he is there is the president of the senate. the vice president is the constitutional resigning officer of the senate and he is the the senate.r of he is a legislative officer paid by the senate, not by the executive branch and so he is there as a legislative officer. so when they begin the speech and the president will often say thank you, mr. speaker, thank you, mr. vice president but he should say i'm a thank you mr. speaker, thank you vice president. mr. biden is there as vice president of the senate. susan: does he have a working office in the capitol building? betty: he does. the vice president has had his own office in the capitol of the senate chamber and he has a working office in the dirksen office building as well and he has a small staff that is always for the in the capitol vice president. we can see senators making their way down the main aisle of the house of representatives. president's speech begins at half an hour. they have to -- you have to tell about the ritual of getting ifts on the aisle, because you watch

to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable tom cotton, a senator from the state of arkansas, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: orrin g. hatch, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. reid: our republican leader has said that he is going to bring and has brought to the floor a house-passed refugee bill, as he calls it, the senate immigration bill, of course. he said yesterday that the debate over the bill should be based on -- quote -- facts and common sense. mr. president, i agree with that. the facts speak for themselves. our enemy is clearly defined. isis is the defined organization. it's a terrorist organization that poses a threat to the united states, women, children and families fleeing persecution are not the enemy. it's isis. we should be focusing all of our efforts on defeating our real enemy, the brutal, evil isis. yet, this bill the republican leader is bringing to the floor scapegoats refugees who are fleeing war and torture i

it one calling the majority leader a liar. senator thune: i'm personally offended to be called the establishment. we understand that politics is politics. it's very popular right now, there's a good amount of the american electorate, which i totally get, that's frustrated with washington generally. that's what's fueled the rise of some of our presidential candidates on our side as well as on the democrat side. you look at the ascendance of bernie sanders, there are people out there who are genuinely frustrated. many of us who serve in the senate and cathy can speak for the house, you do your best to reflect the will of the people you represent. in my first run for political office, i was running as the insurgent. outsider. i was running as the person that was the anti-establishment candidate. we all -- i understand that. i get that. i think that's a part of the political process. when we have a nominee and we are trying to figure out how to win that general leaks electorate, that's -- electorate -- general election electorate, that's

the senator from colorado has been a great member of the united states senate since he came. he was a leader on energy issues when he was over on the house, and he has continued that in a very constructive, very -- just very robust way, and we can talk about these energy matters that come from producing states like ours but a recognition that senator gardner's approach is not just i come from a fossil fuel-producing state, he is also looking to make sure that we move to a cleaner energy future. he's also very conscious and considerate about what we do with conservation, and his leadership in some of these areas have been greatly appreciated. mr. gardner: i thank the senator from alaska. mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. gardner: i ask unanimous consent that the following members of senator daines' staff be granted floor braistles -- ben cough -- kaufman and amy fortner. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. gardner: the senator's bill has strong support from both sides of the aisle. this bill has strong components in it from grid tran

there are people in the senate. i know what people want to write about, what captures the headlines, but my colleagues are have profound respect because they do not want to make speeches, they want to solve urgent problems. it must be horrible to go to the united states senate and say, hey, it has been a good experience in a short two years, because we have been able to get real good things done. the states are very similar, of course. host: mississippi and jersey? cory booker: yeah, two peas in a pod. [laughter] cory booker: exactly. we came together in a way that the houston not. --house did not. we came up with a bill to fund positive train control, which will get more resources to my area, which is the busiest in rail transport, the northeast corner. it is a good compromise that move things forward. it made no headlines. host: this is a shockingly optimistic discussion. i'm concerned. [laughter] host: i have to do a little bit of 2016 presidential politics. cory booker: we will not run together. [laughter] mike l

our rules and procedures are iny limiting as you know, the senate. we are taking a look at those things and asking how we can find additional capacity to do more. it is one of the issues we are interested in. i'm open to that. i think on a -- just again, this does not reflect the views of the conference. but i think that if on a motions to proceed, there's a lot of redundancy built in. we have multiple cloture votes in most cases on bills, to get on bills in limited circumstances, particularly appropriations bills which i think are critical to our article 1 responsibility, the power of the purse, i'm open to that. again, no decisions have been made and no recommendations have been made. it's very preliminary in terms of the discussion. [inaudible] >> what are your thoughts on that? it one calling the majority leader a liar. how do you look at that? senator thune: i'm personally offended to be called the establishment. no, i just think that we understand that politics is politics. it's very popular right now. there is a good amount of the american elec

in the united states senate to really help make a difference with their energy policy. let's work to enhance this. and so with that, i encourage members to come down, file your amendments on the floor. we know there are are of bunch of amendments out there and we welcome them, but we all know that we have been delayed now by this know a couple of days and we have got work to do, so i would urge colleagues to come down to the floor and file your amendment. i would also remind members that if an amendment cost money, it is going to need to be paired with a viable option because we don't want to be in a situation where we just can't work through that. i would also remind the senate that we are considering senate bill 2012. this is not a house -- so we will need to table any tax amendments because we don't want to be in a situation where we have got a prevention of conference. you may have issues that you would like to bring up but if it costs money you got to have an offset and we simply can't do the tax amendments. i'm interested in that as well. i think se

i yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas. mr. cotton: this past saturday, january 9, was law enforcement appreciation day, a day set aside to honor the men and women who work in law enforcement, keeping our communities safe and enforcing the rule of law which underpins any free and just society. recently, we've heard a great deal about controversies and scrutiny surrounding law enforcement in many parts of our country. it's easy to be distracted by these stories, but it is important to remember that many are inaccurate and even the true ones a the -- are the exception, not the rule. the rule of officers like little rock police officer sean booker. on estate, officer bocker spent his law enforcement security day and night off working as a security guard at a local restaurant. during his shift, three armed men entered the restaurant and pointed a gun at an employee in an attempted robbery. the officer's law enforcement instincts kicked in. he called dispatch. he confronted the suspects who consequently shot him in the shoulder.

eric fan ning has been blocked by the senior senator from kansas, even though the senior senator from kansas said -- quote -- "i think fan something a pretty good -- fanning is a pretty good nominee." but in spite of that, there is no vote on his nomination. the army needs mr. fanning's leadership because there's over $200 billion he would be responsible for and more than a million service members. right now they're making do at the pentagon. unless republicans change course, these important vacancies will go unfilled. i have only mening add few of them -- mentioned a few of them. our diplomats around th diplomad will continue to suffer. my republican colleagues, i do not understand what they are dock. if the republicans have their way, the senate will stop confirming officials of every agency. the senate has confirmed an average of 351nominees in the first session of congress. last year the senate didn't get to half of what they normally do. the senate should goat work and schedule the president's nominees. here's why. valid concerns about the qualifications of the nominations should

the senate is for debate, but not as an abstraction. it is to be addressing and ultimately solving the meatiest challenges that the constitution demands that we tackle. unfortunately, a great deal of our debate is weak and embarrassing. much of it falls off the trivial side of the cliff or the shrill side of the cliff. during my time serving nebraskans in this place i hope to be aligned with those who want fighting and debating in this place, but it needs to be meaningful fighting. it needs to be honorable, honest debating. to that end, there is a terrific column this week by pete with wr in commentary magazine. partly because it is about daniel patrick moynihan, partly because it is about c.s. lewis, and partly because it is just darned good exhortation to us. waner begins while reading greg weiner's fascinating book i came across this comment, -- quote -- "daniel patrick moynihan's intellectual curiosity was such that he graph tated toward thinkers -- gravitated towards whom he disagreed so he could learn something from them. this remi

to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable dean heller, a senator from the state of nevada, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: orrin g.hatch, president pro tempore. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: the last time a broad energy bill was signed into law was back in 2007. it may as well have been a lifetime ago as far as america's energy situation is concerned. while we were once living in an era of energy scarcity, we're now living in an era of higher energy production and lower l technology costs. it's change that represents many opportunities, but also challenges. aging infrastructure, bureaucrat ic hurdles, outdated policies, and needless red tape. these are the kinds of challenges we'll need to address if we want to support america's rise as one of the world's preeminent energy super powers. if we want to support the accompanying potential for jobs, for growth and for increased energy independence. that's why the senate is considering the

to the senate here on c-span2. t of god, who brought creation out of the void, light from darkness and order from chaos. may your name be praised. inspire our senators. use their daily experiences of joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, victory and defeat for you are glory. remind them that no evil can stop the unfolding of your purposes and providence, as you work through them to bring harmony where th harmony where there is discord. may they find joy in your faithfulness. lord, lead them with your merciful hands as you continue to provide for their needs. protect them and their loved ones with the shield of your love. we pray in your merciful name. amen. the president pro tempore: pleae join me in reciting the pledge f allegiance to our flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which ie nation, under goad, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: we were very saddened to

nothing is done easily in the senate. as you all recall, i said in the beginning of my time at majority leader, that open amendment process is going to be the rule rather than the exception. we have done that. when you have the bill open for amendment, it presents the opportunity for troublesome proposals from both sides. but we saw what the senate looked like when nothing happened. 15 roll call votes in all of 2014. no budget four of the last five years. we're not going to have that kind of senate this year. we'll just take our chances. we're big men and women. we're prepared to vote on proposals offered from both sides. mr. ryan: instead of shouting questions out, let us call on you. we are doing a budget early in the house, at least a month early so we can get the appropriations process moving. halfe conventions we lose of july. we've got some compression in the schedule we're dealing with. but we're going to have an open rule system. votes will be all over the place because the rule is going to be open. that's how the

watch the senate live over on c-span two. the speaker pro tempore: this being the day fixed pursuant to the 20th amendment for the meeting of the second sofingse the 114th congress, the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. kelly: the speaker's rooms, washington, d.c., january 4, 2016. i hereby appoint the honorable jeff dunham to act as speaker pro tempore on this day, signed, paul d. ryan, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: the prayer will be offered by our guest chaplain, reverend harvey sparks, temple hills baptist church, temple hills, maryland. the chaplain: let us pray. father, your word tells us that blessed is the man who doesn't walk in the down soifl the wicked nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sitz in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in law of the lord. and on his law he meditates day and night. father, as we begin a new year that is full of promise and hope, may we be a people who seek your righteous wisdom. may we rejec

i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mrs. ernst: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to speak for ten minutes as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. ernst: mr. president, i rise today to talk about the searching for and cutting regulations that are unnecessarily burdensome -- an unnecessarily burdensome act, more affectionately known as the scrub act. this past summer, my colleague senator hatch and i introduced this legislation to help free american families and small businesses from the unnecessary burdens of our regulatory system, and i am pleased to mention that this bill passed the house last week on a bipartisan basis. for too long, our nation's innovators and employers have been trying to comply with a swath of outdated, duplicative or obsolete regulations that hamper their growth and creativity. many of these regulations also come with stacks of paperwork requirements that force our small businesses to spend time on filling in the blanks rather than filling in jobs. the scrub act w

when i got to the senate, i knew that the strategy had to be that i was going to the senate to do the only thing you can do to get things done, work with people on the other side. a senate will never move forward in a democrat way or a republican way. there must be copper mines. -- compromise. piece of legislation came with tim scott about workforce apprenticeship. other countries are leaving us behind in preparing the workforce for actual jobs that exist. then, the criminal justice work with mike lee. i am looking for an area where there is bipartisan support. host: you have been critical of anublican leadership, independent force in the senate. what is your sense of the democratic leadership? do look back at harry reid's leadership and think he did not find enough common ground with republicans? cory booker: i'm not one of those guys that wants to get stuck casting stones. i will give you an example. oh, applause for stone casting. all right. [laughter] grassleyer: chairman is the chairman of the judiciary committee. my biggest issue when i come to the senate, after i saw the destru

carolina and hold their sponsors liable if the refugees commit an act of terrorism. a senate committee approved the today. it comes not long after governor nikki haley bar refugees from isis-held territories from coming to the state. one provision of the senate bill would impose an internet registry that would include the names and addresses of refugees. the bill has wide support among republicans in the state house. two democrats on the committee voted against the bill. members of the senate also and a key committee kicked around a new possibility that could help senators meet requirements set by governor haley. jack kuenzie was at today's committee meetings. dawndy and judi---senate president pro tem hugh leatherman says passing a transporation repair package is the senate's and the state's number one priority. leatherman and other members of the senate finance committee say they're trying to build momentum---today meeting to further define what needs to be in their version of the roads bill. the senate is looking at a 12 cent a gallon gas tax increase---more than the ten c

you know, the senate is different in terms of relationships with the house. it's a kind of give us some thoughts on what he wanted to, some of the things you did to create those relationships. >> one of the things we feel strongly about is the need for inclusion. and by that, the president inviting the leaders down to the white house. we did that right after 9/11. president bush invited us down, he told us we had to be there at seven in the morning every tuesday. and that created a chemistry among us that allow the studio with a crisis and it made a huge difference in the relationships that came from it made a difference in term of what we were able to get done. joined caucuses come opportunities for republicans and democrats to stick together and listen to the leadership to gather so that these separate caucuses, doing things to socialize, bringing spouses together and opportunities to get to know one another in a more formal basis, that's the way they used to do things and it really made a difference. we don't have those things anymore. none of that happens

the clerk: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with rule 22 of the standing rule of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close calendar number 289, s. 2232, a bill to require a fall audit of the board of governors of the federal reserve system and banks by the comptroller general of the united states and for other purposes. signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is: is it the sense of the senate that debate on the motion to proceed to s. 2232, a bill to require a full audit of the board of governors of the federal reserve system and the federal reserve banks by the comptroller general of the united states and for other purposes, shall be brought to a close? the yeas and nays are mandatory under this rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote: the presiding officer: have all senators voted? any senators wish to change their vote or to vote? on this vote the yeas are 53. the nays are 44. three fifths of the senators not having voted in the affirmative, the motion is not agreed to. m

i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president, i wish to ask unanimous consent to speak about an amendment that i have filed and will soon see reach the desk 789. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. crapo:, thank you, mr. president. we don't yet have the exact number of the amendment because we are refiling a minor correction to t but i wanted to talk about a very critical amendment that i and a number of our colleagues on both sides of the aisle are bringing to the legislation today dealing with nuclear energy. nuclear energy is one of the key elements of our national energy policy and must be one which is strengthened and improved as we move forward into the new global energy climate that we are dealing with in this country. i'd like to start out, however, by going back in time. 64 years ago in a desert plain near arco, idaho, the idaho national reactor testing station used the experimental breeder reactor known as ebr-1 to light four light bulbs. this was the first time in the history of the world that a nuc

every time we have those joint meetings with her it was in the senate dining room or the old senate chamber, part of the things came out of them and we heard each other out and made decisions and move forward. >> tell him about the agreement. >> this is the one we have come to terms with the fact the house had voted and we were going to have to have the trial but we were not sure how to proceed. we haven't had one of those in a hundred years. so, finally we came up with the idea we were going to meet the whole senate chamber and have an idea of how to proceed but we didn't know what the result was going to be. that i caught on daniel to open the prayer and ask for guidance to proceed into the night asked give us a little history, not too long about our constitutional responsibility. then we opened up for discussion and people started to talk back and forth and finally, he made some comments and then phil gramm made some comments. but it sounded like as they were saying the same thing. i looked down and he nodded and i said that's it. we have to solution and so everybody was excited and we b

has he done for the u.s. senate sachs? >> i think that the rest of the banking industry overall, as you said, the consumer financial protection bureau, which is a regulator that has turned over $11 billion to over 25 million americans who have been scammed by their financial companies. and he has been called by dodd/frank to make the system safer and more transer parent. and he said that we should completely repeal that compared to obamacare finance, and it completely neglects the fact that there should be more regulation on wall street and not less, and that polling is consistent across democrats and republicans. >> but is that just association al paul ryan? there are probably a lot of senators with that same profile, and gaining that support because they already hold that position, rather than holding that position in order to gain the support. >> the campaign legal center in the voting in texas, they did not know that the candidate out there bashing goldman sachs and telling the story on the campaign trail, he didn't liq

he is there is the president of the senate. the vice president is the constitutional resigning officer of the senate and he is the the senate.r of he is a legislative officer paid by the senate, not by the executive branch and so he is there as a legislative officer. so when they begin the speech and the president will often say thank you, mr. speaker, thank you, mr. vice president but he should say i'm a thank you mr. speaker, thank you vice president. mr. biden is there as vice president of the senate. susan: does he have a working office in the capitol building? betty: he does. the vice president has had his own office in the capitol of the senate chamber and he has a working office in the dirksen office building as well and he has a small staff that is always for the in the capitol vice president. we can see senators making their way down the main aisle of the house of representatives. president's speech begins at half an hour. they have to -- you have to tell about the ritual of getting ifts on the aisle, because you watch

the senator from washington. without objection. the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. moran: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. moran: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to address the senate as if in morning hour. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. moran: mr. president, thank you. lots of things go on here in our nation's capital in washington, d.c. that don't make sense to me. one of those things occurred about ten days ago in which the

certainly not in the senate. do the subcommittee, go to the pool committee, that's where the real work and where the rough spots are sanded down so when we get to the floor you don't have 150 things to work through because it's already been done. it does go back to the relationships you were talking about. i'll tell you story. when i first came came to washington in 1968 when i was 26, i was the top aide to a democrat congressman. at that time they had four roundtrips home a year. they brought their families, they did the work up here and on thursday afternoon they'd go to the capital of the medicine room. they would drink cheap alcohol and play cigars and play gin rummy which is a card game i couldn't tell you how to play to this day. who was in that room? a liberal democrat and a conservative democrat, a republican from california, there would be eight or ten like that. they knew each other. they loved each other. did they agree philosophically for a lot of reasons? no. religion, region, all of it. but all of th

but we saw what the senate looked like when nothing happened. 15 roll call votes in all of 2014. no budget for the last five years. we're not going to have that kind of senate this year. we'll just take our chances. we're big men and women. we're prepared to vote on proposals offered from both sides. mr. ryan: instead of shouting questions out, let us call on you. we're working early in the house, with the conventions we lose half of july. we've got some compression in the schedule we're dealing with. but we're going to have an open rule system. votes will be all over the place because the rule is going to be open. that's how the system ought to be. especially in the house. so that i think is what the founders intended. like i said at the first press conference i had, we're not going to predetermine the outcome of everything. i don't know where the appropriation bills ultimately go on the floor because we're going to let members have their amendments. have the votes. that's ok. that's the system we think we ought to have. >> what kind of a contrast is going to be drawn between the

who is at the top of rankings for senator? who is the most bipartisan senator according to the new list? guest: susan collins of maine has done very well. 11he latest list of congresses, lincoln chafee of rhode island came out number one. ofan collins is number one those who are now servin servin. nunn, with whom getting for 20 years all the missiles and warheads out of the former soviet union, comes in at number five. you have a lot of people from the past who really were remarkable exemplars of bipartisanship and statesmanship. host: you came in at number 24. was that disappointing for you? [laughter] guest: it shows it's at least an objective survey. the work being done on a lot of the data was done by the school overhead georgetown. people diligently went through all these votes for 22 years in essence. while i am pleased that i was no than 24th, i would hope to be in the top sensors to so to speak. rsst: let's bring in our calle in from the independent line. i probably pronounce that wrong, richard. caller: you are close t

. >> i'm the senate historian. the state of the union message is mandated by the constitution in the words that from time to time the president of the united states should give a message to congress on the state of the union and recommendations of programs that should be followed. george washington began that practice of giving a state of the union message to congress when the first congress met. washington went in person to the congress and delivered the speech that had a series of recommendations, relatively short speech. in those days they actually used to cut the state of the union message up into paragraphs and create committees to address each one of the issues the president suggested. washington and adams followed that practice. they created this idea that from time to time was an annual message. the years it was known as the annual message. it didn't become known as the state of the union message until the 1940's. in 1948 there was a hollywood movie called state of the union. that cemented the idea that it w

tester the senator from michigan ms. stabenow and the senator from minnesota ms. klobuchar. >> members of the aspartame like sip it chamber to unlock the doors. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> mr. speaker the diplomatic corps. [applause] >> thank you. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> mr. speaker the chief justice and associate justices of the supreme court. [applause] [applause] [applause] [inaudible conversations] [applause] [applause] [applause] >> mr. speaker the president's cabinet. [applause] [applause] [applause] .. ina

the roll. quorum call: a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from georgia. mr. perdue: i ask that the quorum call be rescinded. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. perdue: mr. president, washington received a loud wake-up call this week. on monday, the congressional budget office, the c.b.o., released its by annual budget and economic outlook report and the projections for the next decade are very sobering. the nonpartisan study found that over the next decade, our country will grow to nearly $30 trillion in debt. folks, that's $30 trillion. this is unbelievable, it's unmanageable. a number this large is nearly impossible to comprehend. and maybe that's why this seems to have gone unnoticed, buried under headlines about presidential politics, super bowl, snowzilla and apples latest earnings statement. but what we can comprehend is who is responsible for paying off this debt eventually. we are. the american people. the world is not going to give us a free ride on this. we have to face up to this and do it right now. with nearly $19 trillion in debt today

the junior senator from texas would be president. yet he completely refuses to engage on climate change. he ignores texas state universities, texas scientists, texas local officials, and the whole clean energy economy in texas. he courts iva courts evangelicae associates himself with the evangelical movement, but he ignores the statement of their own national association. now, some say his candidacy is a danger to our distinct american heritage, the separation of church and state. but really, it seems to me, his problem is with the separation of oil and state. the fossil fuel industry is the last bastion of climate denial. it funds a vast apparatus of climate denial. it also funds a lot of politics. you do the math. it's time to wake up. i yield the floor. mr. cardin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: thank you, mr. president. i take this time as the senator maryland but also as the ranking democrat on the senate foreign relations committee to talk about the bill we voted on earlier today, th

the new bipartisan ranking of all u.s. senators since 1993. you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. ♪ president obama is back at the white house this morning after two weeks in hawaii with his family. he vows to get right back to work. he is meeting with loretta lynch this morning, talking about gun issues. we may see some executive action in that area soon. on capitol hill the senate remains out for another week but the u.s. house will be in session. they will get back to work tomorrow and we expect midweek they will take a vote to repeal parts of the health care law and to fund planned parenthood for one year. oregon, as we take a look at some photos this morning from the oregonian newspaper's website, all eyes are on the militia standoff in that state says one headline. another says that these armed protesters are aiming to stay on this refuge area indefinitely. others are calling it an unpredictable new chapter in the wars over federal land-use in the west. the standoff at the national wildlife refuge. (202) 748-8000 if you a

we reported this on the senate reports. that report was filed in 2013, long after the election was over, and did not give specific information about the amount of the loans. and the voters had no way of knowing when senator cruz was running for office that this money was coming from goldman sachs, and that's what we're worried b. holding the candidates accountable. >> let's take paul at his word, that these are infractions. is it hard n. your line of work, to show a quid pro quo? to say, this is what was wanted, this was what was gotten. is this really the devil that's in all of these stories? >> i think that it's difficult to show direct correlation between a specific donation and a specific political outcome. they can be up in the air. if you introduce a bill or vote for a bill, it doesn't mean that it gets implemented. but just because you can't find a direct correlation between a donation and a result, doesn't mean that they can hijack the agenda. most of 2013, they were engaged in this bizarre thing, going over and over

i've said it before but i think it's worth noting that comment of the senator from wyoming to the senior senator from wyoming who i asked when i came to the senate, i said you were in the health education labor and pensions committee with teddy kennedy the liberal lion of the senate who i served with for a while before he unfortunately passed away. but i asked senator enzi, i said how is it that you are able to work with somebody whose worldview is the opposite of yours to actually get things done, to which he replied it simple. it is the 80/20 rule. we look at the 80% of things that we can agree upon if we can and we do those and we forget that 20% we can't agree on. i fear that we have the calm our country and the kong -- congress has become a congress that looks at the 20% we can agree on and say we can't do the 80% because we disagree on the 20%. that's a mistake that it's also not the scheme of government that was created by america in our constitution. it would be a mistake to do nothing because we can't agree on the 20% when we could agree on 80%. i know there are some areas where

the senator from washington. without objection. the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. moran: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. moran: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to address the senate as if in morning hour. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. moran: mr. president, thank you. lots of things go on here in our nation's capital in washington, d.c. that don't make sense to me. one of those things occurred about ten days ago in which the obama administration announced that it would pay $1.7 billion to iran in settlement of a financial dispute dating back to the days of the shaw of iran. that $1.7 billion was a payment to iran for $400 million that was held in escrow after the shah's demise, fall from power. and the remaining $1.3 billion was to pay interest on that $400 million. and i think there's a number of reasons that this makes no sense. i would highlight perhaps the one that seems to me to be the

the i can to the senate in 1960's, the civil rights issues were still hot and topical. republican,herner it was sometimes difficult for me politically to take the lead in civil rights legislation, such as the voters rights extension act, the fair housing act, and others. i think of that is leadership. i was coming against the current, so to speak their love and i was a fragile political commodity. the first republican from tennessee. i was the senior republican on the environmental public works on air and water subcommittee. i could remember the great conflicts of the clear amendments of 1980. so many others where i took a leadership role in convincing congress that this sort of legislation was necessary. the panama canal -- i guess i still got bruises about my heavy shoulders. i was convinced that we needed a new treaty. and if we did not have a new treaty in panama, we would induct -- end up with a new cuba in panama. decision,n unpopular but it was a leadership role and try to play in convincing republicans that they should go along with that ratification. arms -- th

the bill in which the senate will vote tomorrow sponsored by the junior senator from kentucky would criticallyundermine this delicate balance. wall street reform ensured that the government accountability office could audit the fed, and in accordance with the law, the government accountability office had carried these audits out. in the year after the passage of dodd-frank, the federal reserve was audited 29 times. since that time, it has been audited 102 times. you g.a.o. have to take my word. the federal reserve audits are available to anyone. all they have to go is look at the federal reserve web site. proponents of this now that their calls for audits have been answered. this bill is not about auditing the federal reserve. it is not about transparency or keeping good books. that oversight already exists. this is about giving tea party republicans and their billionaire donors the authority to control even more of the economy of the united states. it is on tack with policies that are designed to stabilize the u.s. economy, help the middle class bounce back. political parties cannot and shoul

i'm the senate historian. the state of the union is mandated in the constitution, that the president shall from time to time give to congress information on the state of the union and recommendations he thinks should be followed. george washington began that practice of giving a state of the union message to congress when the first congress met. but washington went in person to the congress. went to the senate chamber and delivered a speech that had a series of recommendations. relatively short speech. but in those days before there were standing committees of congress, they used to cut the state of the union message up into paragraphs and create ad hoc committees to address each one of the issues the president suggested. washington and adams, john adams, his vice president who became president, followed that practice. and so they created this sort of idea that from time to time was an annual message. in fact, the years it was known -- for years it was known as the annual message. it didn't become known as the

let me give the followship on the democratic side. senator boxer and i found that we actually agreed on what ought to be done here. democratic leadership, chairman reid and the white house tried totor bee doe -- torpedo the way we were doing the highway bill. it allowed us to move the highway bill across the floor. i think the way you get the senate working again is for members outside of the leadership level to begin to have confidence in each other to work on bills together, to think they're worth passing and to help make it happen. as we end the year, i think by any objective standard, it's been a year of significant accomplishment. i want to thank the democrats who did cooperate. senator mawr of -- murray was spectacular on education senator boxer was good on highways and senator feinstein was good on highway security. obviously having the cooperation on the other side is essential. that's the way you get good results in the senate. >> thanks for watching c-span's congress year in review 2015. the house and senate are back for pro forma s

pinckney meant the world to us here at the senate. at the same time we would be remised if we didn't remember senator odell who served here for many years." senator odell died of heart 3 problems at the beginning of this year...and was also remembered in governor haley's speech. before she ended her address...she 3 once again spoke about the charleston massacre...tearing up as she asked two of the survivors to stand. while the state went difficult times in 2015...governor haley is the future. "the state of our 3 3 one of the longest standing ovations...was for senator pinkney's family.governor haley said ...she wants to honor his memory by all spending more time getting to know the people behind the policies. 3 while there will be plenty of analysis of haley's goals for this year ... we want take some time to see how close she came to meeting her goal's for last year's state of the state address.robert kittle has that story. 3 in last year's state of the state address ... governor nikki haley had two main things she wanted: to fix road

senator grassley: the procedure will be that i'll make an opening statement. senator leahy will. d then we'll go to the order that we have established as you see people sitting at the table there. i'll introduce the senators and senator leahy will introduce the governor. america is experiencing an historic epidemic of drug overdose deaths. over 47,000 died from overdoses in 2014. that's an all-time high. to put this in perspective, it's more deaths that resulted from either car crashes or gun violence. addiction to opioids, primarily prescription painkillers, and heroin, is driving this epidemic. it is destroying lives, families and the fabric of entire communities. it's something that i'm hearing about in iowa. of course, other parts of the country have been hit even harder. at today's hearing, the committee will learn more about this terrible epidemic, what's being done to address it and how congress can help. the committee looks forward to learning more about the comprehensive addiction and recovery act, which is the result of the leaderships of senators whitehouse, portman, co

it hurts our country to do what the senate has allowed to happen over the course of these last couple of years. to leave open for sometimes more than a year they can important positions. this day in this moment in american history to produce of producing a number of things and events economic prosperity. the very have our day-to-day diplomacy, every region is vacant. a veteran of foreign service his nomination approved by the senate foreign relations committee one person has been holding out his nomination.nomination. no vote on the senate floor. anyone familiar every single thing we do. if we are negotiating the country treated negotiating an economic agreement, whatever it is where somebody has a constanta constant problem in the country, legal opinion is critical to the policy judgments that we are able to make. if we're going to use force, legal judgments are absolutely essential to our rights to be able to use the force. for almost the full three years i've been secretary of state i have never had the benefit of the permanent legal advisor to the state department. we have at extr

i've been around the whole state with senator santorum and this state is really something. the people involved in all the politics and all the president's campaigns are -- it's really quite a privilege for us as a state to be the number one in the nation, and iowans take it pretty seriously, so it's exciting to be part of that. it's also exciting for all of our individual campaigns as we get done with this session, to get stwak into our districts and go door to door and talk to people and see what they think about things. i'm looking forward to the door-to-door stuff. >> ron: it was great to have senator santorum on this program not too long ago. you get that up close and personal relationship with all the candidates, both republicans and democrats. quickly? what would you like to accomplish this session? like to hang your lat on? >> sen. danielson: well, i like the cte, continuing technical education, or career technical education. >> ron: on a regional basis, correct? >> sen. danielson: yes, on a regional basis state programs. it will help faemtion and it will regionalize

in the senate. and we will be in the house. when you're in presidential territory, you have to pay a lot more attention in the house. reporter: you have mentioned to us the challenging of regulations. what does that mean in terms of working with c.m.s. on regulations and which of those regulations you will make the most headway on this year? mr. josten: we have a staff that lives over there once a week trying to sit down and negotiate outcomes. we have had success. look, this is another example like tom mentioned with dodd-frank when you have these pieces of legislation, they are go to go demand changes going forward. and even the administration has brought into a lot of the changes that taken place in terms of obamacare and what is going on in the marketplace. there is unsettling in the marketplace and insurers. worried about the risk pools and the makeup of who is signing up. and they are not signing up. and they are kind of concerned about 2017. a lot of them want to go through 2016 and see what h

the former u.s. senator officially announced his candidacy on april 30, 1991 in his hometown of lowell, massachusetts. he was the first one in his party to declare for the 1992 race and called his campaign a journey of purpose. arkansas governor bill clinton would go on to win the 1992 democratic presidential nomination with senator tsongas carrying seven states and finishing third. ♪ [applause] [cheering] [applause]

i gave my swansong speech in 1996 i left the senate. if i change the date come if i gave you a copy of it and change the date, you take your talking about today. what i was talking about at the time was we are engaged in fiscal child abuse. fiscal child abuse. we are beating our children and grandchildren with little rubber hoses so to speak that are not showing up as external routes is going to afflict them for generations to come. we have $18 trillion national debt. we are adding about, 200 million, half a billion a year. who pays that? who pays that? how much taxes can you squeeze out of the younger generation to pay that off? there's a way we can do it. it's pretty clear what we have to do in terms of slowing the growth of these mandatory programs in a way that doesn't affect those who are most in need. but everything is treated as a third rail. everything is a third rail, you can't touch. you can't touch is also security. you can't touch the military. everything is a third rail. when i was at the pentagon the health budget, the pent