mr. hastings: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, i am pleased to yield three minutes to the chairman of the subcommittee dealing with this legislation, the gentleman from colorado, mr. lamborn. mr. lamborn: i thank the chairman. i rise in strong support of had this legislation. from day one, the obama administration has inexplicably put up road block after road block to prevent the construction of the keystone pipeline, a pipeline that would create tens of thousands of american jobs and securely bring 800,000 barrels of oil a day to american consumers. and these numbers are according to the administration's own departments of energy and state. the project also would lead to billions of dollars of investment into the u.s. economy. besides on structing the construction of the -- obstructing the construction of the pipeline, president obama had no shame in taking credit for construction of the southern section of the pipeline which did not require his approval. sadly, canadian prime minister steven harper has announced that du

mr. pittenger: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise to join a chorus of people who recognize the ineffectiveness of the affordable care act. which frankly, mr. speaker, is not even affordable. the c.b.o. also said that there's $1.8 billion now added to the cost of obamacare. we've seen the impact of physicians, physicians, particularly those with specialties, don't want to continue their practice. people in medical school, they don't want to continue. people in undergraduate, they don't want to go to med school. there's a derth, mr. speaker, of availability in the future for physicians. we've seen premiums skyrocket. in north carolina alone, the premiums have increased 284%. we've seen the impact of seven million people now who cannot take their own personal health insurance that they were promised. we've seen a risk pool that no longer has funding available. mr. speaker, the american people deserve better and we're going to work hard to make sure that we have a competitive health care program that will deliver true heal

mrs. boxer: thank you. mr. hoeven: mr. president? mr. menendez: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: i rise in support of an amendment that i understand will be offered to the wrda bill from my colleague from louisiana senator landrieu landrieu amendment number 802 which would stop flood insurance premiums from skyrocket skyrocketing until fema completes its study on the affordability of premiums of the national flood insurance program. as everyone here knows my home state of new jersey was at the epicenter of superstorm sandy which destroyed thousands of homes, left millions without power, cost billions of dollars in damage. but despite the deaf starks the but despite the devastation the people didn't give up. even as we slowly recover from the worst natural disaster in our state's history a man-made disaster is looming in the distance jeopardizing our recovery. the combination of updated flood maps and the phase-out of the premium subsidies for the national flood insurance program threatens to force victims out of the

mr. fortenberry: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i recently visited the eastern nebraska veterans home in belleview. it's a lovell place that is well designed to care for those who have served in the protection of our country. i had a nice visit talking with many of the veterans there. each with their own unique stories of service to our nation. a conversation though with one man in particular, mr. speaker, has stuck with me ever since. now in his 90's, don mcbride sat quietly as i was speaking to the entire group, but as i was leaving, i went over to him to thank him for his commendable service to our nation. but as soon as i got those words out, don stopped me. you see, don has a very interesting story. as i understand it, he did not directly enlist in the united states military. it was a unique situation. don was a pilot with pan-am airlines and during world war ii, he helped the war effort by flying planes into china. during world war ii, china was our ally. in all, don flew 524 missions. he had to put a few planes down

mr. speaker, i -- mr. collins: mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. mr. scott: mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from georgia. mr. collins: this is an important piece of legislation. i appreciate the gentleman from nevada for bringing this forward and moving it forward as we go ahead. at this point i would urge my colleagues to vote yes and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 258. hose in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative -- mr. collins: mr. speaker, i request the yeas and nays on this bill. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise will rise and remain tanding until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this uestion will be

mrs. noem: thank you, mr. chairman. -- mr. chairman, for your work on these important issues and i appreciate it. today i rise in support of h.r. 291, which is called the black hills cemetery act. this bill is of great importance to the communities in the black hills area of south dakota. the black hills of south dakota are home to a number of historic cemeteries. many of these originated in old mining towns dating back to the 1800's and they have a unique significance to the communities surrounding them. these include the englewood, the galina, the hayward, mountain meadows, nimo, rockerville and the cold springs cemeteries. these cemeteries are currently being managed by local cemetery associations and community groups in the surrounding areas but have technically been owned by the u.s. forest service since the 1900's'. this causes unnecessary liability for the u.s. forest service because the responsibility for upkeep and dealing with possible vandalism or damage to property in these cemeteries. at almost no cost to taxpayers

mr. courtney: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise in opposition to the previous question. as the gentlelady said, defeat of the previous question will allow her to propose instead an mendment to the rule to a bill that intentionally degrades the full faith and credit of our country, sets that aside, instead allows for consideration of the student loan relief act, a measure which will prevent the subsidized stafford student loan program from doubling in 53 days. let me again reiterate that point. on july 1 if congress does not act the subsidized stafford student loan program, which provides student loan assistance for over seven million young americans, will double from 3.4% to 6.8%. we have heard a lot of talk on the floor here today about debt and trying to protect the young people of this contry. the federal reserve bank of new york recently issued its latest update regarding student loan debt in this country, which is now $1.1 trillion. it's higher than credit card debt. it is higher than car loan debt. when we talk

mr. jones, for five minute. mr. jones: mr. speaker, thank you very much. i'm back on the floor again to talk about the failed policy in afghanistan. this poster beside me, mr. speaker, is a cartoon that i got from the paper, and it says that -- it says, c.i.a., a.t.m. two weeks ago "the new york times" broke an article, a story that the c.i.a. for over the last 10 years have been giving of -- giving hundreds of millions of dollars to karzai. karzai said in that article, he was assured that the c.i.a. would continue delivering bags of cash -- bags of cash going to karzai, the corrupt leader in afghanistan. mr. speaker, what really makes this cartoon sad is in the back is an american soldier, and what he is thinking as karzai's taking his cash money away from the c.i.a. at the machine, the soldier's thinking, i'd like to make a quick withdrawal from here. i hope that during the debate in july on the appropriations bill dealing with the defense department that we will start passing amendments that say we need to stop this out-of-control spending in afghanistan

mr. lee: mr. president? mr. mccain: so, again, i'm -- it's really disappointing that we are spending this time when we should be on the farm bill, the senator from california and i have important amendments to remove a lot of the corruption that's in that bill. and so i would go ahead and yield the floor. mr. lee: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. lee: as to the suggestion that this produces a budget resolution that at the end of the day does not go to the president and isn't law, technically on its own face that's accurate. what we're concerned about here are the instructions that would accompany the conference report, instructions that would allow the normal rules of the senate to be circumvented. specifically for something like this, for a piece of legislation that would itself raise the debt limit to be considered -- mr. durbin: will the senator yield for a question? mr. lee: just let me finish what i'm saying. to be voted on a 50-vote margin rather than on a 60-vote margin. and

mr. barrois -- mr. bare oast: mr. speaker, i stand on behalf of the people in my district giving rise to an unprecedented ba l of distrust -- mr. mr. barrows: this is a totally unacceptable abuse of power and calls on any future decisions made by that agency. trust in the federal government is already at an all-time low. to help regain any of that trust, it's essential that all personnel in this misuse of power be held accountable. we have serious work to do in congress but this takes time and attention away from the work we need to do. i urge my colleagues to investigate this matter swiftly and get on with the work we have been seer back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentlelady rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to honor the service and sacrifice of our nation's police officers. thi

mr. levin, is recognized. mr. levin: i now yield a minute and a half to mr. neal, another very distinguished member of our committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. mr. neal: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. neal: madam speaker, i stand in opposition to the republican proposal today to pay china first. now, i any there is another way we can describe this legislation from our republican friends and it would go like this. let's balance the budget when bill clinton's president and let's balance the budget when barack obama's president but in the intervening eight years let's go on a reckless spending spree and cut taxes by $2.3 trillion. engage two wars internationally, embrace a prescription drug bill, spend the country into oblivion and cut taxes for the wealthiest people. recall, balance the budget when bill clinton is president and balance the budget when barack obama is president. worry about the debt,

mr. clyburn of south carolina for today, mr. culberson of texas for today, mr. gibson of new york for today, and mr. lewis of georgia for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the requests are granted. he house will come to order. members will take their conversations off the floor. the chair will now entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? mr. thompson: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: so ordered. mr. thompson: during the 2013 state of the union address, president obama stated that every day we must ask ourselves, and i quote, how do we attract more jobs to our shore, and how do we make sure that the hard work leads to a decent living? end of quote. this week, the house considered and passed h.r. 3, the northern route approval act, legislation approving the keystone x.l. pipeline despite estimates showing thousands of new jobs resulting from the project, the administration has delays a-- de

mr. jones: mr. speaker, thank you very much. mr. speaker, 13 years ago on may 8 of the year 2000, 19 marines lost their lives in a tragic plane crash at mirana regional airport in arizona. it was a crash on the part of the pilot, lieutenant colonel john brough, and the co-pilot. the course decision to assign blame to the pilots has been a point of controversy ever since the year 2000. mr. speaker, two years after the accident, i received a letter from the major's wife, connie, who lives in the district i represent, the home of camp lejeune marine base and new river air station. i will quote from her letter to me that i received in 2000. i contact you in hopes that leaders of integrity, free of bias, would have both the intelligence and the courage it takes to decide the facts for themselves. if you do that you'll agree that human factors/pilot error findings should not stand as it is in military history. again, i respectfully ask for your support. please do not simply pass this matter along to general jones without offering the suppo

mr. grassley. >> aye. >> mr. hatch. >> no. >> mr. sessions. >> aye. >> mr. graham. >> no by proxy. >> mr. cornyn. >> no. >> mr. lee. >> no by proxy. >> mr. cruz. >> no by proxy. >> mr. flake. >> no. >> mr. chairman. >> no. >> mr. chairman, the votes are 15 ays, 15 -- two yeas, nays. >> senator klobuchar voted in person. >> this is my last second-degree amendment to the hatch amendment, and we don't have a number on this one. number 4. >> amendment number 4. >> this amendment would apply the same wage requirements written in the bill to all ployers, not just some employers. the bill currently states that h-1-b dependent employers would be required to offer level two ages to an h-1-b nonimmigrant. let me explain h-1-b dependent employers and level two wages. h-1-b dependent employers are defined under current law and, again, in this bill has employers that have certain number of h-1-b visaholders. for example, a company is an h-1-b dependent if that employer has more than 51 total employees and of those at least 15% are h-1-b nonimmigrants. the wage levels are

mr. whitehouse. mr. whitehouse: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president and colleagues, if i could have -- if i could have my colleagues' attention for a moment. i would appreciate it. this is a measure that this body has voted on before in a strong bipartisan vote. this was part of the restore act which was part of the highway bill, and for reasons that don't merit further discussion now, this piece of it fell out of the bargain that had been reached at the last minute in conference. so i hope this will be a bipartisan vote with support on both sides. if you have supported the restore act, you have already supported this bill. if you believe that deals should be deals in the senate, then you should support this bill. and for all of us in coastal states who are facing really unique pressures, it is very important, i think, that we as a body support this bill. it does not create a single extra bureaucracy or person. it works within the existing government, and it adds no funding. i'm going to have to work with all of you to find fu

mr. lipinski. mr. lipinski: i thank mr. reid ribble for yielding. i want to stand here on the republican side of the well to just express how important it is that we stand here together. as mr. ribble just mentioned, talking about our veterans, i was at an early memorial day commemoration yesterday and people aren't talking about democrats an republicans, we're talking about the men and women who have given their lives for our country. standing together, fighting together to maintain our freedom. today, we see too much division here in washington. my background is in engineering. engineers are problem solvers. i came to congress eight-plus years ago determined to solve problems. but as our nation's problems have gotten bigger, congress has gotten smaller. not small for the size, certainly not small for the ego, but smaller in the capacity to get things done. my constituents see this. what they want to see is washington working together, to help with job creation, work on reducing our debts, and to work on solving the many other problems that we face.

mr. president. mr. rubio: mr. president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: quorum call: mrs. boxer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. boxer: mr. president, i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations, which the clerk will report. the clerk: william h. orrick iii of the district of columbia to be judge for the northern district of california. department of health and human services, marilyn b. tavenner of virginia to be administrator of the centers for medicare and medicaid services. mrs. boxer: mr. president, what ised order in terms of the time for the votes i votes? the presiding officer: the time until 4:30 is equally divided. box obama will there be a vote at -- mrs. boxer: will there be a vote at 4:30? the presiding officer: there will. mrs. boxer: thank you very much. there will be two vo

mr. hoyer, for five minutes. mr. hoyer: thank you, mr. speaker. ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. hoyer: mr. speaker, this week the house will be voting or the 37th time to repeal the affordable care act. this vote comes at a time when we are facing serious and pressing challenges, one of the most important of which is the operations of the sequester. 37 votes to repeal the affordable care act. let us set aside for a moment the important issue of how health reform is working and making quality care accessible and affordable for more americans. i'll be speaking more about that from this floor in coming days as i know some of my colleagues will. what i find and i believe most americans find incomprehensible is that how this house could waste its time on such a blatantly partisan vote when the effects of sequestration are having a growing negative effect on our economy and on the lives of so many american families. that ought to be our focus this week and every week until we find a solution, mr

mr. president, there is no such thing, okay? mr. cruz: mr. president, i object. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. cruz: yes, i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. the clerk will read the bill for a third time. the clerk: calendar number 41, s. 743, a bill to restore states' sovereign rights to enforce state and local sales and use tax laws, and for other purposes. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the question is on passage of s. 43 as amended. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote? if not, the yeas are 69. the nays are 27. the bill as amended is agreed to. the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that we proceed to a period of morning business with senators allowed to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjour

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. reid: i ask consent it be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, senators boxer and vitter have worked hard for days to come up with a finite list of amendments to complete work on this very important bill, the water resources development act. so i'm going to in just a minute ask consent that we postpone the vote scheduled for 12:00 today until 2:30. we'll come back in session, i hope, at 2:15 today, and when we come back in session i want senator boxer, chairman boxer to trort senate -- to report to the senate if they have been able to work out an agreement between the two of them. if they do, i want her to ask the consent. when she asks that consent, if there's agreement, we will work through a number of amendments they have been able to come up with to complete work on this bill. if there is no agreement at 2:15 whe

mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. mccain: mr. resident, i ask unanimous consent that senators -- myself, senator levin, senator menendez, senator graham be allowed to speak in a colloquy for up to 40 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. mccain: and if it's greebl - agreeable to senator levin, i say to my colleague from south carolina, if we could each make a brief opening statement, or maybe a six-, seven-minute opening statement, and then have a colloquy amongst us, would that be agreeable to the senator from michigan? mr. levin: mr. president, it is agreeable to me. my statement will probably be about seven or eight minutes. i think -- i don't know how long senator menendez -- was he the fourth senator who i think is glgoing to participate -- how lg his statement will be, i think 40 minutes will be enough. mr. mccain: i thank my colleagues and i want to thank my dear friend from south carolina whose efforts on another issue -- that of benghazi -- has brought the attention of the american people to a

mr. bishop: i'm ready to conclude whenever the gentleman is. mr. sablan: mr. speaker, i have no further speakers and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from utah. mr. bishop: the state and the tribe have been asking congress to get this done for many years. it's a wildly popular proposal. it's supported by the state. it's supported by local governments. it's supported by the tribes. it's a bipartisan bill and i urge my colleagues to support it. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, h.r. 356. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from utah seek recognition? mr. bishop: mr. speaker, i ask that the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 767 as amended. the speaker p

mr. sanders, for himself and mr. leahy, proposes an amendment numbered 889. mr. sanders: mr. president, i ask that the amendment be considered as read. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sanders: mr. president, this amendment is cosponsored by my colleague from vermont, senator leahy. and what it does is it addresses a very serious problem facing the state of vermont, and i think potentially states all over the country. mr. president, as you well know, tropical storm irene impacted some 225 vermont communities with 90 bridges and 963 culverts damaged or destroyed statewide, and in a small state, that is a lot of damage. long before irene, a vermont state legislature enacted extreme standards that prevented flood hazards, damage to fish and wildlife and damage to adjacent property owners. these standards result in resilient infrastructure and are looked to as a model by other states. in other words, what the state legislature did appropriately is pass standards that would do the job, that would protect communities in times of floods and natural disasters. as we all k

mr. scott. mr. scott: does the gentleman from virginia have further speakers? mr. goodlatte: i have no further speakers. mr. scott: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. scott: i thank the gentleman from new york, mr. grimm, my colleague from virginia, mr. goodlatte, and chairman conyers for their help in bringing this bill to the floor during national police week. it's my hope we can continue to work in a bipartisan fashion on other measures that will assist law enforcement officers and find sensible solutions to the problems of crime that face our communities. i yield back me -- i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia, mr. goodlatte. mr. goodlatte: i yield myself such time as i may consume. i thank my friend and colleague from virginia, the ranking mber of the house jew dish committee, committee on homeland security, for his effort on this legislation as well as ranking member conyers, mr. grimm and chairman sensenbrenner of the subcommittee as well for

mr. cantor, the gentleman from california, mr. mccarthy. the gentleman from oregon, mr. walden, the gentleman from oklahoma mr. lankford. the gentleman from texas, mr. sessions. the gentleman from california, mr. royce. the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp. the gentleman from california, mr. mckeon. the gentlelady from florida, ms. ros-lehtinen. the gentleman from texas, mr. brady. the gentleman from ohio, mr. chabot, the gentlelady from texas ms. granger. the gentleman from washington state, mr. reichert. the gentleman from alabama, mr. rogers. the gentleman from texas, mr. poe. the gentlelady from california, ms. pelosi. the gentleman from maryland, mr. hoyer. the gentleman from south carolina, mr. clyburn. the gentleman from california, mr. becerra. the gentleman from new york, mr. crowley. the gentleman from new york, mr. israel. the gentleman from new york, mr. engel. the gentleman from virginia, mr. moran. the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pascrell. the gentleman from california, mr. honda. the gentleman from maryland, mr. van hollen. the gentlewoman from californ

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 given in responsibility -- mrs. boxer: madam president, the senate is not in order. this is an important amendment and both sides need to be heard. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. mr. coburn: what the bill does is a great first step but it protects earmarks from 1996 forward. we're not going to look at any of those and not going to allow the review commission, the deauthorizing commission to make good recommendations on everything. we're going to select out what they can look at. if we trust them to look at other things, we ought to trust them to look at all of it and we have an opportunity to turn them down if they're trying to deauthorize something congress thinks shouldn't be deauthorized. mrs. boxer: madam president, i urge a "no" vote. colleagues, please hear me out. this amendment would

mr. schumer, mr. durbin, mr. whitehouse, mr. franken, mr. coombs, mr. blumenthal, mr. grassley, mr. sessions, mr. hatch, mr. graham, mr. cornyn, r. lee, mr. cruz, mr. flake, r. chairman. >> mr. chairman, the votes are 12 ays -- sick yeas and nays. >> the amendment is not agreed to. senator blumenthal will be recorded as having voted as indicated but in person. >> i just spoke to senator schumer, and perhaps on the floor we will put something in that work will continue on the development of a biometric system. i am convinced that as the technology becomes better the cost will go down. so, i will work with him to see if we can put some addendum in there. >> senator lee, you have an amendment? >> yes, if i can call up numbers one, two, and three. i will not asked for a vote. each of these is a strike and replace amendment that shows we could do this in an incremental fashion. we could be passing immigration form by having one bill dealing with border security, another with them ploy he verification, and another to deal with these a modification and so forth. we do not have to lump all o

mr. moran: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i'm certainly recognize the providing advice and consent to president natural yeast nominees is one of the most important responsibilities as members of the united states senate and it's a responsibility i expect and believe all of us take very seriously. on a number of occasions i've had the opportunity to meet sri srinivasan who president obama has now nominated to fill a vacancy on the u.s. court of appeals for the district court, the district of columbia circuit. i have found sri to be a highly qualified candidate who has a distinguished career in the private sector and in the departments of justice, both in republican and democrat, president bush and president obama, administrations. i announce my support for his confirmation in advance of the judiciary committee, realizing the same -- realizing the same circumstance that i realize which is we have a very highly qualified individual of integrity who has been nominated by the president and deserves confirmation and, of c

mr. petri: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous -- mr. peters: mr. speaker, i ask my colleagues to bring attention to this issue by working with service providers, counselors and military groups in their communities as we continue to honor the sacrifices these service members made for us. thank you, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise? mr. thompson: request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. thompson: mr. speaker, today the house agriculture committee is marking up a five-year farm bill re-authorization. the federal agriculture reform and risk management act of 2013 or farm act. the farm act is a commonsense package of agricultural reforms that will save taxpayers nearly $40 billion while strengthening the economic health of our family farms and small businesses. the bill is a product of a multiyear policy assessmen

mr. miller. i yield back my time, mr. chairman. >> mr. kneel is recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. airman, you referenced an article from "usa today", i would like for the purpose of this hearing to insert an article from "bloomberg news" that appeared on may 14th, indicating that there were democratic leaning organizations that were the focus of the irs as well. >> without objection. >> thank you. mr. chairman, when i woke up this morning as i do just about every morning now, i went to my phone and i was curious about what the word of the day would be and the word of the day because merriam webster is located in my hometown. mr. miller, you rejected the term targeted, is that correct? >> i think it's a, a term that implies something that didn't exist here. >> okay. let me draw you into the weeds based upon what miriam webster by sheer irony this morning suggested, they used the term litmus test which they define as a single factor as an attitude, event or fact that is decisive choosing these organizations. would you say there was a litmus test? >> no, sir. the litmus test, if any w

mr. president. >> mr. president. >> mr. president. >> mr. president. >> senator from missouri. >> i reserve the right to object to the ask made by the senator from tout amend my ask. i would say within my request there's in fact the opportunity to vote. and he had the opportunity to offer an amendment on the debt ceiling in the budget. he did not. so i certainly thank my colleague from arizona, and i reserve my unanimous -- i renew my unanimous consent motion. >> mr. president, if i might. >> objection for the many modified request. >> there is. >> the objection is heard. the senator from michigan is recognized. >> thank you. for thirty seconds. it's a important debate. i'm not trying to interrupt. i have for a purposes of a colleagues who want to speak next ask once the debate is done that senator feinstein, senator mccain have fifteen minutes to discuss a farm bill amendment. thank you. >> without objection. >> mr. president? >> is there objection to the original request? >> reserving the right to object. >> the senator for utah. >> for six

mr. kaufman: mr. speaker, i de-- mr. coffman: mr. speaker, i demand the yeas and nays. eaker pro tempore: those in favor of -- the speaker: those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question are postponed. the pledge of allegiance today will be led by the gentleman , mr. bridenstine. mr. bridenstine: i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker: without objection, the gentleman from ohio, mr. joyce, is recognized for one minute. mr. joyce: thank you. i want to thank the sister for leading the house in prayer and for making this trip from ohio. it was a beautiful prayer and it's an absolute honor to have her here sister. i met sister jacqueline where she is the president and all three of my children attended high school. she is a model of grace, compa

mr. camp: i thank the chair and i yield one minute to the distinguish gentleman from florida, mr. are a del. -- mr. radel. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. radel: whether it's big government democrat programs or to be bipartisan, big partisan government programs, that brings us to this debate today on the affordable health care act which is not affordable and not about health care. it's about control. your freedom, your choices between you and your doctor no longer between you and your doctor. someone from right here in d.c. in some way, shape or form will be involved in your most personal decisions. freedom and opportunity. . your doctor in a truly free market now gone. this repeal is about your opportunity, which obamacare is already taking away from you. i want you to have a job. i want you to work more than 39 hours a week. this repeal is about your freedom. i want you to keep more money in your pocket. i want you to have low premiums. i want you to have a choice, your choice, not washington, d.c.,. this affordable health care act is not affordable and it'

mr. vitter: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. vitter: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise to present two amendments that i have filed and will be pushing hard for votes on this farm bill before the senate right now, and i hope these get a full and extensive debate and a vote. they are relevant, related to the farm bill in significant ways. the first amendment is with regard to the free government cell phone program, and, of course, that uses as criteria for eligibility the food stamp program and other benefit programs and so it's directly related to that aspect of the farm bill. mr. president, as you know, this program has been exploding almost without limit and i have some fundamental concerns about it. my fundamental concerns are pretty simple and pretty basic. they come down to two things. first of all, i think the whole program is an entitlement mentality gone wild. that -- that we have started the notion that folks are entitled to the government, a taxpayer providing them almost everything under the sun. secondly and not unrelated, mr. president, ther

mr. richie? >> thank you very much. >> to our budget analyst report, mr. rose? >> mr. chairman, members of the committee on page 12 of our report, we note that as of the writing of this report the puc could not estimate the total cost that would be encured from the subject claims, and that resulted from the february 26, 2013 water break. also, the estimated cost to repair aside from the claims to repair the broken and adjacent water mains is about $1 million and that will be paid for from existing previously appropriated funds from the board of supervisors in the 2013 budget. we consider this to be a policy decision for the board of supervisors because you would be waving your authority to approve each individual claim in excess of 25,000 in the future. >> if it becomes over four million they will be back in front of us. >> and you would have to appropriate. and the board must appropriate the board of funds if it is in excess of $4 million. >> the puc and do you have any. and updated current estimation of what these claims are going to be? i will speak for myself. i sup

mr. president. mr. sanders: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: mr. president, let me begin by congratulating senators stabenow and cochran for their hard work on this very important piece of legislation, especially for rural states like vermont. but i guess for everybody who eats, which is the majority of people in our country. mr. president, i want to spend a few minutes talking about some important amendments that i am offering. i think one of them -- the amendment i'll talk about first -- will be coming up for a vote either later tonight or tomorrow. and that deals with the right of states to label genetically engineered food. that is amendment number 965. mr. president, this year the vermont state house of representatives passed a bill by a vote of 99-42 requiring the genetically engineered food be labeled. i can tell you with absolute certainty that the people of vermont want to know what is in their food and are extremely supportive of what the state legislature has done. but this is an issue certainly not just limited to vermont. y

mr. poe, or five minutes. mr. poe: mr. speaker, peace officers are the ones who diligently protect and serve the people. they are the first to respond to the call for help in time of trouble. they go after the bad guys and provide us safe communities to live in. some take extra jobs to make ends meet. they wear the badge of commitment over their heart. sheriffs' departments in texas where a star over their heart. today in houston, texas, they have placed a black band across their badges in honor of one of the fallen among their number. sergeant duane polk, 47, of the harris county sheriff's department, was killed about 3:00 a.m. sunday morning. he was headed home in his uniform after working a contract assignment. sergeant polk grew up in houston, texas, with his three sisters and two brothers. his mother always encouraged him and the other kids to read the bible. he had worked for the sheriff for 16 years. sheriff garcia said it was tough talking to his son, but he will have many big brothers in the sheriff's department. a

mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. reed: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: mr. president, i have seven unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. i ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to and that these requests be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reed: thank you, mr. president. i would yield the floor and ask for the calling of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: . a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new mexico. mr. udall: i would ask to vitiate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. udall: thank you, mr. president. i've been watching today as various speakers have come to the floor, and i want to just joan in the outrage about what has happened over there at the i.r.s.. the idea that the i.r.s. would pick specific groups and target the

mr. shulman and mr. miller, why was this problem not corrected? mr. shulman. >> senator, could you just clarify the problem? >> yet, the line blurred. the lines of blurred between 527s and the 501(c)(4)s so there's an incentive for people to choose their tax status based on whether they want to either does but i think it's real straightforward to the line is blurred and you'll don't seem to do anything about and i want to know why not? >> look, let me state i think the law in the taxi good area is very complex. like -- >> we understand all the. why didn't he do anything on your watch to corrective? >> let me continue. the treasury regulation that the irs staff in cincinnati was wrestling with in this case our long-standing regulations. i believe they are 40 plus years, 50 old. and i did see that the inspector general in his report recommended that treasure ought to look at the regulations. i heard the chairman said he was going to look at this, and all i can say is that, you know, this is a very hard path given to the irs. to have the irs, which means

mr. reid: i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: this good man, trey travason was first nominated in june of 2012. he's a brilliant man, honors graduate of stanford law school, mr. president, justice roberts left that court in 2005. we've been trying to fill spots on that court for all these many years, six or seven years. the d.c. circuit is the court that some say is more important than the supreme court. no judges have been confirmed in the d.c. circuit since 2006. it's an 11-member court established by law. to have a seven-member court is unfair. we've had one woman, for example, caitlin halligan, highly qualified nominee, has been filibustered twice by the republicans. she was nominated to fill the seat of justice roberts. this man we're talking about today has been nominated to a seat that has been vacant for five years. the four seats were vacated in 2005, 2008 and senior status by two other judges in the last year or two. his nomination has been pending for 345 days. by fa

mr. inhofe: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: mr. president, it's very rare that we have an opportunity to do something that's really in -- to the benefit of our country in terms of our protection that doesn't cost anything, if anything, it makes money, and it's something i'm going to share. it's a bill that i introduced today. which is senate -- s. 965. let me kind of give you a little background here to let you know why we're introducing this. and why the iran sanctions implementation act of 2013 is significant. first of all, it's imperative that we know -- because most people don't understand this -- that iran's source of revenue comes from oil exports. now, this is something that one of our fine senators here has had as one of his efforts to come up with something that is going to effectively embargo the country of iran. and we've had a lot of countries that, for example, we don't import anything from them but they do have a very large supply of -- of oil. today the iran exporting is exporting about 1.25 million barrels of oil a d

mr. schulmann. >> who appointed mr. schulmann? >> mr. bush. >> let me start with two key issues. there's no question about the inappropriate criteria. i want to focus on that. let me first ask right up front if i might, mr. russell, during the course of your audit, were you allowed access to everyone you were requested to interview? mr. george? >> to my knowledge we were not denied access to anyone. >> did you interview employees in both cincinnati and in d.c.? >> correct. yes we did, sir. >> on page seven of the ig report it states and i quote all of these individuals stated that the criteria were not influenced by any have you had or organization outside the irs. is that correct? >> that is the information we received. correct, sir. >> did you find any evidence of political motivation in the selection of the tax exemption applications? >> we did not, sir. >> mr. miller, during your review of this matter, you indicated when you started it. did you find any evidence of political motivation on the part of employees involved in processing the applications at issue? >> we did not, si

mr. shulman. >> who appointed mr. shulman? >> mr. bush. >> let me start with two key issues. there's no question about the inappropriate criteria. i want to focus on that, but let me first ask right up front if i might, mr. russell, during the course of your audit were you allowed access to everyone you requested to interview? >> to my knowledge we were not denied access to anyone. >> did you interview employees in both cincinnati and in d.c.? ye we did, sir. >> on page seven, mr. george, of the ig report it states and i quote, all of these individuals stated that the criteria were not influenced by any individual or organization outside the irs, is that correct? >> that is the information we received, correct. >> did you find any evidence of political motivation in the selection of the tax exemption applications? >> we did not, sir. >> mr. miller, during your view of this matter, you indicated when you started it, did you find any evidence of political motivation on the part of employees involved in processing the applications at asia's? >> we did not, sir. >> if we do put on

mr. cicilline: thank you, mr. speaker -- mr. langevin: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise today in honor of foster care month and on behalf of the foster youth across this country. i'd like to commend representative karen bass, tom marino, jim mcdermott and michele bachmann for their leadership on the bipartisan foster youth caucus and for their work on this important issue. foster youth are some of the most at-risk children in our society. they often are the victims of abuse or neglect and too many face trials and tribulations beyond their years. so much of what we take for granted, a stable home, living with our siblings, or returning to the same school year after year are constant obstacles for these children. however, the month of may and day should serve as a reminder of the opportunities that we all have to make a positive difference in their lives. growing up my parents welcomed many foster children into our family and provided them with a loving, stable and nurturing environment. mr. speaker, these children belong to all of us. and we are all respons

mr. schumer, mr. durbin, mr. mr.ehouse, mr. franken, coombs, mr. blumenthal, mr. mr.sley, mr. sessions, ,atch, mr. graham, mr. cornyn ,r. lee, mr. cruz, mr. flake mr. chairman. >> mr. chairman, the votes are six days, 12 names. >> the amendment is not agreed to. senator blumenthal will be recorded as having voted as indicated but in person. >> i just spoke to senator schumer, and perhaps on the floor we will put something in that work will continue on the development of a biometric system. i am convinced that as the technology becomes better the cost will go down. so, i will work with him to see if we can put some addendum in there. >> senator lee, you have an amendment? >> yes, if i can call up numbers 12 and three. i will not asked for a vote. each of these is a strike and replace amendment that shows we could do this in an incremental fashion. we could be passing immigration form by having one bill dealing with border security, another with them ploy he verification, and another to deal with these a modification and so forth. we do not have to lump all of them together and h

mr. president, i yield the flo floor. a senator: mr. president? mr. sanders: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: mr. president, move to call up amendment number 965 and ask for its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: is there objection to setting aside the pending amendment? without objection. the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from vermont, mr. sanders, for himself and mr. begich, proposes an amendment numbered 965. on page 1150 -- mr. sanders: i would ask that the amendment be considered as read. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sanders: mr. president, i'll be very brief. i spoke on this issue before. here is the story. i'm using my own state of vermont as an example but it exists all over the country. this year the vermont house of representatives passed a bill by a vote of 99-42 requiring that genetically engineered food be labeled. yesterday, as i understand it, the connecticut state senate, by an overwhelming vote of 35-1, also passed legislation to require labeling of genetically engineered fo

mr. miller. mr. miller did not provide any facts, chris. listen to the testimony. >> could i say -- let me say a word. >> there were no facts, mr. levin, that mr. miller provided to this country -- >> okay. >> -- as to why and how this criteria was applied. >> mr. reichart, you did a good job here. what do you want done here? i personally want to see the bad apples thrown out of the barrel. i'm not going to be satisfied watching this. as a typical person, if you have a big problem, there has to be a big solution. two people walking isn't enough. the american people are still going to believe, if they see the same people there, they've got the same problem there. only, as charlie rangel said today, mr. rangel said there's a cancer here, you got to remove it. do you agree with mr. rangel? >> i think there has to be action. look, i was the first democrat to say that mr. miller should be relieved of his responsibilities and so miss lerner. i said that a few days ago. i believe absolutely we need to get to the bottom of it. just don't throw apples at the top if you have no evidence to support it. and in the hearing today, there was no