harkin: i ask that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. harkin: first of all, madam president, i ask unanimous consent that nathan brown, a detailee on my staff, be granted floor privileges for the duration of the consideration of h.r. 3204, the drug quality and security act. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. harkin: and i ask unanimous consent that tatiano lowell campbell and benjamin freedman of my staff be granted floor privileges for the duration of today's session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. harkin: madam president, i have high hopes that the senate will soon vote to enact the drug quality and security act. the so-called compounding and trace and track bill. this legislation helps ensure the safety of compounded drug products, and it also secures the pharmaceutical supply chain. i'm pleased to report that it's a product of excellent bipartisan collaboration on the health, education, labor and pensions committee where i work very closely with our ranking membe

senator harkin, thank you to you. senator durbin invited the speaker to go to his home state to listen to what people are saying about what happens to them when they are discriminated against. i would welcome the speaker after he does that to come to the state of washington, where we have one of the strongest laws on the books to protect the members of the lgbt community from being discriminated against. i would advise him that he could work for some -- he could look at some great companies in my state who are thriving because they respect lgbt members and bring them to their companies and employ them. companies like starbucks and amazon and microsoft and nordstrom. they will tell you that this law is a good law and one that should be for the entire country. >> did we win yet? [laughter] >> all of you extol the virtues of this though -- of this bill. employers withs fewer than 50 employees. presumably, many of the states that do not already have , it is thoseready employers in particular who may be in smaller towns an

harkin: i know that senator murray is next. i want to ask that three members of my stative granted floor privileges for the duration of today's session. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from washington. mrs. murray: i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: objection.mr i come mrs. murray: i come to to the floor to talk about early education. i want to thank chairman harkin, whose leadership on this critical issue ^+s unparalleled. i'm delighted he is on the floor today as well. i also want to thank senators casey and hirono for their strong support of early childhood education. they are great partners in this work as well. and, mr. president, of the 535 members of congress, i just have to say, each one of us comes to washington, d.c., with our own unique backgrounds. we're a collection of military veterans and farmers and business owners and a lot more. well, as for me, i come to congress as a mother and a preschool teacher. when my k

harkin: i ask that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to s. 815, which the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 184, s. 815, a bill to prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. the presiding officer: the snr from iowa. march harass first, i ask unanimous consent that sergio mr. president. plaza and lauren erickson be granted floor privileges for today's session. and ca katrina. ruvment gachenski be granted floor privileges for ther duration of the week. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. harkin: today marks another step forward in the progress of the united states of america in making sure that all of our citizens are treated fairly and equitably under law, that each citizen of this country will know that he or she cannot be discriminated against because of race, r

durbin: madam president, yesterday senator harkin of ii, as -- senator harkin of iowa as chairman of the help committee joined me in reintroducing a bill. i'm pleased that support the education trust, the national association of college admissions counseling, military association of america and young invincibles. since 1992 congress has required for-profit schools to derive a portion of their revenue from non-federal sources. most people would be surprised to learn how these nonprofit schools are really totally upside down. they depend almost exclusively, almost on federal money. they are private schools, very profitable, and yet most of their money comes from the federal government. if you took this segment of our economy, for-profit schools, and made it a federal agency, it would be the ninth-largest federal agency. that's how much money we put into for-profit schools. who are these schools? young people, particularly high school age or college age, they know them by name. these are the ones that come bombarding you on the internet with solis stations to please -- with solicitation

harkin: mr. president, first, i have six 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. harkin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that zachary kechivis and nicole dubois be granted floor privileges. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. harkin: mr. president, i ask that the senator from wisconsin have two minutes also to speak in opposition. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. harkin: over the course of this debate we have documented the tremendous business community support for this bill, including over 100 major companies. a key reason for that support is that enda is closely modeled on the title 7 of the civil rights law. employers are familiar with the law. they understand how to comply with the law,

. >> somethin' tells me tom harkin was watching. he said he read it in the paper.lease. >> there was a story in the other day about a paper somebody said well gee now i have to take this policy that covers maternity care but my wife and i aren't having any more children. i don't know if they were older or something like that. why should i have to have a policy that covers maternity care? i got to thinking about that i thought well, you no what? maybe because my wife and i don't have any more children and they are grown up, maybe i shouldn't have to pay property taxes to pay for my local schools. huh? >> huh? that's exactly what george schwabb said after he heard that. george, what do you make of it? by the way he was watching you and listening to you and recounting your experience even though he didn't want to give credit to here, that's my thought, opinion. what do you think of the way is he trying to justify you paying a higher premium or because it helps a lot of other folks? >> if you are in your 60's and just had your insurance cancelled because you don't have

i'm honored to be joined by someone who knows the facts better than anyone, it's iowa senator tom harkine health committee. >> nice to be with you, karen, thank you. >> so i want to start, you had quite a moment this week where, senator, you pointed out and helped to dispel one of the biggest complaints that we hear from conservatives or from those forces opposing the affordable care act with the excuse that they don't want to have to pay for maternity care costs. can you tell us a little about that? >> well, yeah. we heard, you know, some of the republicans were complaining they got one person who said, well, i've got to pay maternity coverage, but my husband and i, we're too old, we're not having anymore children. why should i pay for maternity care? i said, you know, that's like my wife and i, our kids are grown, they no longer go to public schools in our neighborhood, so why should we have to pay our property taxes to pay for the schools? maybe the only parents with kids in school should pay those taxes for the schools. you see, that's what they're missing, that we're all in this tog

and i especially want to thank chairman harkin, ranking member alexander, senators burr, bennet, and franken, for sticking with it. a true bipartisan effort. and personally i want to thank my staffer, jennifer boyer, for her determined dedication and the many hours of work to get this job done. in september, with the leadership of mr. upton and mr. waxman, in the other body, this legislation was passed by the house by a voice vote. i'm hoping we can see a similar outcome in the senate. i urge my colleagues to support this legislation and encourage its swift passage and the signature by the president of the united states. mr. president, i yield back. mr. roberts: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. roberts: after careful observation it appears to me that a quorum is not present. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll, sir. quorum call: quorum call: quorum call: quorum call: quorum call: mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding

[inaudible question] >> we have to be careful and senator harkin can address this as well. we have to be careful because we have health insurance policies being offered on the exchanges based on actuarial tables which suggest when they will go into effect and will be part of the pool and not sort of thing. the delays that could change that radically. we don't want to do that. i still think with an abbreviated sign up period, starting november 30, there will be opportunity for people to sign up connacht. >> i did get my report. and the website gets better as everyday goes by. and this includes [inaudible] and so everyday it is getting better and the wait time is getting less. they take the website to content down to upgrade it every night. so everything is vital and will be wide open at the end of the month. but a lot of people think that it is closed. 70,000 people per hour can get on and complete your application. plus there is an 800 number and you can apply by paper. they have a temporary glitch or a temporary slowdown, but it's coming right back up again and this includ

that's why it's so important that we pass the harkin-begic harkin-begich-hirono-schatz-bron bill. mr. president, i yield the floor to the senator. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: mr. president, i ask consent that the period for morning business be until 7:00 p.m. for debate only. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. shaheen: thank you. mr. president, almost 50 years ago, congress passed the civil rights act. this landmark legislation prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion and gender in employment, housing and public accommodations. many of us in the senate remember the passage of that legislation and many of us, unfortunately, saw firsthand the painful examples of legally sanctioned discrimination that existed before the civil rights act. i grew up in a state where i went to segregated schools. i can remember the separate drinking fountains and going to the movie theater where if you were an african-american, you had to sit in the balcony. these practices were wrong and they ended

senator harkin as he often does spoke in personal terms about this legislation. let me just tell one story from tennessee so we can know what we are talking about here. diana reid 56 from tennessee. she had tried massage and acupuncture but neither eastern at pain. one of the potential causes for her pain was an injury sustained by helping her husband who has lou gehrig's disease in and out of a wheelchair. diana reed was healthy and ran every day in addition to becoming wanes arms and legs and voice according to a brother bob she decided to try a series of epidural steroid injections for her neck problems. one day before her health insurance run out after losing her job at a nonprofit this decision in her life on october 3 of last year she began to see the injections on august august 21 with a total of three scheduled, one every two weeks. she felt pain and nausea are full day after the first two injections and began having headaches. she finally agreed to go to a doctor. she was great he diagnosed with meningitis. was she remained stable for a few days and was

finally tom harkin and some of my republicans friends. i said, tom, let me show you the problems. we both got on the phone and called everyone from the president's office all the way to kathleen sebelius to the fda and they finally agreed. i know we are going to save hundreds of thousands of lives throughout america. that is a pretty proud moment when you can make a difference such as that. i was proud of that. [applause] >> actually, mine relates to something that joe has worked on two and that is what i've done to support our men and will afford -- men and women and uniform. the work i've been able to do on behalf of the military and some that's the comeback disabled, those kinds of things -- >> we worked on student loans. it was former governors have set down a worked together. we can tell you the solutions. we have made all the mistakes we can make thomas so why don't you take some of our experience. >> what you mean we made all the mistakes? >> come on. we are growing and we need to come together. i see, sometimes, politics, more than not, trumping what is good for our countr

thinking they can reach even higher right now a group of liberal lawmakers led by with senator tom harkin and california congressman george miller are gathering support for a bill to raise the minimum wage to ten dollars and ten cents an hour by two thousand and fifteen the president himself has reportedly backed this proposal and for good reason too if the minimum wage had actually kept up with inflation it would be way higher than what it is now just seven dollars and twenty five cents an hour in fact the real value of the minimum wage and wages in general has declined so much in the past half century or so that even if the harken miller bill passes the minimum wage would still be sixty seven cents shy of its nine hundred sixty eight high of ten dollars and seventy seven cents an hour also worth noting raising the minimum wage is a great economic stimulus going to a recent study by the economic policy institute increasing the national minimum wage from seven twenty five to ten ten per hour by july first two thousand and fifteen would result in a net increase in economic activity of appr

thinking they can reach even higher right now a group of liberal lawmakers led by with senator tom harkin and california congressman george miller are gathering support for a bill to raise the minimum wage to ten dollars and ten cents an hour by two thousand and fifteen the president himself has reportedly backed this proposal and for good reason too if the minimum wage had actually kept up with inflation it would be way higher than what it is now just seven dollars and twenty five cents an hour in fact the real value of the minimum wage and wages in general has declined so much in the past half century or so that even if the hard. miller bill passes the minimum wage would still be sixty seven cents shy of its nine hundred sixty eight high of ten dollars and seventy seven cents an hour also worth noting raising the minimum wage is a great economic stimulus going to a recent study by the economic policy institute increasing the national minimum wage from seven twenty five to ten ten per hour by july first two thousand and fifteen would result in a net increase in economic activity of appro

senator tom harkin of iowa supported it. he spoke eloquently from this desk yesterday before the vote, and then two minutes were allocated to those in opposition. no one stood to speak. but then 30 voted against it. so what i'd like to do is encourage my colleagues to take, in the spirit of senator kirk and senator collins, this opportunity for us to truly do something in a bipartisan way. let us move this employment nondiscrimination act forward and let's do it with dispatch. we know that it's the right thing to do. america is not a stronger nation when there is discrimination anywhere, anywhere, including the workplace. and this bill will end that form of discrimination. now there are those who say, you're just wasting your time, senator, because speaker john boehner of ohio has already announced he not only opposes this, he will not let it see the light of day in the u.s. house of representatives. mr. president, you served there for many years. i did as well. the speaker has a lot of control in the house. he can decide wh

that is not enough. >> the har harkin-miller bill. i'm joined by anthony randazzo, the director of economic research for the reason foundation, a nonpartisan public policy think tank. and soli jarimon, credit thank you both for being with us today. the october employment report came out on friday, it showed that the economy grew 204,000 jobs. unemployment ticked up a 10th of a percent though. are furloughed workers were listed as having lost their jobs. anthony, with the job market picking up, would this be a good time to seriously think about raising the minimum wage? >> i don't think it would be a good time to raise it. the fact of the matter is, the numbers that came out in the report, 932,000 people dropped out of the labor force. the number of people in the labor force today is the lowest number sings 1978. that is not good for the economy, if we raise the mix wage there is no doubt it's going to be great for workers that get minimum wage but not good for people who get hired as part time labor or don't get hired at all. >> histo

with senator harkin, mary sumpter and gray stumps. and with jennifer boyar with senator roberts for their hard work and dedication to developing this important legislation. i'd also like to thank hanna catch on my staff, who has worked tirelessly on this bill. i'd also like to thank chairman upton and ranking member waxman and their colleagues in the house for their work as well as the many stakeholders who have worked productively with us to develop and improve this proposal. in particular, i counted on input from the minnesota board of pharmacy, the minnesota pharmacists association, thrifty white pharmacy and many other experts and pharmacists in minnesota who helped us get this bill right. is our legislation perfect? no. there were a number of provisions in the bill that we passed out of the help committee that would have provided additional safety and quality assurances for patients, but in order to come to a compromise with the house of representatives, our legislation changed. although the final bill does not include everything

>> that is what senator harkin is calling for.rtion of the solvency gap in social security. social security is solvent for the next 20 years or so. after that it would be able to pay most of its benefits. that's an important distinction. people think after 20 years they won't be able to pay all of its benefits. that's wrong. it would be able to pay out 75%. you would close a big chunk of the gap. now, there are a lot of variations to this. but i think the important piece here is that -- and senator harkin and warren both said this. there are three legs to the retirement stool. pensions, savings, and social security. the most solid leg these days is the latter, social security. so strengthening it does make sense. >> okay. so it sounds like you agree with senator warren when she says there's a retirement crisis. what is the political likelihood with anything happening with this congress and white house to address it? >> well, first of all, let me say it's a crises that's slow moving. it's not going to show up tomorrow. but because

harkin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. harkin: i ask unanimous consent lauren sarkesian be granted floor privileges for the duration of today's floor session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. harkin: mr. president, i spoke at some length on this bill, the employment nondiscrimination act, the other day, but as we move to end debate on the bill itself i want to once again express the critical nature of this bill for ensuring equality in the workplace for all americans. i was just on the floor listening to senator merkley's very poignant remarks and i just want everyone to know that we would not be here at this point in time with this bill before us ready for passage tomorrow were it not for the leadership and the persistence of senator merkley from oregon. he has been a champion of this issue since he served in the oregon legislature, and when he first came here he became a champion of this bill. he truly picked up the mantle of senator ted kennedy in

i commend senator harkin, chairman of our committee, here; senator harkin; senator burr, senator bennet, many other members of the committee. we were able to come without a unanimous recommendation from our committee and it was unanimous today. so just because it was unanimous i don't want anyone to think it was easy. l it wait was hard work and just because it was unanimous, i don'idon't want anyone to thinkt wait'snot important. it's fornt dozens of families who are sick because of those injections. it is important to the families who may still become sick in our state, in other states. it is important know that, number wurntion we'll know who's on the flag pole. it is either the state agency or the f.d.a. and second, any doctor or hospital that chooses to buy its sterile-compounded drugs that are shipped interstate in large amounts without prescriptions from an f.d.a. regulated facility may do that. so, mr. president, this is a day of results in the united states senate, which i'm glad to see. i thank the president. i yield the floor. mr. mccain: mr. president? the presiding officer:

we have a total of social mobility in this country is completely collapsed and important but tom harkin is pushing to expand so just to take this it a step further so security is arguably part of the social safety net although we all pay into it our entire lives so you know you could say at a certain level it's our money coming back to us it's funds itself there is no it does it is you know there is there is you know it's not coming out of the general fund it's there's a two point eight trillion dollars surplus there but ennio it tom harkin is saying do away with the cap so the bill gates pays the exact same amount of so security is all the rest of us do and as a percentage of his income and if you do that you could change the cost of living calculation and use it based on things that seniors actually use like pharmaceuticals rather than i pads or seem to be going down in price for them and you could boost beneficiaries by seventy bucks a month right now which would stimulate our economy and would help a lot of seniors what's wrong with that. could i say something one quick point about

. >> i want to bring in senator tom harkin, democrat from iowa. good to see you, senator. good morning. >> good morning, chris. >> are you ready to make news here on this program and say, run, hillary, run? >> listen, i'm focused on a lot of legislative matters that we're dealing with here in congress in the senate. the campaign -- this is starting too soon. i mean give me a break, we've got interim elections next year. that's the time that campaigns ought to start for president, not now. >> but you are somebody who's been around the game a very long time and obviously your steak fry is a legendary event in iowa. do you think that there is kind of an era of inevitability around hillary clinton right now? >> i've been in politics long enough to see ebbs and flows. people come up and go down, they come up, they go down. listen, hillary clinton has a lot to offer still to this country. whether she decides to run for president or not, that's her decision to make. but i think it's way too early to be getting involved in the 2016 campaign. let's focus on the problems we have in

thank you, senator harkin, for your leadership. and senator tammy baldwin, who came to us with her personal story, who came to her with her experience of leadership from the house to extend the conversation here in the senate and carried on so many individual meanings. to speak to these core issues of equality and fairness and opportunity. so thank you to this bipartisan set of sponsors, and thank you to everyone who last night said yes, we should debate this issue. we should debate this issue of discrimination blocking full opportunity for millions of americans. and so shortly we'll be engaged in that debate. after the declaration of independence, we have the preamble to the constitution. this, also, is well-known to americans across the land. "we the people of the united states in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquil ifity, for most the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to our ourselves and our process territorial-typety ordain the constitution of the united states of a

so i appreciate chairman harki harkin's work on this legislation. it is a shame for iowa and the country that he's decided not to run for reelection. what a good man. but working also on this legislation is jeff merkley from oregon. he ihe has devoted huge amounts of time this legislation. i admire and respect him so much. these two fine senators, is i respect and appreciate their leadership. i hope speaker boehner will reconsider his decision not to bring this up for a vote in the house of representatives. mr. president, this legislation would pass by a nice margin in the house, if the speaker would allow a vote on it. i can't understand what's going on in the house of representatives. legislation that the american people want is held up over there. the farm bill -- the farm bill, saving this country $23 billion ... they won't bring it up. the american people want this. there are reforms in that legislation that senator stabenow and others have worked so hard on doing at putting in place for decades. it's in this bill. the house is holding this up.

i want to begin by thanking chairman harkin, ranking member alexander, senators franken and roberts, and all of their staffs for their tremendous leadership on this bill. this bill was also developed in concert with our counterparts in the house of representatives, and i extend my thanks to ranking member henry waxman and chairman fred upton and their staffs of the energy and commerce committee. what we have now is a bipartisan, bicameral bill that addresses two very serious issues: the safety of compounded drugs and the security of our entire drug supply. last fall an outbreak of fungal meningitis stunned the nation and thus far has claimed the lives of 64 people and sickened 751 in 20 states. this issue hits home for me because it started in massachusetts. at the center of this tragedy was the new england compounding center, also known as necc, and it was located in framingham, massachusetts. i met some of these victims of this terrible outbreak and heard about their struggles, like jerry cohen, a resident of pik pikesville, maryland, who went to the doctor for routine steroid inje

harkin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. harkin: mr. president, i would like to cover for a little bit here about the bill that we're actually on, the drug quality and security act. before i do that, i ask consent that at the end of my remarks that the senator from new hampshire, senator ayotte, be recognized to speak. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. harkin: one year ago we were at the beginning of our effort to understand one of the worst public health crises this country happens experienced in recent years. we were just learning about the new england compounding center's astonishing disregard for basic procedures to ensure that the products that they were manufacturing were sterile. we were shocked and saddened by the news that hundreds were sick dozens had died from infections caused by necc's blatant disregard for patient safety. we were fearful for the fate of the thousands of additional patients who had received injections of necc's products. despite the urgency of that crisis, the bill we are considering today was n

laurie harkin is takes a look at the shrinking of our eight hour workday and the demise of the american job market. new new new new i thought that stops all that i eat it. the government isn't making enough of that corporations aren't offering any good ones anymore. it sucks. you flatter me and wouldn't you need any money to survive. i am the only one feeling it contributing to society. so everyone is having on the disintegration of the job market. manganese the article called new economy is in danger to have grass. that is a service where people dress mom tot abt time that people can do them for money. i could using their name to catch up to record a short term deal at a freelance jobs. the article take issue with how we are seeing the demise of the whole time. eight hour day corporate doubt a great part time gigs with intent and servitude. ok there's no denying that he had a nice top. not being able to provide is awful and i wouldn't wish that anyone in class. in my room of the old model really isn't a bad thing in the scope of the progress of humanity. i'm even more today so pretty a

we heard from tom harkin. marilyn tavenner is sitting alone at that table. we'll go in and out of this and monitor the headlines. and where we have gone last week in terms of progress. martha: we'll be look at the questioning here and we'll be taking you back and forth to mayor continue tavenner who is on the hot seat as a white house memo surfaced that shows a healthcare advisor warned the administration three years ago that the rollout would be a mess. david cutler writes to a white house economic adviser. he wrote this -- he wrote this to the economic adviser, larry somers. i do not believe the relevant members of the administration understand the president's vision or have the capability to carry it out. here we are. we are going to be talking in a second to bob beblg, the former democratic campaign manager and cohost of the five and he joins me now. this an interesting memo from david cutler. one of the things that stands out to me is we are starting to see the scramble process and see people involved in this saying just for the record i raised a red fl

so to sigh this here, it harkins back to issue we have been dealing with in new jersey. now this at newark airport is troubling. to his point, you know, there needs to maybe be more analysis of whether or not this is going on. what steps has tsa taken to begin collecting racial information on passengers in order to be able to measure quantityively whether racial profiling has occurred. >> thank you. that's been a challenging issue for us. we collected the information does it then promote the actual or appearance of profiling? that's not necessarily passed back to us. so that is part of our challenge. is it the appearance of somebody? of course that's imperfect art of defining somebody. those are some of the challenges we work for or working through. i'm sensitive to the point you're making. >> yeah. and, you know, the point of bdo being promoted on based on number of referral. >> yes. i went a school with the population was changing and people were resist toant it. they had somebody that worked for the board of education that go to homes to make sure people actually live

but i think this harkins back to the trayvon martin case, this harkins back to the jonathan davis casek about it, but this homeowner has to show he was an honest and reasonable fear of great bodily injury and imminent death. i've got to tell you, the fact that this victim, an african-american woman, was at his door, may have somehow led to his belief that he was being threatened. it's that insidious racism, that sort of racial profiling that may be a part of the case, that was a part of a lot of the other cases like trayvon martin. i think, of course, the police are saying, you know, race wasn't a part of our decision making, but perhaps it was a part of this defendant's decision making. it's something that people don't want to talk about but that we have to talk about. you look at the facts of the case and you have someone who was secure in his home. why not call 911 and instead go to your front door armed with a deadly weapon and shoot someone in the face? what made this woman apire to be such a threat to him? and perhaps race was one of those factors. unfortunately. >> vinnie, you w

josh harkins at mother jones reported that he got involved in one election.s you see there on the label for the soap, dr. bronner took the side on 522, a washington ballot measure where products taken from genetically modified organizations should be labelled as such. they had money on their side, too, including the dr. bronner's money, which is just some of the money that flowed in washington. look at how the money breaks down in that race. these numbers are from "the seattle times." the side that wants to label genetically labelled stuff raised about $8 million, with about 70% of it raised out of state. sounds like a lot, right? look at the other side, the don't label side. the we don't want to know side, they raised $22 million, and they raised all of it from out of state. actually, i should modify that. of the $22 million they raised, they raised $550 in washington state. not $550,000, $550 out of 22 million, which means that pie is not to scale. 10,000 people from across washington state contributed to the yes, contributed to the yes on labelling side. b

have been one of the most moving hearings that i have participated in, as we had senator mccain and harkin out front with many others talking about the many strides that have taken place come and i really do think that was one of my high marks here in the senate. at the same time, people have said that ada is the implementing language, that there are no further steps that need to be taken domestically. we just had a case, the bond case, and i know there has been dispute over its implications, but it is a case that significantly points out how the supreme court or courts can in fact take into account treaties to affect domestic law. we saw where a woman in pennsylvania actually was being convicted because of a treaty that we had relative to chemical weapons. i know some on the committee have stated that the reason for that was that congress passed implementing language. that was an interesting argument. after this treaty passes, another congress can pass implementing language, and when that occurs it does expand the limits of what we now have at the federal government level relative to fede

finally tom harkin and some of my republicans friends. i said, tom, let me show you the problems.ndt on the called everyone from the president's office all the way to kathleen sebelius to the fda and they finally agreed. to savee are going hundreds of thousands of lives throughout america. that is a pretty proud moment when you can make a difference such as that. i was proud of that. [applause] >> actually, mine relates to something that joe has worked on two and that is what i've done to support our men and will afford -- men and women and uniform. the work i've been able to do on behalf of the military and some ,hat's the comeback disabled those kinds of things -- >> we worked on student loans. it was former governors have set down a worked together. we can tell you the solutions. we have made all the mistakes we can make thomas so why don't you experience. our >> what you mean we made all the mistakes? >> come on. we are growing and we need to come together. i see, sometimes, politics, more than not, trumping what is good for our country and government. when politics trumps cou

these are conservation practices that as senator harkin said most farmers are already doing. this is good bipartisan work. i expect we can resolve the differences around these farm programs. we always work these differences out in farm bills bipartisanly. what i'm most concerned about is whether the house -- that the house cuts to s.n.a.p. funding will prevent us from completing work on the farm bill that america's rural communities need. the house's indiscriminate s.n.a.p. cuts would harm literally millions of children and seniors and those with disabilities and many of those who hold low-income jobs and veterans. the house's provisions will cut s.n.a.p. payments simply because there aren't enough jobs out there. is that the kind of nation we are? are these the kinds of policies we need? is that what we stand for? our farmers feed the world. they're proud to do that. but the house is seeking to break a decade's old bond between farmers and those americans who are hungry. i look forward to working with my fellow conferees on a bill that follows the senate's title one reforms,

harkin. >> thank you, mr. chairman. it's a pleasure to be with you again. we've been through farm bills together. i might say, this is the way things ought to work. this is the way we should work. get together in conference committees and work these things out. this is my eighth farm bill that i've worked on. twice as chairman in 2002 when dick luger was the ranking member. on the house side, it was larry convest from texas and charlie stenhill. we got a farm bill in 2002. the senate was democratic. the house was republican. and we had a republican president. and we got a farm bill done. then in 2008 i was chairman an we did the 2008 farm bill. at that time, it was my good friend saxby chambliss. on the house side, of course, it was colin peterson and bob goodlatt. there was long conferences. these conferences drug on and on and on. i know you were there, mr. chairman, for those. but we got our work done. i take what colin peterson said earlier to heart. you know, these things are long. we get involved, but if we're left alone, we can do our job. we can rea

i mean, as you know, senator merkley and senator harkin and others, we have called for changes in the rules at the beginning of a congress, and then looking at them for every congress. and so i think you shouldn't be doing this on a frequent basis, but we hit the wall. i mean, this was a level of dysfunction and a level of obstruction and delay. you know, the constitution says advise and consent. it doesn't say obstruction and delay. what we're really focusing on is making sure that we come back to democracy. that's what this is all about. >> back to democracy, senator tom udall, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> joining me now, senator tim kaine, democrat from virginia. and senator, one of the reasons i wanted to speak to you this evening is that you have the good fortune of having not actually been in the united states senate during the last time this fight went down. and so, there is no tape of you, as far as i know, defending the filibuster, its nobility, its importance for the minorities to speak, so you are free of the charges of procedural hypocrisy. but those c

harkin: mr. president, i want to take just a few minutes, first, to congratulate our leader, senator reid, for leading the senate finally into the 21st century. that's the step that we've taken today. thank you very much, leader reid. for your courageous action in making sure that the senate can now work and get our work done. i've waited 18 years for this moment, from 1995 when we were in the minority, i proposed changing the rules on filibuster. i've been proposing it ever since. what's really happened is that this war has escalated, this war on both sides. i said at the time in 1995 that it was pliek an arms race, that if we didn't do something about it, the senate would reach a point where we wouldn't be able to function. well, i thought perhaps -- perhaps at that time i thought my words were a little apocalyptic. but as it turns out, they weren't at all. and so this is a bright day for the united states senate and for our country to finally be able to move ahead on nominations so that any pr

including the chairman democrat tom harkin. >> the thing that i'm most concerned about right now is security. to make sure that when someone signs up, and they give them their social security number and their tax information and all that kind of stuff that no one can get that. i want that to be as secure as -- well, as when you give your credit card number to amazon.com. >> the whole point of this is to get more healthcare for americans and the point that i'm upset about is credible estimates show about 30,000 citizens of illinois will lose their health insurance from this. exactly the opposite direction from what the president assured us. >> senator, what's your impression of what ms. tavenner has to say? >> he she hasn't answered the question why should we put into law the president's words that if you like your insurance you can keep it? the white house web site today says that but 16,000 tennessee residents who had insurance called cover 10 received notice that their insurance is cancelled because washington doesn't think it's good enough for them. >> i know have you called for secretary