>> is deeply distressing to me. i would imagine i thought more about what happened than all of you put together. i lost more sleep than all of you put together. i have been wrecking my brain about what more could have been done or should have been done. so, when i took responsibility i took it as a challenge and an obligation to make sure before i left the state department that what we could learn as i'm sure my predecessors did after beirut

and after nairobi and after all of the other attacks on our facilities, i'm sure all of them, republican and democrat alike, especially where there was loss of american life. to say okay, what must we do better. how do we send men and women without weapons and support from the military into some of most dangerous places in the world? i will continue to speak out and do everything i can from whatever position i'm in to honor the memory of those we lost and to work as hard as i know to try to create more understanding and cooperation between the state department our diplomats, our development professionals from usaid and the

congress so that the congress is a partner with us. that was the case in previous times. i would like us to get back to those times congressman, whereas i think one of you said, beirut, we lost far more americans not once but twice within a year. there was no partisan effort. people rose above politics, a democratic congress worked with a republican administration to say what do we need to learn. out of that came the legislation for the accountability review board. similarly after we lost more americans, the bombings in east africa, again, republicans and democrats worked together. what we need to do better. i'm an optimist. i'm hoping that will be the

outcome of this and every other effort so that we really do honor not only those we lost but all those who write as we speak are serving if dangerous places representing the values and the interest of the american people. >> you wrote in your book "hard choices," you were directing the state department response. you stated that you left your office on the night of the attack and went to your home in northwest washington because you said you knew the next few days will be taxing and the department will be looking to you. i want to talk about a few things. do you have a -- [indiscernible] in your home? >> yes i did. >> who else was at your home? >> i was alone. >> the whole night? >> yes the whole night. [laughter] >> i don't know why that's

funny. did you have inperson briefing? >> sorry little note of 7:15. >> that's the year end, what's the future of the benghazi committee. what do they do with the testimony of the former secretary of state? >> right now there's no expiration date for the benghazi committee. the committee is expected to continue throughout 2016. >> congress passed a major education law this year replace replacing the no child left behind law with a new version. it worked its way through the house and senate education committees and the law was finally approved in december. >> the bill gets done at the end of the day is it largal product of this senate? >> it largely respects the senate bill. the version produced by the house was far more conservative.

it allows parents to exempt their students from opt out of testing. that was originally left out of the final version. >> united states senate, congress and i believe the president by the end of the week will have a christmas present for 50 million children and 3.4 million teachers in 100,000 public schools across the country. something they've been eagerly awaiting. today, the senate should pass by a large margin a bill to fix no child left behind. a lot has been said about how the bill repeals the common core mandate. a trend towards the national school board that has gone on for the last two presidential administrations. how it is the biggest step toward local control in a quarter of a century. local control of public schools. that's all true. the legislation specifically

prohibits the united states secretary of education from specifying in any state that it must have the common core standards or any other academic standards. not just this secretary but future secretaries. the united states department of education has been using to act in effect as a national scoreboard. causing governors to have to come to washington to play mother may i if they want to evaluate teachers or fix low performing schools. it is true that we have great many decisions. it is the single biggest step towards local control of schools in 25 years. but this morning, mr. president as we come to a vote, which we will do at 10:45, i like to emphasize something else. i believe that the passage of this legislation and this signed

this week, i believe it will be by president obama will unleash a flood of innovation in student achievement across america community by community and state by state. why do i say that? because look at innovation has come from before. my own state, tennessee was the first state creating a master teacher program in the 1980's. florida came behind. that didn't come from washington washington. the governors themselves met with president george h. w. bush in 1989 to establish national education goals, not directed from washington but with governors working together.

the president involved in leading the way providing the bully pulpit support. then the governor says that time, have been setting higher standards dividing tests to see how well students are doing to reach standards, creating own state accountability system, finding more ways to evaluate teachers fairly. my own state has done pretty well without washington supervision. starting with the master teacher program and the governor and his time in the 1990's to teacher performance and then a democratic governor related that our standards are low and we're kidding ourselves. we working with other governor, pushed them up higher. our current governor has taken it even further and our children are leading the country in student achievement gains. so the states themselves have

been the source of innovation and excellence over the last 30 years. too much washington involvement causes a backlash. you can't have a civil conversation about common core in tennessee. it is the number one issue in republican primaries even in general elections. mainly because washington got involved with it. now washington is out of it. it's up to tennessee and washington and every state to decide for themselves what their academic standards ought to be. same with teacher evaluation. i was in year and a half brawl with the national education association as governor where we paid teachers more for teaching well. it came by one vote in our state senate. when ecame to washington a few

years ago, people said senator alexander is going to want every state to do that. they were wrong about that. the last thing we should do is tell states they must evaluate teachers and how to evaluate teachers. it's hard enough to do without somebody looking over your shoulder. too much washington involvement has made it harder to have higher standards and harder to evaluate teachers. i believe that we're changing that this week. i dealing with a democratic senator last night who plans to vote for the bill. he said he would have been given me five to one odds that we wouldn't been able to pass this bill. why are we at the point where we are where we're likely to get votes in the mid-80's today? we worked on it in a bipartisan way. i've given credit many times to senator murry from washington d.c. for suggesting how we do

that. i see senator from maryland on the floor. our committee worked in a bipartisan way. so did the house of representatives as we worked through the conference. the president and his staff members and secretary duncan have been approach and straightforward in dealing with us all year long. i'm grateful for that. we knew from the beginning, and we said to the president, mr. president, we know we can't change the law unless we have your signature. he dealt with it in a straightforward way. then we found a consensus, it made a very difficult problem a lot easier. we keep the important information with student achievement so that parents and teachers and schools will know how schools and teachers and parents are doing. that test designed by the states administered from the third grade to 12th grade that's not very many tests keep

those. report the results aggravate the results and then leave it to classroom teachers about what to do about the tests. that should result -- six years ago in december we had a big agreement in this chamber. we passed the affordable care act with all the democrats voting yes and all the republicans voting no. next day the republicans went out and started trying to repeal it and we haven't stopped. that's what happened with that kind of debate. this is a different kind of day. if the president sign this bill as i believe he will, the next day, people aren't going to be trying to repeal it. governors, school board members teachers will be able to implement it and they'll go to work doing it. they'll be deciding what test to give. what schools to fix and how to fix them.

what higher academic standards ought to be, what kind of test should be there. it will be their decisions from the day the president signs this bill. it will only last until four years when it supposed to be reauthorized. my guess is is that this bill and the policies within it will set the standard for policy and elementary and secondary education from the federal level for the next two decades. it's a compromise but it's a very well crafted piece of work. it's good policy. there are some things that are undone. senator murry has her list of things that couldn't get in the bill. i have mine. i was glad to see us make some more progressen charter school -- progress on charter schools. i watched that when i wrote a letter to every school superintendent asking them to try at least one of those start from scratch schools.

today we're five percent of our children. in public schools, go to charter public schools. that's a lot of kids, 5 million and 6 million children. schools where teachers have more freedom and parents more choices. we haven't made much progress on is giving low income parents more choices for schools for their children. so they have the same kind of opportunity that better off financially parents do. my scholarship for kids proposal only got 44 votes here. i thought it was a very good idea. they would give states the option, not a mandate to turn all of their federal education dollars into scholarships for children for low income children. that will be $2100 for each of those children. it will follow them to the school that the parents chose. under states's rule and not washington's rule. that's not part of this bill. we can fight about that, discuss that another day. i intend to try to do that.

but today, i think we celebrate the fact that we come to a very good conclusion, we're sending the president the bill. while it does repeal common core mandate and it does reverse the trend to national school board and it is the biggest step towards local control, what excites me about the bill, i believe it will unleash a flood of innovation and excellence in elementary and secondary education that will be a wonderful christmas present for 50 million children in 100,000 public schools being taught by 3.4 million teachers. thank you president. >> senator from maryland. >> mr. president, i rise in support of the bill of every child -- mr. president, today will be great day in the united

states senate because we will actually pass a bill that as a result of bipartisan effort led by two very able and dedicated leaders chairman alexander and ranking member senator patty murray. they've done an outstanding job in guiding the committee encouraging open debate extensive hearings i want to naacp them. dedication shows in -- i want to thank them. we acknowledge ranking member scott in the house. here we were led by two educators. a former president of a university the former secretary of education and senator alexander and senator murray, a

teacher herself who has taught us many lessons in our caucus. today we come now with the rewrite of a bill that started 50 years ago where lyndon johnson wanted to have a war on poverty. had passed the elementary secondary education act. it was the first time that the federal government was going to be involved in education and wanted to be sure that there were federal resources to help lift children out of poverty. because many of us agree with the great former secretary of state, condolezza rice said that education is the civil rights issue of this generation. because education is what opens doors today and opens tomorrow. the legislation that we passed today will make sure that we

correct the problems of the past and do the rights -- right thing in the future. when i knew the committee was serious about doing the bill, i crisscrossed maryland consulting with parents teachers, administrators of school system to get the best ideas. the first thing that i asked is what are we doing right. what we doing wrong? what do you want us to do more of and when do you want to get out of the way. they said to me, senator barb, washington is, you have a one size fits all mentality. washington wants to write the same rules that apply in new york city and apply them to ocean city, maryland. that you cannot have a one size fits all for every school district in the united states of america. the second thing they said is, yes, you need accountability

yes you do metrics, do you need metrics but what we've come up with is over testing that still does not resolve in high performance. i worked in a bipartisan basis with the leadership to do what we could to get rid of those excesses of one size fits all, all decisions that are made in washington and the fact that we shouldn't be racing to the test. we should be racing to the top. >> joining for a year in review in congress is christina marcos from the hill. lot was spent in reaction to the terror shootings, the attacks in both paris and then in san bernardino california. there was debate on issues like immigration, the refugees and how to defeat isis.

what came out of the the house floor in particular in terms of the overall legislative effort? >> less than a week after the november 13th attack from paris, house leaders rolled out a bill to enhance the security screening. that bill passed with veto proof majority based on the number of peoples that day. later on, in the omnibus spending package that congress passed before the holidays, it was a bill that helped pass the house easily. that would restrict visa waiver program. that allows citizens citizens citizens from 38 country to enter the u.s. without a visa. >> the chair would all present to rise for the purpose of a moment of silence. chair ask that the house now observe a moment of silence, in

memory of the victims of the terrorist attacks in france. on friday the world watched in horror, paris endured multiple attacks by islamic radicallist. it is certain the french values of liberty, equality and paternity will never weaken in the station of terror. president france hollande yesterday reminded the world that france is a country of freedom. isil has murdered 224 on a russian jetliner. 41 had been murdered in beirut lebanon and now 129 were murdered across.

paris with a direct threat to attack washington and rome. the president should change course to eliminate safe havens to islamic radicals. terrorists are trying to break our will but they are mistaken. we will fight together to protect our values and we'll fight to protect american families. as cochair of the french caucus, a french heritage, i especially our friendship with the citizens of france. in conclusion, god bless our troops may the president never forget september 11th. france is the latest direct target on global war on terrorism. >> mr. speaker it's with a heavy heart that i write to honor the memory of a young bright student who was taken from this world. a 23-year-old design student at california state university long beach, was one of the many innocent victims who was murdered on the terrorist attacks while she dined at a

restaurant with three friends. she was in paris for a semester studying at the college of design. she grew up in woodier and she was a first generation mexican-american student. she was a student and a star in the design department. she inspired and touched the live of many. she was high spirited, orderly and self-driven. she had a bright future ahead of her. i know it's not enough and it will never be enough. i hope that her family and friends can find some solace in the outpouring of love and support from our community. we grieve for and with you. at this time, i like to ask my colleagues to take a moment today to honor her and the 131 other victims and those who are still fighting for their lives in critical condition. >> within a few days of the

paris attacks, the debate in congress turned to syrian refugees. >> it's clear that the american people are concerned about the administration's ability to properly vet thousands of individuals from syria. more than half of our nation's governors, governors of both parties, have demonstrated their concern. many members in congress members of both parties have grave concerns as well. given all of this and given all that's happened in paris, it simply make since to take a step back from now to press the pause button so we can determine the facts and ensure we have the correct policies and security screenings in place. that's the most responsible thing for the administration to do right now. that's the most reasonable and balanced thing for the administration to do right now. we should also not lose sight of why we are in this position to begin with.

syrian people are fleeing syria because of a brutal civil war. the ultimate solution to this problem is to make syria a place the syrian people can continue to return to. but the administration never had a coherent strategy to settle the conflict. every single one of us knows that isil presents a threat to the homeland. our homeland. it's not contained. if the administration is serious about starting to turn this situation around it's going to have to develop a serious and workable strategy that can swing and win strong bipartisan support. >> i've been discussed with the president to see some of the republican colleagues their point of compassion for those in

need. frankly i've been disappointed by republican fear mongering and bigotry. we cannot repeat the dark days of the 1930's when many americans resolve to turn away to help the refugee fleeing nazi germany. adolph hitler. my colleague dan and his family those mistakes were based on misguided people. we didn't know. how many people died because of unfound apprehension. i don't know but far too many. it seems many republicans are destined to go down that same path again. some of the republicans suggest that we categorically block all syrian refugees. one republican candidate for president suggested that we turn

away 5-year-old refugees. united states of america should have some sort of religious test for refugees. that they're saying only christians. this is the latest a disturbing pattern of republican hatred and tolerance towards muslims. remember syria is mostly muslim but there are jews, they are christians. during the course of the current cycle, we heard from the republican party the following. we should be shutting down muslim houses of worship of america. close them off. we should ban muslims from government. we have two of my friends who serve in the house of representatives who are muslims. they are proud. that religion has made them a

better people. now we're suggesting we should reject refugees. that's not america. that is hate emulating from some republicans. that anti-muslim venom from republicans is a propaganda for isis. >> the issue from syrian refugees they're not done with. it sound like they'll take up this issue in 2016 as well. >> right, mitch mcconnell indicated that bill may come up when the senate returns in january. >> when 14 were killed in san bernardino, cams. -- california members of congress remembered the victim. >> mr. speaker today i rise with a heavy heart to pay tribute to the 14 innocent lives lost on december 2 in san bernardino, california. in this terrorism attack at the

inland regional center. in the wake of this terrorist agent are san bernardino community come together and supported one another during this dark chapter of our region and nation. mr. speaker today i ask my colleagues fellow americans and those who hear this message around the world, to pray for the families of the 14 victims the speedy recovery of the 22 injured and the countless first responders that helped that day. and for the health and resilience of the san bernardino community. in the aftermath of this pain, i've seen firsthand the to nasty and the spirit of the area. we have said loudly as one community, this tragedy will not define us and it will not divide us. we will not be afraid to come together and fellowship, to work together to mourn together or to rebuild together. across space and culture we will support one another in this time of need.

mr. speaker, san bernardino has been forced through deal times before. as we face this new and different hurdle, i know my community will continue to stand together to show our country and our region the resolve of this city and of these people to heal. we're san bernardino united. mr. speaker, i'm joined by my colleagues and i ask the house to pause for a moment of sign helps in -- silence and observe those that were attacked. >> the house will observe a moment of silence. >> what are the immediate re-- one of the immediate reactions to san bernardino, people are

identified by the fbi on the so called terrorist watch list. and no fly list. it was brought up in legislation by peter king in the house. it was called on by people like barbara boxer in the senate. did that have any traction? >> democrats feed on that particular bill as a potential solution in the aftermath of these terrorist attacks that also were gun massacres. way for democrats to tie the terror debate into a debate about gun control. >> mr. president when i woke up this morning, i'd hope that yesterday's tragedy in san bernardino was just an unimaginable nightmare. then as i usually do in the morning, i go through the clips from my state. i read the headlines. blood bath in san bernardino. 14 slain at california office party. carnage in california.

shooting rampage sow terror in california. at least 14 dead in mass shooting. deadly rampage at holiday party. a day of horror. horror hits home. horrific, just one word. mass, mass murder. these are from papers all over my state and a couple of national headlines. my heart is broken after this rampage that led to the tragic loss of life. so many injuries, so much trauma and pain for the people of san bernardino. i want to thank the medical personnel who are working as we

speak to save lives. and all the brave courageous law enforcement officer who rushed to the scene and later stopped these killers. we know that the victims in this attack were county employees at the san bernardino department of public health. i began my career as county supervisor and i over saw the department of public health. i know how dedicated those county employees are. they're right there. they're right there in the communities. and the facility was really dedicated to helping to save those people. so for this to happen at a holiday party, where these employees were gathering friendship, this is a stunning

shock. while details about the murder is behind us, the despicable attack it still unknown. here's what we do know. because these killers used military style weapons, 14 people died and 17 people were wounded in a matter of minutes. the purpose of these guns, these military style guns is to kill a lot of people very fast mr. president. the scene looked like a war zone. there's a reason for that. again, because these weapons they're designed for the military. they're designed for the police. i have to be honest with you sir, i have never heard one persuasive argument about why anyone else would need to have this type of weapon. these weapons of war, they just don't belong on our streets and in our communities.

my colleagues senator feinstein for years has been pushing sensible legislation that would keep these military style weapons off our streets. we need to stand with her. across party lines and pass it. it is so discouraging, mr. president, that we can't even pass legislation here that would keep suspected terrorists who are on the no fly list from legally buying a weapon. any kind of a weapon. it isn't enough for us to keep limiting these tragics. we need to take action now before something else like this happen again in your state and in my state. you know, when we take an oath of office, we swear that we will protect and defend the american people. i just don't think we're protecting them.

when we allow these type of weapons to get into the wrong hands. this year we're averaging more than one mass shootings every single day. multiple people kill by guns innocent people everyday. this is america. this doesn't happen in other industrialized nations. 31 people died everyday from gun violence. after ten years of the vietnam war, we lost nearly 60,000 americans and people were in dispair. we lose more than that to gun violence in less than two years in this great nation. if there was anything else that caused death of 30,000 americans a year, every single senator would be in their chair and we would be demanding action and we would be crossing over party lines to stop it. because that is an epidemic.

people deserve to feel safe in their communities. i don't understand it. they deserve to feel safe when they go to a holiday party at work. they deserve to be safe sitting in these galleries they deserve to be safe going to a movie theater. they deserve to be safe in their school when they're six years old, 16 or 26. they deserve to be safe in their workplace. at a shopping mall at a restaurant and at a healthcare clinic. this is our job to keep our people safe. we know the threats that face us abroad. that we need to do both. we need to protect our people abroad from threats abroad and from threats at home.

the very best way is to take sensible steps that are supported by the american people like universal background check. keeping assault weapons in the hands of our military and police. safety features on guns, keeping guns out of the hands of people who are unbalanced, unstable and criminals. then we can prevent these tragedies. will we prevent every tragedy? no. i know my friends will say someone could have a knife. yes. it's a lot easier to get away from a knife than an automatic weapon. that mows you down before you can look up and figure out what's happening. i'm crying out today for support for sensible gun laws. regardless of motive, we need to

make sure that military weapons belong in the hands of the military and the police. it's pretty straightforward. our people from not safe. i don't care what state you look at, i don't care what city you look at i don't care what town. san bernardino is a beautiful place. i don't live far from there. i have an office 15 minutes or less from there. people deserve to feel safe in our communities. i send my love and my prayers my solidarity to the community. to the families, to the first responders to everyone there. we're beginning to pull together -- we're going to pull together like all of these communities do. we need to prevent these combinationthingsfrom happening.

we don't, we're liable. we know what's killing people everyday. gun violence. we know it. -- i have a lot of family member who are lawyers. my son, my father was and my husband is. i think once you know something is happening and you can do something about it and you don't do something about it, you're liable. maybe not in the legal sense but in the moral sense. i hope we will come together around this. every time the press comes and ask me after the tragedy after tragedy, will something happen now? after sandy hook, i said absolutely. we will come together. we did not. i want to close with this, in california we have tough gun laws. i don't know how these weapons got where they were.

we'll find out. people say, you have these gun laws. look at this. we have had a 56% reduction in gun violence since 1993. we have taken action. but this is one nation under god. somebody comes from a nearby state from north, from east and they have a gun. that's why it is so important for us to work together and have sensible national laws universal background checks. almost 90% of the people support it. the major of the nra members support it. what's wrong with us that we can't do that? what are you afraid of? these military assault sometime weapons that kill so fast and so many people, we should make sure they're in the hands of the military and the police. mr. president, my heart is

heavy. it will remain so. this is supposed to be a great day for a lot of us who work so long and hard on the highway bill. this is a moment that we were waiting for. that's what life is about. these moments that you savor and there are moments that you wish to god you never had to talk about or experience. that's kind of day for this particular senator. i know senator feinstein feels the same way. thank you very much and i yield. >> thank you mr. speaker. ever since the terrorist attack in san bernardino, a leftist politicians called for more restrictions on gun ownership for americans. these are the same politicians who worked for years to open our nation to unprecedented immigration from hot beds of islamic extremism.

most effective defense is armed american. is one person in that room in san bernardino has been able to return fire, many innocent lives would have been saved. but californians are subject of the most restrictive gun laws in the country. making it very difficult for law-abiding citizens to exercise their second amendment right. the society denied its right of self-defense -- i repeat the most effective defense against an armed terrorist is an armed american. yet the president and his followers seek to increase the number of terrorists entering through borders while at the same time, seeking to decrease the number of armed americans. their latest ploy has been announced by the president on sunday to the point of disrupting the work of the house. the president's words congress should act to make sure no one

on the no fly list by a gun. while serving in the california state senate a decade ago, i discovered suddenly i couldn't check in for a flight. i asked why i was told, i was on this government list. the experience was absolutely -- my first reaction was to ask why am i on that list. we can't tell you. what criteria do you use. that's classified. how do i get off that list? you can't. i soon discovered that another california state senator was on that list. few months later u.s. senator edward kennedy was on that list. even so, it took months working through that office with repeated petitions to the government to get my name removed from that list. i was advised in the meantime just to fly under my middle name which i did without

incident. it turns out in the case of a mistaken identity, the british government was mad at. this could happen to any american. the fine point of it is this during this administration the i.r.s. has been used extensively to harass and intimidate ordinary americans for exercising their first amendment rights. what the president proposes is that on the whim of anything federal bureaucrat an american can be denied their second amendment right as well with no opportunity to confront their accuser, contest the evidence. the concept that the left is seeking to instill in our law is that mere suspicion by a bureaucrat is sufficient to deny law-abiding american citizens their constitutional rights under the law. given the left demonstrated hostility to freedom of speech and due process of law it's not

surprising where this is leading us. i support the president's proposal if it establishes a judicial process where an individual can be placed on this list once he's been courted his constitutional rights. to be inform of the charges, to be courted the right to confront his accuser and contest the evidence against him. that's the farthest thing from the left's jeopardy. the president's promote would have done nothing to stop the carnage in san bernardino where the terrorist were not on any watch list. several of the guns used in this massacre were even acquired directly but rather through a third party. of course the american people don't want terrorist to have guns. the american people don't want terrorists in our country in the first place. but president's policies have left our nations gates wide open while he seeks to take from americans their means of

self-defense. i leave off as i began the best defense against an armed terrorist is an armed american. that's what the second amendment is about. it is an essential pillar of our security. our constitution is our best defense of all and it must be defended against all enemies foreign and domestic. >> the last item on the 2015 congressional agenda were extending several tax breaks and passing a $1 trillion spending bill for 2016. this came after the regular appropriations process broke down in middle of the year. >> the end of the year ending with a only my bus -- with a big omnibus spending bill. >> in the house they brought up six individual appropriations bill. where lawmakers can offer as many amendments as they want. there's no limits. this worked for six of the bills

that passed. once they got to spending bill interior, this is right around the time of the shooting in charleston that was racially charged. at the time when the nation having debate about the display of the confederate flag, democrats started offering amendments regarding the display of the confederate flag in national parks. originally, these numbers were adopted by voice vote. then once republicans from southern states found out about them after the fact, they tried to go back and undo these amendments. but at that point, they realized they have to take these highly embarrassing vote on the house floor, there were a significant number of republicans who didn't want these measures to pass. >> at what point you thought. the leadership thought it will

go to omnibus. we're not going to be able to move these bills? >> essentially at that point. because they knew from the beginning, they will go to only -- omnibus, they will do individual bills. this is a way showing that the republicans roll out regular order and open process in the house. tv going -- it was going to result in this highly toxic photo -- vote in the wake of charleston shooting. republicans decided to cut their losses. >> the year end spending and tax legislation ended a 40 year ban on crude oil. it increased spending on medical increase. it extended credit on wind and solar energy and publicly extended the research and tax credit. both democrat and republicans saw the legislation as a victory for their side of the aisle. >> today we delivered sweep oh

sweeping -- sweeping victorys for the american people. the only my -- it will create jobs. we have finally renewed the 9/11 and health and comprehension bill. my congratulations to our appropriators, especially our ranking member, congresswoman of new york for whom 9/11 was a priority. our new yorkers especially focused on it. this is your day anita because of the passage. we passed the best possible under the circumstances appropriations bill. i think our success with our members, republicans obsession oil exploit ban. it really gave away the store. democrats were able to strip scores and scores of poison

pills, some of which they had to have. they ended up with not having. they have a toxic that affects not only on the legislation, not only a number of votes as they could get or not get but because of what they do. they wanted to dismantle women's health, to -- to sabotage finance campaign reform. i had my own problem with the oil but i decided i could not empower big oil to overcome the successes in this bill. the wind and solar we added to the omnibus bill eliminated by ten times more carbon pollution than the export of crude oil would add. of course the nimbus was a compromise, we came a long way. it is a monumental improvement.

this is a big win for american working families. i'm very proud of the big vote that we had. once they saw what was really in the bill. i'm please to authorize distinguished whip who played a big role in that vote. mr. hoyer. >> thank you very much madam leader. big role was played in putting the bill together. as leader pelosi said, it was a win for the american people. was it perfect? i said on the floor, it wasn't perfect. we don't pass perfect bills. we pass bills that brings true compromise to the democratic process. but this was an extraordinarily big victory in my opinion as i said for the american people. i want to congratulate leader middlepelosi. i want to congratulate ranking

member. i know they were working around the clock to reach the objective that we've got to. congress now approved the omnibus appropriations bill that keep the government open. it will increase investments important domestic priority and will help our economy and help our people. when members return to the 114th congress second session in january, we have a responsibility to turn the pressing challenges of job creation fixing our broken immigration system and restoring voting rights pretensions. we ought to proceed in the same bipartisan cooperative fashion that allow us to reauthorize the highway bill, reauthorize the elementary and secondary education act. pass the export, import bank reauthorization and pass the bill which will try to make america safer. if we can do those things,

surely we can address additional priorities and in the year to come. we also must take action on puerto rico. it should have been in the bill. leader pelosi fought to have it. it should have happened. i am glad that paul ryan has said that he will address it next month when we return. it must be addressed and done. the last several weeks on number of bipartisan successes which i mentioned, now 2016. if it's going to be successful, america needs to replicate that. i want to thank anita and her staff, david and the staff director worked around the clock. they had extraordinary efforts which moved leader pelosi. i want to credit the white house who worked as leader pelosi

would say, shoulder to shoulder in making it very clear that we would not take writers, not just poison bills, that would undermine the health and safety of and security of our country. i want to join in wishing all americans, especially those serving our nation overseas, and their families, a joyous holiday season and happy new year. >> by any objective standard, i think the senate is clearly back to work. we had dysfunctional body in previous congresses. how do you measure dysfunction? as you heard us say, one way to measure dysfunction is how many votes are you having on amendments? 15 in all of 2014, right at 200 this year. another way to measure dysfunction is not passing a budget which is required by law or over the last five years the

previous majority didn't pass a budget. that's the beginning of ending of dysfunction. we've done that. the other thing that was important in ending dysfunction was to quit the marginalization of members. how do you do that? you bring most of the bills through the regular order. members work on bills in committees. they become invested in the bill. then they want it to pass. divided government is not unusual. we've had it more often since world war ii. said today after my own reelection, what i wanted us to be was a responsible right of center governing majority. one of my favorite former colleagues phil graham said, never take a hostage it you're not prepared to shoot. it seems to me from the previous

efforts to shut down the government over default on the national debt. that's not a hostage you will shoot. it's a hostage that isn't worth much point to end those experiences with the american people don't like. it never produces a positive result anyway. i took those off the table the day after the election. we began to figure out how to get the senate to work again. through the evidence that the senate is working again is things like the keystone pipeline trade promotion authority, rewrite of no child left alone. highway bill cybersecurity, a lot of things that have been langishing around here. i'm told my democratic colleagues came in here a few moments ago took credit for number of things. let me give the followship on

the democratic side. senator boxer and i found that we actually agreed on what ought to be done here. democratic leadership, chairman reid and the white house tried totor bee doe -- torpedo the way we were doing the highway bill. it allowed us to move the highway bill across the floor. i think the way you get the senate working again is for members outside of the leadership level to begin to have confidence in each other to work on bills together, to think they're worth passing and to help make it happen. as we end the year, i think by any objective standard, it's been a year of significant accomplishment. i want to thank the democrats who did cooperate. senator mawr of -- murray was spectacular on education senator boxer was good on

highways and senator feinstein was good on highway security. obviously having the cooperation on the other side is essential. that's the way you get good results in the senate. >> thanks for watching c-span's congress year in review 2015. the house and senate are back for pro forma session january 4th. the house begins legislative work january 5th and the senate back january 11th. >> "washington journal" is next on c-span. we'll be taking your phone calls. then this morning, interviews from the washington ideas forum including commerce secretary penny and collin powell. a look at the challenges reporters face covering the middle east. coming up on "washington journal," a look the new year ahead. we'll discuss some of the challenges and priorities for congress in 2016 and talk about

the november elections and domestic and international issues. you can join the conversation by phone, facebook or twitter. host: good morning and happy new year. it's friday january 1, 2016. the want "washington journal" is turning over three hours of program to our viewers to hear about your top domestic and foreign policy concerns as we start the new year. we'll begin on the domestic front as you look ahead to the year of 2016, what are the issues inside the nation's borders that you most want lawmakers and candidates on the campaign trail to address. is it the economy, border security healthcare or criminal justice reform or some other topic. give us a call our phone lines