it in efficient order. so i'm going to speak to both of my amendments. senator ben.net is here, and i know he has a statement on immigration. so i would just ask you to give me notice when i'm in the five-minute range or so so i can try to wrap up and get everything in at this point. my message is simple today on the nepa process and wrda. despite what you hear, environmental reviews protect people, taxpayers and the environment. on average, it takes the corps just two to three years to complete a feasibilit

portman: thank you, madam chair. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. baucus: madam president, january 23, i think it was a wednesday, something marvelous happened. what was that? the house, on a strong bipartisan basis, passed a bill which would raise the debt limit, extend the debt limit to may 18. bipartisan. speaker boehner is to be commended. this town is criticized for its lack of working together, it's too partisan. speaker boehner found a solution to help us relieve the pressure so we could get our job done in getting deficit spending under control. the method suggested by the senator from ohio is a step backwards. we tried that. we tried it a couple of years ago. it didn't work. you will all remember the august 11 basic collapse with the markets, where the credit agencies began to downgrade our debt. so i say let's follow the lead of the bipartisan speaker, who found a way -- took great leadership to get us to pass a provision here. we should pass the same provision, because if we don't -- if

thank you, madam president. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: again, i renew my objection. let me say my two colleagues have made excellent closing arguments to the gosnell jury, and i would expect that to be the case, since they're two well-trained, excellent lawyers. but the gosnell case is over. it's done. he's been sentenced or he will be shortly. and these kinds of abuses ought to arouse outrage wherever and whenever they occur. any time, anywhere a doctor endangers a patient in violating standards of care, we ought to condemn it. and so i urge my colleagues to join me in the outrage i feel about the dentist in oklahoma or the endoscopy center in nevada or the nursing home director in california, or any case where prosecution is appropriate, investigation should be done, properly by state authorities who have jurisdiction, and to condemn such practices and i ask them to join me in resolution s. 134. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from virgin

and with that, madam president, i would yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. bennet: thank you, madam president. i want to first thank the senator from south dakota for his indulgence for five minutes or so to do this, and the senator from indiana for yielding his time to me. we got a little bit out of order on the floor. but i really want to come before the night was out to speak about an incredible chance we have with respect to fixing our broken immigration system. over the next few weeks the senate has a golden opportunity to do something great, to do something important, to do something that shows that washington can actually work, that we're aligned to the priorities of the american people, that we can take on hard challenges and solve them. that's the opportunity before us, and i have to say thank you to all of my colleagues that served in this so-called gang of eight and worked, i would say not even in a bipartisan way. i would say in a nonpartisan way to fix problems that afflict our economy and ou

thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon.

murray: madam president? the presiding officer: under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table. the president shall be immediately notified of the senate's action, and the senate will resume legislative session. mrs. murray: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: madam president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: madam president, one of my colleagues -- the presiding officer: order. the senator from washington. mrs. murray: madam president, one of my colleagues recently said something that after a week at home with my constituents i'm sure we're all feeling the same way, referring to the across-the-board cuts from sequestration that are just days from going into effect. he said when it'

thank you, madam president. with that, i yield the floor. mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: yesterday the senate invoked cloture on that appropriations bill we've been working on for several weeks now. now what we're doing is burning, wasting 30 hours postcloture. during the postcloture time, each senator has the right to speak for one hour. it's obvious there's 100 of us so all can't speak. so a senator who doesn't want -- like the bill and wants to express their views as to why it's a bad bill, they get one hour. so, madam president, this is really a waste of time. a waste of time. it always is a waste of time. but it is a waste of time now because we have some important things to do. next in line is the budget resolution. we've heard speeches over here. oh, gee, have we heard speeches. we need the democrats to do a budget. no one mentions -- but that's okay -- no one mentions that we did not have a budget resolution. we had president obama sign the law that took care of our budget problems here. but we want to satisfy

harkin: madam president? the presiding officer: senator. mr. harkin: madam president, i ask further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. harkin: madam president, on january 29 in 2009, president obama signed the lily ledbetter fair pay act. the critical law, legislation signed into law by president obama after his first election, reversed the outrageous supreme court decision in ledbetter and made clear a worker like ledbetter who had not earned a raise for years still had recourse to challenge her wage discrimination. today we celebrate the enactment of this important law, but at the same time we must recognize it was only a first step. we need to do much more to ensure all workers in our society are paid fairly for their work and are not shortchanged because of their gender, race or other personal characteristic. that is why four years after enactment of the lilly ledbetter fair pay act, i am proud to introduce once again the fair pay act, a bill i have introduced in ev

barrasso: thank you, madam president. madam president, i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: thank you. and i also ask unanimous consent that the senator from ohio, senator brown, have the opportunity to speak following me for up to ten minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: thank you. i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: thank you, madam president. madam president, i come to the floor today as millions of students in high school and colleges across the country have recently graduated. i had an opportunity to attend a number of commencements across wyoming, to speak to a number of students who are graduating, and i note that president obama has also been out giving graduation speeches this year. at ohio state university, the president criticized those of us who warn that government doesn't always have the best answer. the president suggested that anyone who thinks washington has grown too inefficient or too ineffectiv

thank you, madam chair. mrs. boxer: retaining my time, i would like to ask through -- through the -- madam president, through the chair, if senator whitehouse has to actually send his amendment to the desk and ask for the yeas and nays, because if so, i think it would be an appropriate time to do that since we intend to vote at 2:00. the presiding officer: it can be offered at this time. mr. whitehouse: well, then if i may seek recognition. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: at the chairman's suggestion, with her position -- with her permission, i will gladly ask that my amendment be called up so that it can be considered. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: the senator from rhode island, mr. whitehouse, proposes amendment numbered 803 to amendment numbered 799. mrs. boxer: does the senator need to ask for the yeas and nays? or are the yeas and nays ordered? does the senator need to ask for the yeas and nays or are the yeas and nays ordered und

merkley: madam president, thank you. i ask unanimous consent to have my full statement entered in the record and have any statement that senator lautenberg may submit be entered as well. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: thank you, madam president. i look forward to the dialogue among all the members on how the senate can reclaim its important role as a deliberative and decisionmaking body. madam president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: i do thank senator udall for having been so involved in this conversation and helping to drive it forward. and if there are no further comments, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: madam president, i ask that the quorum call be set aside. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: i ask unanimous consent the senate stand ?appe

madam president, i yield the floor. mr. harkin: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. harkin: madam president, i'm pleased that we're finally at the point where we can vote on the nomination of thomas perez to serve as secretary of labor. indeed, it seems like the most important question before dawes has gotten lost in all the debate. will tom perez be a good secretary of labor? and the answer is unequivocally yes. without question, he has the knowledge and experience needed to guide this critically important agency. his outstanding work in maryland as their secretary of labor has won him the support of the business community and workers alike. here's a quote from the endorsement letter of the maryland chamber of commerce. quote -- "mr. perez proved himself to be a pragmatic public official who is willing to bring differing voices together. the maryland chamber had the opportunity to work with mr. perez on an array of issues of importance to ploifers in maryland from unemployment and work force development to the housin

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

madam president, i yield the floor. mr. shelby: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. shelby: thank you, madam president. last week in illinois, president obama attempted to blame opponents of the obamacare for the law's broken promises. he lashed out at what he called "folks out there who are actively working to make this law fail." his words. and he further said, "politically motivated misinformation campaign is afo afoot." and he strongly implied that fault rests not with those who con seefl the law but -- conceive the law but those who have not in his estimation -- his words again -- "committed themselves to making it work." think about it a minute. this flailing, of course, was nothing more than an effort by president obama to dodge and deflect accountability for the law that bears his name. let's be real, madam president. obamacare is not a failure because so many americans reject it. rather, so many americans reject obamacare because it is a failure. madam president, i believe we should focus on what really ma

thank you, madam president. mr. mccain: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: i will yield to the senator from tennessee in just one second. so what the senator from florida is saying is that if he has an issue that he feels strongly about, then that has to be included in any conference that is convened over any bill that is passed by the senate and the house and goes to conference. that is not a precedent that is -- i believe should be established here in the united states senate. maybe i i think i -- i think i share the senator from florida's concern about the debt and the deficit. i'll match my record against anybody's as far as trying to eliminate the debt and the deficit, including that of the senator from florida, but now we are about to establish a precedent that in any conferees are appointed on bills that are passed by the house and the senate, that we are free then to put certain restrictions on those conferees. if the senator from florida believes that's the right way this body should funct

madam president, i yield the floor. madam president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. baucus: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. baucus: madam president, i ask unanimous consent the proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. baucus: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 26, the nomination of jack lew to be secretary of treasury, with eight hours for debate equally divided in the usual form, that upon the use or yielding back of time tenate proceed to vote without intervening action or debate on the nomination. that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order; that the president be immediately notified of the senate's action, and the senate then resume legislative session. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. under the previou

thank you, madam president. i yield back the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: i would say to my colleague from connecticut, amen. and i would say to my colleague from oregon, thank you for his courtesy in letting me go ahead in light of the fact that we have a federal judge coming up for a vote at 5:30, and i am very, very grateful to the judiciary committee, to both the democrats and the republicans that are allowing us to vote and i urgently implore to confirm judge sheri polster chappell to the united states district court for the middle district of florida. but while i rise to speak in favor of judge chappell, i want to express my concern for the growing partisanship that is dragging down our efforts to fill these judicial vacancies across the nation. in the past, we've had qualified consensus judicial nominees, they'd be confirmed in weeks if not in days. and, unfortunately, even the judicial nominees of the support of both senators from the state, and sometimes in the case of florida, the republ

madam president, i yield the floor. mr. vitter: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. vitter: thank you, madam president. madam president, i now call up vitter amendment number 1744 to the appropriation bill currently before the senate. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: the senator from louisiana, mr. vitter, proposes an amendment numbered 1744. mr. vitter: madam president, i ask unanimous consent to waive reading of the whole. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. vitter: thank you, madam president. madam president, i hope this is viewed universally as a commonsense, bipartisan amendment and i urge all of my colleagues to support this amendment through the roll call vote which we will have. it's very simple, very basic, i think very appropriate. it says that for the most serious crimes that exist, violent crimes, crimes against women and children, very serious crimes by anyone's definition, that these will be disqualifiers for federal housing assistance. i bring this am

thank you, madam president. mr. barrasso: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you, madam president. last week our nation celebrated america's independence day and the obama administration took advantage of the holiday to slip out a couple of announcements about its health care law. the first one came late one day as th the media and most of the nation were distracted by their plans for the 4th of july. the administration finally had to admit that their health care slaw unraveling before our eyes. several months ago senator baucus preducted that the law was headed for what he called a train wreck. last week we saw the train real i go off the rails. what happened was the treasury department put out a blog post written by an assistant secretary late in the day on july 2 that said it would postpone the implementation of the employer mandate part of the health care law until 2015. now, this was one of the signature parts of the president's health care law. under the law, every employer with more th

that is why, madam president, i'm introducing this amendment today. this amendment to the continuing resolution is a very simple amendment. it simply provides that none of the funds within the continuing resolution shall be spent to implement obamacare or to engage in rule making under obamacare. now, let me be clear. in my view, obamacare should be repealed altogether. i think the harms from obamacare -- particularly the harms on the most vulnerable among us -- are significant enough that we should repeal it in its entirety. i recognize that is not a view shared by every member of this body. at a minimum, however, i would submit that every member of this body should agree that restoring economic growth should be a critical priority, and with our economy gasping for breath -- last quarter we were at 0.1% growth -- allowing been become to be fully -- allowing obamacare to be fully implemented right now has the potential of pushing this economy into a recession. i know no member of this body wants to see the economy going into a recession. no member of

thank you madam chair. i yield the floor. mr. inhofe: madam chairman? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: let me thank my very good friend from iowa who graciously allowed me to make a statement here. i am concerned about this. several of us have amendments we've been trying to get up for a long period of time. i quite frankly don't know what the status of the amendments and the bill are right now, whether we'll be getting to votes sooner or later. but i have one amendment that is one that i thought would be so acceptable that there wouldn't be any opposition to it. let me just very briefly tell you what it is. my amendment addresses the 2001 united states supreme court decision in zavillas. the court held the immigrants admitted to the united states then ordered removed couldn't be detained for more than six months. four years later, the supreme court came along and extended the decision to people here illegally as well. that's what we're talking about right now. we're talking about illegals that come into this country. as a r

thank you, madam president. ms. collins: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: madam president, i just want to second what the chairman of our subcommittee, the senator from washington, said. frankly, we could have done ten amendments today in the time that we were on the floor ready to work through amendments. i know there are many amendments out there and i would encourage our colleagues on both sides of the aisle not to wait till the 11th hour. it's going to be much harder for us to work to accommodate amendments at that point. so tomorrow's the opportunity for people to come to the floor early. we will be here ready to work. thank you,madam president. the presiding officer: the senate is so warned. [laughter] mrs. murray: i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. manchin: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mr. manchin: madam president, i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morni

madam president, i yield the floor. mr. whitehouse: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: i believe that under the existing order, i am next because i believe that senator inhofe yielded his time when he had this question answered. the presiding officer: that is correct. mr. whitehouse: i think at that point the order has ended and it is jump ball at the end of my remarks, just to clarify the floor position. i want to rise today -- mr. toomey: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. toomey: i would like to ask a question clarifying the procedure and the process because it is my understanding there is time reserved for me after the senator from rhode island finishes with his comments. the presiding officer: no order has been propounded to that effect yet. mr. toomey: but there will be time available. mr. whitehouse: having the floor, why don't i propose now that at the conclusion of my remarks, senator toomey be recognized, and i believe senator murray wanted to speak as

thank you, madam president. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: i wonder if i might ask through the chair the senator from michigan a question. i notice her chart on seven million students. i wonder which seven million students she is talking about. my understanding is that there are 11 million students who will take out new student loans this year, that two million of them are low-income students who get subsidized loans, and that the democratic senators senator's proposal would help those two million students by keeping the rate at 3.4% instead of 6.8%. so who are the seven million students that the senator from michigan is talking about? ms. stabenow: madam president, if i might respond, this number comes from the joint tax committee, so i would be happy to follow up with you on that, but that's where the number comes from. mr. alexander: i thank the senator from michigan. it could be my numbers are wrong, but i don't think they are. i think the seven million student figure is ac

schatz: thank you, madam president. i was very encouraged by the president's speech today for a number of reasons. but the main thing that i found encouraging is that he's obviously done waiting. and there are three reasons to be done waiting. the first is it's very unlikely given the current composition of the congress that the congress will take action in the 113th. we have to recognize that political reality. the second is that from an ecological standpoint, we don't have the luxury of waiting. we don't have 5 or 8 or 12 years to wait and deliberate. we need to take action now in order to reverse global climate change. and the third is a matter of law. under the e.p.a. versus massachusetts, the supreme court didn't just give the authority to the e.p.a. to regulate carbon as a pollutant under the clean air act. it actually requires that the e.p.a. move forward. so even if this president didn't believe in the science, even if this president weren't as passionate as he is about combatting climate change, he would be req

madam president, i yield the floor. mrs. murray: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: madam president, i woke up this morning feeling like i think most americans feel today -- pretty disappointed in the antics of washington, d.c. as my colleague from new york just pointed out, we all know why we're here. speaker boehner and the republicans in the house demanded a ransom in order to keep our government open. and their ransom was to repeal a law that they do not support, obamacare. and they made it very clear that government was going to shut down, and my constituents in washington state, who are -- were supposed to go to work today, thousands of them, aren't going to get their paycheck because of that ransom. they made it very clear that they were not going to open government over a policy that they cared passionately about. well, madam president, i just have to say, i started my morning thorning talking to people involved in the construction industry in the state of washington. they told me this unserchts

madam president, i yield back. mr. durbin: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: let me congratulate my colleague from my neighboring state of indiana, senator donnelly, on his first speech on the floor of the united states senate. i can tell you as a downstater in illinois i can identify with so many things he said about his state and his pride in his state, and his feeling about his responsibility as the new united states senator from the hoosier state. i thank him so much for that comment and look forward to working with him for many years to come as we represent adjoining states. madam president, on behalf of senator coons i ask unanimous consent that imatib nun be granted floor privileges for thursday, april 25. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i have an amendment at the desk and ask that it be called. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: the senator from illinois, mr. durbin, proposes amendment numbered 745 to amendment numbered 741. mr. durbi

thank you very much, madam president. i yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. ms. murk: madam president, i -- ms. murkowski: i appreciate being here to hear the comments of my friend, the senator from new hampshire. she has noted there is a small handful of states that for a host of different reasons have chosen not to impose a sales tax on their residents, and as she has very well stated, this so-called marketplace fairness act is really not fair. it's really not fair to those states that have put in place other mechanisms, and yet what we are doing through this legislation that we have pending on the floor right now is to tell states like new hampshire, to tell states like alaska, that regardless of what your state chose to do, those who are engaged in an online sales and activity, you're going to be scooped into the requirements of whatever state the individual purchasing your product is. to me, madam president, that is absolutely not fairness within the marketplace. i think the people in alaska when they think