on this for many years. -- chairman max baucus. we would like to work with all of your folks that and i'm looking at the mathematics. because deferral is so much money, like $500 billion over 10. you get rid of that and it is such a large amount and you use that to cut rates dramatically in the united states. i am absolutely convinced that you could get in the mid 20's. you also have the benefit of less gaming and more straightforward system. my concern about going to a territorial system -- and i have put myself to sleep at night trying to understand all the aspects of territorial -- is that you will keep a lot of the complexity in the system, you will have lots of gaming and really transfer pricing, where somebody generates a sale one place, books to profit somewhere else, but especially you will have more business overseas rather than what the chairman started us off with in terms of more incentives for jobs in the united states. i personally think it will be pretty hard to get the rate in the mid 20's if you go to that kind of

>> charlie baucus, ranking member hatch, i'm the president and c.e.o. of p.n.c.-c.r. we are a leading semiconductor company that stores computer content. i can offer a perspective on the semiconductor industry as well as the sized company. i would like to thank you. before summarizing my recommendations for tax reform, i wanted to -- it is essential to the growth in this industry. first. semiconductors are essential for innovations in every aspect of our modern economy and nauert. some are enabling technology, manufacturing, health care, information technology as well as national defense and homeland security. we're a fundamental building block of the trillion-dollar sthray supports similar jobs. third, semiconductors are a global industry with capable competitors around the world. today the u.s. industry holds approximately 507 share of a 300 billion worldwide market and represents the world's largest industry. in fact. 80% of our revenue today is export revenue and the key drive of innovation. the industry designates% of revenues to research development. in short, m

. >> good morning, chairman baucus. thank you for the opportunity to discuss the pipeline's investigation of and response to the july 1st exxonmobil pipeline company oil pill in laurel, montana. we are all committed to reducing safety risks to the public and the environment. more than 2.5 million miles of pipeline deliver energy to homes and businesses across america, and our job is at phmsa is to ensure every mile is safe. the traditional measures of risk expose sure like -- exposure like population growth is rising, however the number of incidents involving on shore hazards declined. with 57% of gross barrels spilled. despite the improvements, i am deeply troubled by this recent oil spill. secretary lahood, myself, and simms are always mindful these incidents can have. i ensure you phmsa is investigating the incident and will continue to do so. we state and federal agencies and our partner, epa, in evaluating the effects to the yellowstone river and its surrounding communities and helping with cleanup activities. due

i want to thank senator baucus for working out the details. i want to thank my colleagues in the house and senate for being here today. it is an illustration of how serious the issue of tax reform is to both committees and the american economy. as james baker said, tax reform has something in it for everybody. for the american family it means greater simplicity and predictability so families can plan and prosper. transforming our tax code is critical to making america more vibrant and a more attractive place. issue of debt and inequity is among the most complex issues that we grapple with. it is among the most important to get right. earlier this week, the issue to reports responding to the reports predicaments we made on household and business debt. -- responding to the household and business the reports. the business that report focuses more on the debt relative to equity and the implications for corporate capital structures. these are are crucial issues. it is fitting that we are here to receive these reports. before i yield to my friend fr

after max and his family left the office, we caught a few minutes with max baucus. >> there should be cuts. we will not cut kids. whether it is children's health or medicaid, we will not cut kids. >> that is good to hear. the budget fight, of course, is still unfolding. some of the proposals being discussed could result in major cuts to medicaid which helps many children and low-income families. we spent time with minerva love. her family relies on medicaid for her care. her family calls her mimi. she has a smile that lights up a room. >> how are you? >> like it did this week on capitol hill. but even at age 5, she can only speak a few words. you see as a young baby, she developed hydrocephelous. >> it is so much to take in. it was scary. you are telling me -- i never heard of this. she doesn't have a brain. it was scary. >> hi. >> yeah. >> her thinking is normal for her age, but her motor skills are nonexistent. mimi's mother, ashley, works for the tsa. without medicaid, she could not pay for physical therapy or this device. that is why she is so worried that the budget fight will ma

chairman baucus has been patient this morning. i thank you. >> we don't have much time. what about turning this around? i would change the code to get more foreign investment in the u.s. in addition for domestic investment in the u.s. basically the subject of this hearing. how do we get more foreign investment in the u.s.? >> i think you lower the marginal rate for activity in the u.s. on a territorial basis system. you'll make it more attractive for countries all over the world. >> simplestity, those are keys we have been talking about all morning. >> how much do we make ourselves less competitive because we have a system which is so complex? someone said g.e. has 1,000 tax attorneys, for example. and my understanding our system is more complex. is that a competitive -- does that put america at a competitive disadvantage? >> a simple system would attract business to allow investor to grow. >> thank you very, very much. it's been very happyful. -- helpful. i think we'll have a lot more discussions. thank you very much. the goal to get us to a much more competitive system

and his family left his office, we caught a few minutes with the other max, democratic senator max baucus. >> there probably will be some cuts and probably should be some cuts until we get our deficits under control. we're not going to cut kids, whether it's a health insurance program under medicaid, we're just not going to cut kids. >> that's good to hear. the budget fight is unfolding but it's clear, some of the proposals being discussed could result in major cuts to medicaid which, again, helps many children as well as people with low income. we spent time with manerva love, a 5-year-old girl whose family relies on medicaid for her care. her family calls her mimi. she has a smile that lights up a room. >> i had, manerva, how are you. >> like it did this week on capitol hill. as a young baby she developed hydrocephalus, her skull filled with fluid and that blocked her brain's development. >> it's like it's so much to take in. it was scary because it's like you're telling me my kid doesn't have -- i never heard of this. she doesn't have a brain? it was scary. it was so scary. >> i had. >

that the europeans and nato basically made need to fix ok well thank you very much for insight there baucus expert. for his for announcing a neighbor earlier thank you very much. there agreement appears no closer between the u.s. and russia on how to develop missile defense in europe and that's the spy for the talks in washington this tuesday nato says the system is designed to protect the european continent from countries like iran but russia fears the project is aimed at its military might and is offering alternatives the u.s. is plowing ahead with its plan despite objections from with the kremlin and russia's alvord to nato was at tuesday's talks and afterwards he told r.t. that washington has to overcome its inner divisions. but if you there are questions that remain unanswered if missile threats against europe come from the south why is the us placing part of its military infrastructure in the north close to russia's borders this is the question that we can't get an answer to when we ask for legal guarantees that the system is not aimed at russia we're told there's a big conflict betwe

yugoslavia ok we have to leave it there for now john laughlin the director of the institute of the baucus and cooperation there in paris for us thank you for that. george's latest spy saga has taken yet another twist to b.c. now says three photojournalists locked up on charges of espionage on behalf of russia have confessed their guilt but artie's ridiculous crew reports there are concerns that the suspects were coerced into admitting crimes they didn't commit. and then there were in on the last georgian photographer to deny allegations of spying has apparently changed his story he now admits the charges video testimony of your god's confession of spying for russia was released by prosecutors to the media but most journalists are skeptical about this latest development or our culture so old it is very strange and there is in the middle of the night in this business a case has been like this. all of this raises questions and are not getting any answers and this confession is a serious face three accuser because we have doubts about this whole deal with us so that you will get the logs and

economy here to discuss this with me is immigration attorney eleanor pelted with morgan lewis and baucus law firm on our thanks so much for being here tonight you're welcome so you have spoken about some of the. last before when it first popped up in arizona and of course there was a lot of debate around the country a lot of people were angry there was a lot of opinions that this is prejudice law but now it seems like that fear has actually turned into an actual populations are fleeing these states and you expect that to happen well i'm not surprised to see it happen particularly in alabama alabama is like arizona on steroids you don't have to look very far to see the venom in that particular law. the law prohibits citizens from helping other citizens if they reasonably should have known that the other citizens of the state are undocumented the law requires public officials to report on school children who they think might be illegal it really is a very vicious piece of legislation to me it goes far beyond trying to bring jobs back to americans and dealing with you could say is the undoc

about this relationship, because a couple years back haynes was one of the several people senator baucusd states attorney's job. she didn't get it. is a big-deal wedding i think it's safe to call. >>> what are the pictures of this unique proposal? >> this is michael steele, no not the former republican national committee chairman, another one. one of the most -- isn't that nice? >> yes, that's so sweet. >> who knew he's got a romantic side. he proposed to mary catherine covert on what is known as the speaker's balcony. this is a spot on the second floor of the capitol looking directly down the national mall with an unobstructed view of the fourth of july fireworks. pretty good idea, actually. i talked to him today. he said they've been dating for a couple years and thought thinking about proposing right away memorial day, so here we are, washington is for lovers. >> fantastic. i also heard there was a pawlenty aide who had to eat a little crow over some comments. >> well, you know, there has been so much focus on the little gaffs that bachmann has made, a lot of politicians do this, but

in pl baucus -- >> another roll call. we will go there as soon as we can. come back to that closing question. the how vote was delayed. planned for last night. the speaker said, zipdy do da and approaching midnight, had to pull it from the floor. that is embarrassing when you are the speaker of the house of representatives and do you believe, is there a weakness in the leadership team? did the whip not count the votes white? what happened? >> i in the speaker's finest hour has been in the last 24 hours. our speaker has shown strong leadership. he is willing to listen to the conference, making what is difficult come together and come together in time for the senate to act. i think speaker boehner is stronger than he has been. >> i have been around for a lot of negotiations like this. and the tools that the speakers have had in the past to hand out pork and earmarks this would have cost billions in the past. the speaker did haven't that ability and still, he was able to do it. we have more respect for the speaker than before. >> we are going to take a break.

baucus -- mr. bachus: that doesn't sound like a yes or no. mr. frank: i made a statement about the control of the currency i thought was inaccurate. as to elizabeth warren, yes. that's what she originally proposed and i decided and others on our side decided this would be more effective. we thought after listening that the five-member commission wouldn't work as well, particularly with the senate refusing to confirm. mr. bachus: that's right. mr. frank: we listened -- mr. bachus: what the gentleman said is yes. that's what elizabeth war roan proposed. and then he says, yes, that's what i introduced. but then he said, but i decided at some point that we would rather have an unaccountable czar. because we -- mr. frank: would the gentleman yield? mr. bachus: the second thing -- mr. frank: point the order, mr. speaker. point of order, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from alabama suspends. state your point of order the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. frank: the gentleman just simply misstated plainly what i said. said i want a si

montana is represented by maus baucus who is in the finance committee. and alamagordo, new mexico, represented by democratic senator tom udall, who serves on the senate transportation committee, which makes tom udall the counterpart for john micah, from florida. this is not really overall a fight about airports or subsidies for rural air service or whether the people of ely can ever get on a plane. this is not even a fight really about the faa and regulation of air travel in this country. this is very clearly a fight about union rights and the republican will in 2011 to strip union rights away at every opportunity. as long as senate democrats will not give in to republican demands to strip union rights here, as long as senate democrats stand up for those rights, republicans are telling them these are your choices, either the faa can shut down altogether or republicans start threatening american airports in bunches, and this is just for now. come september, we are back here again and we're going to have to get another dog because something will have alrea

. >> good morning, chairman baucus.thank you for the opportunity to discuss the pipeline and hazardous safety administration's investigation response to the july 1 did exxonmobil pipeline oil spill in montana. safety is the number one priority as secretary lahood, myself and the employees have been through and we are all committed to reducing safety risks to the public and to the environment. more than 2 and a half million miles of pipeline deliver energy to homes and businesses across america, and our job is to ensure that every mile is safe. over the past 20 years, traditional measures of are risk exposure such as population development and growth have been rising. however, the number of significant incidents involving hazardous liquid pipelines has declined 28%, with the corresponding deeg crease of 57% of gross barrels spilled. despite the overall improvements, i am deeply troubled by this recent oil spill. secretary lahood, myself and the employs are are always mindful of the substantial effects these incidents can

reid in nevada, senate transportation committee chairman, jay rockefeller in west virginia, and max baucus montana, all three are, of course, democrats. according to the associated press, mica acknowledges that he inserted the airport language into the extension bill partly as a means to send the senate a message that we want this finally resolved. instead, thousands of public and private sector workers are now unemployed, small town airports are suffering, and big airports aren't getting any safer. all because republicans who want to make it harder for workers to unionize. congressman mica also opposed the faa's move earlier this year to add more air traffic controllers on light night shift after some of them fell asleep on duty. >>> coming up, fox news pulls behind the scenes video from the website after contributors are caught saying they don't want to cover the news corp. phone hacking scandal. that's in tonight's rewrite. and later, the new poll from the pew research center shows the median income of a white household is now 18 times more than a hispanic household and 20 times more th

a hearing in may on deficit reduction and social security, quoting senator our baucus, addressing theiall security better than we found wd have to begin to work on it right now.l secury each year social security costss are higher. this year they are going to be 3.6% higher than last year.'s a that is a one-year increase from 3.6% in one year. the worker to beneficiary ratio and we know how social security works. people pay in largely fund thegn money that's coming out today. people paying in in 200035 willr be 2.1 for every person working and in the current system there's no way that the pages on the floor here today are going t' be able to take to pay halfga recipient gets but t that's what you have to do if we don't change the system. we have to deal with thee need security and i think we need to deal with them right now but it is politically difficult or note otherwise there won't be a that social security program that works for the people paying incl social security no water collects what it spends. def we have a 45 billion-dollar s deficitho or shortfall in 2011 e the truth is we

that means where money goes is not allocated by the chairman of ways and means committee and max baucuse there is consumer demand and investor demand. >> here's my counter to that. i don't disagree with anything you just said and i can see the logic and the benefit of that. but if i allow the banking system and the multi-national corporations to continue to alter the trade agreements or the banking laws, such that the return on investment for me as an investor, as were you just saying, we want to let the private investor decide where the money goes, if i'm a private investor, my money goes to pay a lobbyist to make sure we keep the screwed up trade with china to continue to be long in my caterpillar position in the ground in china, costs jobs in america and getting me rich. >> the government has too much power to me, sounds like. >> what you would have, then, is just, should we all get machine guns and fight it out? in other words, the -- obnoxious thing about the response you offered up, it suggests that the answer is to eliminate the government, which is insulting and rude and an indi

senator baucus said it exactly right. we had a financial firms going into the crisis in 2008 with letters of at least 40-one. those are not isolated examples. we have tried to rootlet released -- through regulation to limit leverage and have capital requirements. it has not worked. the balls will attempt to limit leveraged to require more capital, the major international response to the crisis, has also not had a genetic defect either now or in terms of what will happen later in the cycle as firms want to take on more leverage. the top bankers and traders are paid on a return on equity basis. if they have less equity in the business and things go well, they get nice compensation. if things go badly, there is a downside risk. who bears the downside risk? it is largely borne by the rest of the economy, by the nonfinancial sector, by households. whether or not you are in favor of bailouts does not matter. you get devastating losses. you get an increase of debt to gdp. as mr. levitt pointed out, the debt level has gone up dra

again, chairman baucus, thank you. >> thank you, senator. i would like to introduce the witnesses. the first is the ceo of wal- mart, the world's largest retailer. the second is the chairman and ceo of kimberly-clark, the world's top maker of personal paper products. the next witness is the president and ceo of a semiconductor manufacturing company, and finally, the president of a leading drug store chain can -- and pharmacy. gentlemen, you know the rules. i encourage you to summarize your statements in about five or six minutes. i also encourage you to be candid. life is short. [laughter] all right. mr. duke, why do you not begin? >> chairman, ranking member, members of the committee. i appreciate the opportunity to testify today. we urgently need to modernize our tax code, and i thank you for taking on this issue. the ultimate outcome must be a strong, vibrant, jobs-creating u.s. economy. i hope all of you know your local wal-mart store back in your home state, but let me start with a few words about the company that we run out of arkansas. every week, we serve 106 million new cu

now, some of these rural airports are in the space of harry reid and max baucus.e, they do not want to have these rural airports defunded by the republican bill. where does this all stem from? the main issue is really a union provision that would in the republican bigger bill that woon allow airline or railroad workers to have a secret ballot when they were to unionize. this is a big, complicated washington slugfest about important issues, laeb relations for democrats, spending for republicans, and essentially what happened at midnight last night, the faa is in a partial shut down. today over 4,000 employees at the faa are furloughed, but the one thing we must emphasize to folks listening to this, who are kind of freaked out, oh, my god, can i still travel if it's shut down. can you still go to the airport because air traffic controllers are considered essential employees, as all safety inspectors who are in charge of megasure the airplanes run safely and take you through destinations. there is no difference if you go to the airport except for one little thing, wh

baucus: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. baucus: mr. president, i ask that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding fi

i have appreciated working with chairman baucus on this process. we did not always agreed. this is sometimes a sticky process. managing this committee is not an easy proposal. this is an important step in a long process, one which i hope will lead to a quick presidential submission on the senate floor. it has been a long time since the finance committee has approved trade legislation. it is useful to remind yourself -- ourselves of these marks. the mockup markup lies at the park to the consultation process. it is the only opportunity for members to debate and offer amendments. and developed a consensus, it will be relatively quick. in my opinion it broke down last week. this contained a controversial spending program that is only march surely relate to it. it provides only 48 hours to review this highly controversial program. he said you deadly bring these agreements up. -- he would definitely bring these trade agreement up. the tickets we time to deliver over the fate of these -- we definitely took the time to deliver over the fate of these agreements appea. this is a clea

host: there are proposed changes to this program that senator baucus and the representative, pick the finance and ways and means committee chair making, including capping the unemployment to one under the 36 weeks and reducing health-care costs the deduction to 72.5% until the end of 2013. why other changes being considered? guest: in 2009, there were some expansion of the program. one of those was to expand, as i explained, to service workers. the other was to increase the tax credit given to workers so that they can maintain their health insurance. it was a 65%. in 2009, it went up to 80%. those are the two major changes in 2009 but there were technical changes. there was concern over expanding to service workers. comprising 80% of the workers in this country. so, that could lead to a radical expansion of this program. what appears to have happened in the negotiations is the party is traded off the eligibility criteria so that they maintain covering service workers, but instead, cut back the assistance to everyone in the program. instead it, getting a maximum of 156 weeks, they coul

>> thank you senator baucus. and thank you for inviting me to the committee for insight on the exxon oil spill in the yellowstone river spill. i've not some prepared statements, and i'd like to after listening to the statements earlier, i i'd like to make a couple comments also. >> i am bill kennedy. the pipeline crosses yell towstone river located in my county. we're located 140 miles south of yellowstone park and we had a lot of inquiries of was there a spill in yellowstone park? there was a spill east where about 300 miles and the yellowstone river and another area. we're in the area. senator that ends up in louisiana. we've received a president shh emergency declaration on our county and statewide. the amount of snow pack is way above normal, and the yellowstone river has been higher since may. this gives you a background for the july 1 oil break of the exxonmobil pipeline. i've been monitoring the flooding on the yellowstone almost daily since the river hit flood stages. our disaster and emergency director w

from montana, senator baucus. from alaska, begich. from colorado, senator bennett. from new mexico, senator bingaman. from connecticut, blumenthal. california, senator boxer. from ohio, senator brown. washington state, senator cantwell. senator cardin. from delaware, senator carper. from pennsylvania, senator casey. from north dakota, senator conrad. from duane, senator coons. senator durbin. senator feinstein. from minnesota, senator franken. these are the people who said we will not allow the debate on the floor of the senate that might lead to a balanced budget amendment being passed, we're not going to allow that to come to the senate floor. let me go through the remainder of the senators. senator haggan from north carolina. senator harkin from the state of iowa. senator inway from hawaii. senator johnson from south dakota. senator klobucar from minnesota. senator landrieu from louisiana. senator lautenberg from new jersey. senator leahy from vermont. senator levin from michigan. senator lieberman from connecticut. senator manchin from west virginia. senator mcc

baucus and others for making this a joint hearing possible. this hearing is now adjourned. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] . >> my parents, we were scared to death, because the soviets were ahead of us in space now, and they had nuclear weapons. and my parent took us into our living room in minnesota and said boys, you are going to have to study math and science to beat the soviets. and i thought that was kind of a big burden to put on a 7-year-old and 11-year-old. [laughter] but we were o'bead i can't sons, so we studied math and science, and my parents were right. and we studied math and science and we beat the soviets, my brother and me, and the benefits from the space program are unreal. i was watching a debate during this last campaign, and the republican candidate for senator stayed government never created a job. and i noticed that ironically the debate was carried on satellite. we built the interstate highway system. this is -- i just, you know, so now i know we're not going to get a bi

madam president, our colleague, senator baucus, the chairman of the finance committee, said during a hearing in may on deficit reduction and social security, quoting senator baucus, addressing our deficits and debts is an economic issue, a national security issue and a moral issue, and he went on to say, quoting him again, "we have a moral obligation to leave this place better than we found it." ending his quote. but, madam president, i agree with his quote. if we're going to leave social security better than we found it, we have to begin to work on it right now. each year, social security costs are higher. this year, they are going to be 3.6% higher than last year. that's a one-year increase, 3.6% in one year. the worker to beneficiary ratio -- and we know how social security works, people paying in largely fund the money that's going out today. people paying in in 2035 will be 2.1 for every person working. and in the current system, there is no way that the pages on the floor here today are going to be able to take -- to pay half of whatever the average recipient gets, but that's w

dave camp, chairman of the house ways and means committee, and max baucus, chairman of senate finance committee working with the white house struck a deal on a new trade adjustment assistance program that is much more fiscally restrained. um, this is -- we believe it can be part of a bargain moving forward here. basically, the perspective of the business community is we need to get going now, or we're going to be losing out of these foreign markets, and we believe that some kind of a deal to find a way out of this maze can be struck in the weeks ahead. >> you want to share with the audience the voteout comment, the two different committees on the party line basis? >> it was -- with regard to korea in both of those committees, um, in the senate finance committee, um, every democrat voted in favor of the combined korea and trade adjustment assistance bill. in the house ways and mean committee where it was just the korea agreement without trade adjustment assistance, every republican voted in favor, and every democrat voted against. that shows that there is, indeed, some polarization ove

. >> shannon: well, montana senator max baucus tied the knot with melanie haynes by a ranch run by theily in 2009, he recommended her for montana u.s. attorney which caused a scandal due to their relationship. this is the senator's third marriage. i am guessing no honeymoon right now because of the debt ceiling issue. >>> president obama preparing for his first ever twitter town hall. that town hall will take place wednesday in the've room with the president taking questions on jobs and the economy. those questions will be selected by the twit core founder jack dorsey. president obama is no scrapeger to social networking. he used youtube and facebook to reach out to the fellow americans >>> congressman in michigan is harnessing the power of social media to explain each and every one of his votes. fox steve brown tells thus is a facebook friend whose status updates are worth reading. >> i explain every decision i make. >> you will find the 400 votes he has cast in the house since being sworn in, in january. >> when a vote comes in, i put my card in and press yes or no and i go to the ip

i do not blame my colleague max baucus, although i think he should have stood up to them. but frankly it is clear they just want to ram this through. there are 97 members. i it -- the amendments. i think we could have gotten through them if we had brought them up. we were willing to cooperate and do everything we could. we are against the taa, but this is where we are. there are rights in the minority as well. this is the only way we can exercise our rights in this manner. we have exercised them. hopefully, the white house will wise up, sit down, and get these agreements through. you can imagine what it would mean to probably our greatest friends in this hemisphere, colombia and panama. we all want these agreements. we just do not want and trotted out for political purposes. on a call on senator kyle and senator roberts. >> thank you, senator hatch. but we support what senator hatch said. in the past, the trade law has been the trade promotion authority in the same authority as the trade adjustment assistance, the tpa and taa. republicans have generally supported free trad

on the substance of taa, there is an agreement between the finance committee chairman, max baucus, and ways and means is chairman, the republican from michigan on how it will be extended to service workers. if bolten the lapse. that seems to satisfy -- it will ultimately collapse. that seems to satisfy both camps. it is not clear yet when it is going to be resolved. host: cure some of the details for eligibility. -- here are some of the details for eligibility. another call for eric wasson. mark from new jersey, independent scholar. caller: i was on the phone this morning talking about what you are talking about here. by running for statewide office here in new jersey. i am completely against the trade deals. we take and shipping our jobs overseas. we sell the value of the american people out. it is time to put this to an end, restore tariffs as the founding fathers intended them to be. it is supposed to be about us and not the multinational corporations. host: what office are you running for in jersey? caller: for the state assembly in the 24th district. host: what do you think? it pr

reid of nevada, baucus, boxer, levin, harkin, cardin, schumer, durbin, leahy, warner, murray, coons, blumenthal, brown of ohio, conrad, begich, kerry, stabenow. mr. reid: mr. president, i have a second-degree amendment which is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, proposes an amendment numbered 590 to amendment numbered 589. mr. reid: i have a motion to refer the house message to the budget committee with instructions to report back forthwith with an amendment. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, moves to refer the house message to the senate budget committee with instructions to report back forthwith with an amendment numbered 591. mr. reid: ask for the yeas and nays on that motion. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be a sufficient second. the yeas and nays will be ordered. mr. reid: now, mr. president, i have an amendment to my that is also at the desk. -- to my instructions that is also at the desk. the presiding officer: t

it begins with senator baucus. this is an hour. >> what is this awful thing that republicans are bringing before the congress today? today? this monstrosity the democrats have called it is an attack on consumers. it's a proposal first brought to us by our democratic colleagues and that was to have a bipartisan commission to protect consumers. that is what we're being attacked for today. a five-member board. now, all of us in this body are for consumer protection. our voters, our constituents, are all consumers. and we are all for protecting them. we're also for protecting our financial institutions and our economy. and we need a balance. so how do we achieve that? well, the democrats, elizabeth warren, the originator of this -- of this consumer protection commission, back in 2007, proposed a consumer protection product safety commission. in 2008, the consumer federation of america pr posed a financial product safety commission. senator dick durbin, acting on their recommendations, introduced in 2009, a consumer pro

senator baucus noted at a recent finance committee hearing, in 1960 exports accounted for only 3.6% ofntire u.s. g.d.p. today exports account for 12.5% of our g.d.p. exports of u.s. goods and services support over 10 million american jobs. it is long past time that we get back in the game by passing the three pending trade agreements. america's manufacturers, america's farmers, america's service providers cannot afford to wait any longer. and so i call upon the administration, mr. president, to submit the trade agreements to congress before the august recess. we're not going to be able to consider these agreements until september, but sending them to congress now will send a strong signal that this administration is finally serious about getting them done. it would also be good, it would be an important show of good faith to our close allies, south korea, colombia and panama. mr. president, these job-creating, market-opening trade agreements should be at the top of the agenda when we get back in september. and again, i just want -- i want to reemphasize the importance of that in light

it begins with spencer baucus the chair: the gentleman is recognized for six minutes. mr. bachus: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, what is this awful thing that republicans are bringing tpwhever congress today? this monstrosity the democrats have called it is an attack on consumers. it's a proposal first brought to us by our democratic colleagues and that was to have a bipartisan commission to protect consumers. that is what we're being attacked for today. a five-member board. now, all of us in this body are for consumer protection. our voters, our constituents, are all consumers. and we are all for protecting them. we're also for protecting our financial institutions and our economy. and we need a balance. so how do we achieve that? well, the democrats, elizabeth warren, the originator of this -- of this consumer protection commission, back in 2007, proposed a consumer protection product safety commission. in 2008, the consumer federation of america pr posed a financial product safety commission. senator dick durbin, acting on their recommendations, introduced in 20

once again i want to point out that i worked with chairman baucus on the reporting a finance committee title to the bill that passed the senate earlier this year. the current lapse in f.a.a. taxes and expenditure authority from the airport and airway trust fund is a detrimental situation brought on by the senate majority's refusal to discontinuing granting excessive favors for big labor and their refusal to cut any wasteful spending. as i've already said, i share house transportation infrastructure committee chairman's frustration that favors to to labor long term mediation. last year the board changed the rules under which employees of airlines and railroads are able to unionize. for decades the standard has been that a majority of employees would have to agree in an election to form a union. however, the new national mediation board rules changed that standard so that all it takes to unionize is a majority of employees who vote or voting. this means that the n.m.b. wants to count an employee who doesn't vote as voting for big labor. somehow organized labor is able to claim that it is

i worked with finance committee chairman baucus to report a tax title from the finance committee to the bill that passed the senate earlier this year. however, since then, progress on a long-term reauthorization has been slow. i share house transportation and infrastructure committee chairman mica's frustration that favors to organized labor have overshadowed the prospects for long-term f.a.a. reauthorization. last year, the national mediation board changed the rules under which employees of airlines and railroads are able to unionize. for decades, the standard has been that a majority of employees would have to agree in an election to form a union. however, the new national mediation board rules changed that standard so that all it takes to unionize is a majority of the employees who vote. now, this means that the m.n.b. wants to count an employee who doesn't vote as voting for big labor. somehow, organized labor is able to claim that it is democratic to appropriate someone else's vote without that person's input and participation. the f.a.a. reauthorization bill that passed the house

chairman and senator hatch on that point senator hatch made with respect to when wye have a baucus-passed tax reform bill that we have some way to try to keep in place that good work and we don't unravel it so as to create uncertainty again. i thought senator hatch's point is a very good one. >> thank you. senator menendez. >> thank you, mr. chairman. gentlemen, thank you for coming. i have read your testimony with interest. let me start with mr. duke. you have my former chief of staff working for you now and i can come to be proselytized because if he read one more e-mail that says save money, look better , wow. talk about branding, i'll tell you. it is ingrained in my brain. he does a great job for you and did a great job for me. let me pick up on a point that we had a hearing yesterday and it was a deficit hearing. and my colleague, senator conrad made a -- what i thought was a very good point. he pointed out that interest rates matter. and he said a sustained one point increase in interest rates would cost the federal government more than a trillion dollars over the next decade. that'

this week, i introduced s. 1387 with senator kay bailey hutchison and senator max baucus to do just that our bill would give the f.a.a. the necessary funding and authority to keep the agency functioning into september. i think september 16. i have also indicated to the house on at least four occasions that i'm willing to drop all of the remaining controversial items that are not included in both bills in order to get us close to a deal. that offer, seemingly reasonable, has been consistently rejected by the house. despite the house's lack of appointing conferees on the f.a.a. bill, i do remain committed to completing this process in a proper and responsible way. again, after spending four years trying to complete this bill, nobody wants a resolution more than i do. it's not the way to run a train, much less an airline. i believe that we can finish a comprehensive f.a.a. reauthorization by august if the house will come back to the negotiating table in good faith. i'm willing to sit down at the table any time to move the larger f.a.a. package forward or to develop an f.a.a. extension that

chairman baucus,ed and the chairman of the finance committee and ways and means committee will get together so we know what needs to be done. now it's a matter of having the political will to go forward. i simply want to say to the senate, i think i can say senator coats and i, despite the idea that this is too hard to do, can't be done now, let's put it off for another time. we're going to come back to this floor and say again and again it's been done. we need to do it now when there are so few other tools in the economic tool shed. and it would be wrong to walk away after this brief flurry of interest in something that is so fundamental to the economic well-being of millions of our people. mr. president, with that, i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: