when it got to the house it got stuck, so senator inhofe and i and senator reid went over to meet with john boehner and chairman mica and we all agreed we'd get it done. neither side got everything they want and anyone who takes that position in my opinion is not putting country first. i don't care whether they are republican, a democrat, or anything else. we are not each of us going to get everything we want. lord knows. there's a lot i could do if i had a wand and could make it happen. but everybody has a different view of exactly how to go forward and i think we're being tested here. so i know it's tough going, and i know if we don't get a deal, it doesn't stop there, we'll keep on working. but there is no reason on this beautiful god's green earth why we can't get a deal here. if everyone is sincere in saying they want the middle class could be protected, we can get a deal here. president obama says $250,000 is the line, maybe i think $350,000 is the line, maybe someone else $500,000, maybe somebody else $150,000. we can meet somewhere and cut that reason somewhere in the middle. a

[applaus [applause] >> oklahoma senator jim inhofe has a special place in his heart to africa and madeitarian and it faith-based causes and there in ethiopia, one of the people who have a very special place in his heart was born, he was bound abandoned in an alley as a newborn and taken to an orphanage and nursed to health and the same time his daughter molly and her husband were looking and they adopted. i spoke to him about the heart warming story. >> you for a number of years worked for africa and causes there and then something very special happened. your daughter molly, who i've known for many years, in fact, new her before i knew you, she and her husband jimmy said they were thinking about adopting and might be in interested in adopting a child from africa. how did you react when you first heard that news? >> i was very excited about it, mike. you know this and our audience doesn't, i spent 15, 20 years in africa more of a mission thing up until 9-11. so we have brothers and sisters whom we're close and intimate alt way through submarine is sub sahara africa. and i became so inte

inhofe: mr. president, before he takes the ten minutes, could i ask what we decided in terms of timing and rules? mr. kerry: mr. president, i inform the senator from oklahoma that we've agreed to simply proceed, hopefully alternating from side to side. we have about 48 minutes on each side. and i've yielded ten minutes to the senator from indiana. mr. inhofe: thank you. the presiding officer: without objection, the quorum calls will be equally divided between the sides. mr. lugar: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. mr. lugar: mr. president, as we all now know, the senate will vote today on the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. the united states has long been a leader in its treatment of those with disabilities. becoming party to the convention would provide an important platform and forum for the united states to continue this leadership. we received strong expressions of support of the convention, a wide range of groups that advocate on behalf of

senator james inhofe says they're dumping taxpayyr dollars overboard. i hate that.i ever have too much spending. i certainly do you know how painful heartburn can be. for fast,ong lasting relief, use doctor recommended gaviscon®. only gaviscon® forms a protective barrier that helps block stomach acid from splashing up- relieving the pain quickly. try fast, long lasting gaviscon®. melissa: now to the latest from the middle east. huge clashes in cairo as rifle factions hurled firebombs and stones outside the palace today. this just as president morsi returned to the palace. he reportedly fled the premises yesterday after thousands protested nearby. still at issue though is morsi's new constitution. but also at issue here in the u.s., how will this impact our foreign aid to the region? with me now is fox news middle east analyst walid phares. welcome back to the program. thank you for coming on. >> thank you, melissa. melissa: yeah. let's get right to it. what is your impression going on today? with him back in the palace is that significant? >> it was absolutely signi

senator james inhofe says they're dumping taxpayyr dollars overboard. i hate that.ever have too much spending. i certainly do you stl think you're colder than me? nah. don tell me. tell tiny! [ ice crackling ] [ knuckles cracking ] and who are you supposed to be, back-up? handle it. what u looking at? ha! cat-like reflexes... whoa! [ male announcer ] the coors light silver bullet pint. it's bigger. it's resealable. it's still the coldest. don't you do it. don't you do it! [ male announcer ] frost ewed coors light. the world's most refreshing beer! [ male announcer ] frost ewed coors light. hey, yo, check out this chef, right? right? that's so gay. that' really gay. dude, look at those pants. please don't say that. what? don't say that something is gay when you mean that something is dumb or stupid. it's insulting. it's like if i thought this pepper shaker was stupid, and i said, "man, this pepper shaker is so 16-year-old boy with a cheesy mustache." just saying. melissa: now to the latest from the middle east. huge clashes in cairo as rifle factions hurled firebombs

merry christmas. [ applause ] oklahoma senator jim inhofe has a special place in his heart for africastly on humanitarian and faith-based causes it is there in the impoverished nation of ethiopia where one of the places was born and found abandoned in an alley and taken to the orphan age where she was nursed to health and senators dole and molly were looking to adopt a girl. i spoke to senator inhoffe and his daughter marie. i spoke to him about the stoir store. you worked for africa and worked for causes there . something special happened. your daughter molly who i have known many years and knew her before i knew you. she and her husband jimmy were thinking about adopt might be interested in adopting a child from africa. how did you react when you heard that news. >> i was excited about it you know that our i spent 15 or 20 years in africa and a mission thing up until 9/11 and we have brothers and sisters that we are close and intimate all the way through subsahara africa. this was my first experience and what is interesting i became so interested in the difficult time that we had in

that senator, senator inhofe has referred to global chime change change as an alarmist.y that? maybe because the top three contributers to his political campaign for the top five years are some of the top fossil fuel industries in the campaign. koch industries, murray energy. devon energy. is there any chance that reason can speak louder than money? here to help us answer that question is jefferey sachs. he's comeing to us via skype from new york. thank you for joining us in "the war room"." >> thanks for having me again. it's great to be with you. 12,347 >> jennifer: i appreciate your perspective. even on climb changes blockburg when they put it on the cover of the magazine, how can we get our leaders to take action. >> the president has to put forward a plan. it has to not only acknowledge theeverything that your wonderful show has been discussing, the water level the falling of the water level in the mississippi river. the acidification in the ocean the killing of the shell fish, it's real, okay? it's obvious to the scientists. and the dark joke of it is that it's bee

when it got to the house it got stuck, so senator inhofe and i and senator reid went over to meet withohn boehner and chairman mica and we all agreed we'd get it done. neither side got everything they want and anyone who takes that position in my opinion is not putting country first. i don't care whether they are republican, a democrat, or anything else. we are not each of us going to get everything we want. lord knows. there's a lot i could do if i had a wand and could make it happen. but everybody has a different view of exactly how to go forward and i think we're being tested here. so i know it's tough going, and i know if we don't get a deal, it doesn't stop there, we'll keep on working. but there is no reason on this beautiful god's green earth why we can't get a deal here. if everyone is sincere in saying they want the middle class could be protected, we can get a deal here. president obama says $250,000 is the line, maybe i think $350,000 is the line, maybe someone else $500,000, maybe somebody else $150,000. we can meet somewhere and cut that reason somewhere in the middle. and

inhofe: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the quorum call in progress be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. inhofe: it's my understanding at 4:00 senator durbin from illinois will be speaking and i ask unanimous consent i be allowed to speak at the conclusion of his remarks at or around 4:15. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. kyl: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona is recognized. mr. kyl: thank you, mr. president. i am deeply honored to have served for 18 years as arizona's tenth senator and for four terms in the house of representatives before that. now it's time to move on. my successor, senator-elect jeff flake, is a good and honorable public servant who will work hard on behalf of our great state of arizona. and my colleague, john mccain, will continue his long and dedicated public service as well. i appreciate the remarks he delivered here yesterday. i want to say thank you to my colleagues for your friends

inhof of the science committee issued a report back in october where he said the obama administrationthe epa but several agencies are working to find way to regulate the hydraulic fracturing at the federal level to stop the practice altogether. irony is fracking is one thing in the environmental -- excuse me, manufacturing sector that lifted up the economy. to the point it's not talked about exporting liquid natural gas. >> hypocrisy of the idealogue on the left. in the past coal was a big offender. they wanted to kill coal, which the epa has done. natural gas is wond evidenceful because it emit that was carbon. now coal is abolished we don't have new plans and now they are going after the natural gas. supposed to be benign. if you say it's a pendulum, it's not. ratchet. it expands. republicans can shrink it in the future you be in the end, it's inforrable and it grows. >> thank you. stay tuned for president's >>

inhof of the science committee issued a report back in october where he said the obama administrationepa but several agencies are working to find way to regulate the hydraulic fracturing at the federal level to stop the practice altogether. irony is fracking is one thing in the environmental -- excuse me, manufacturing sector that lifted up the economy. to the point it's not talked about exporting liquid natural gas. >> hypocrisy of the idealogue on the left. in the past coal was a big offender. they wanted to kill coal, which the epa has done. natural gas is wond evidenceful because it emit that was carbon. now coal is abolished we don't have new plans and now they are going after the natural gas. supposed to be benign. if you say it's a pendulum, it's not. ratchet. it expands. republicans can shrink it in the future you be in the end, it's inforrable and it grows. >> thank you. stay tuned for president's take on medical marijuana. now, here's one that will make you feel alive. meet the five-passenger ford c-max hybrid. c-max says ha. c-max says wheeee. which is what you get, don't y

. >> judge jeanine: senator inhofe, hopefully we will get more specific answers and we thank you so much for being with us this evening. >> thank you, judge. go get them. >> judge jeanine: they call it the accountability review board. exactly who is accountable? with me is former federal judge and united states attorney general for whom i always had a great deal of respect, michael mukasey. according to the report, no one breached their duty. no one is responsible. no identification of any one responsible for a failure. the only person identified as making any decision is the ambassador. what does that tell you? >> tells me that somebody deeply doesn't want to discuss who is responsible. what the report says in essence is mistakes were made but nobody who is still alive made them and that doesn't sound like a reasonable conclusion to me. >> judge jeanine: one of the things i was taken by was the wording "no one breached his or her duty." that sounded very legalistic to me and i wonder given the fact that the government generally has immunity because the king can do no wrong which means y

senator james inhofe. now these benghazi hearings wrapped up in the senate briefing room.bout an hour and 50 minutes. here is one of the more critical questions asked during this hearing. it happened moments ago. >> somebody in the white house, because this report went to the situation room, someone in the white house changed the talking points from general petraeus and the cia before they were given to ambassador rice. i assume they were changed and that she was not aware of it or she was aware. that is not too pertinent. someone changed it. do either one of you guys know? do you care? >> senator, here's what i would say, what happened in benghazi was clearly a terrorist attack. secretary clinton the day after the attack said quite directly what happened in benghazi was an assault by heaviry armed militants on our compound. later that same day president obama spoke to an act of terror. what was not clear at that time was exactly which terrorists were involved, what their motives were, exactly how this came about, whether this had been planned well in advance or was more a

which i'm going to submit for its immediate consideration on my behalf and senator blunt and senator inhofe, we would like to ask the russian government to please reconsider. there might be other actions they could take to make it clear that they're unhappy with some things that we've done, but, you know, damning are children should not be one of them, causing children to not have an opportunity for a family or an education or health care or enough food, and to please reconsider it -- be considerate of their needs. now, the 50 or so families that are in the very end of the process, we also want to ask the government to understand that just as birth parents anticipate the birth of their child, adoptive parents anticipate the coming, that union into their family, and most importantly the child, many of these children, mr. president, are not infants. some of them are. but some of them are older children who know that they are about to be adopted, who understand that a mother or a father have already agreed to take them to the united states. it's going to crush their hopes and their dreams and

and if we can do it on the highway bill, if -- if i could do it with jim inhofe, if debbie abenow cando it with pat roberts on the farm bill, i know -- and there are other examples i could give. i could give examples of senator feinstein with her republican counterpart. i could give many examples on the appropriations committee. we know we can do this. we just have to take a deep breath and put our ego as side for this country's sake and make those compromise that allow us to still stand tall. now, i'm only five feet so that's har but you get the point. we can do this and we should do it now. and if we don't do it now, we should vote on the president's plan because the people of this country deserve better than to be left hanging on a cliff. they don't deserve that. it's not right. thank you very much. i yield the floor. >> the measure would phase it in for three years and allow the office of management and budget to pick which programs would be cut rather than the across-the- board cuts, sequestration. diligent work. they have committed themselves to this work and i appreciate it and

the floor myself, as chairman of the environment and public works committee, doing it with senator inhofe -- you couldn't find two people, you know, more philosophically apart than we are. i've seen you, mr. president, do the same in your committee working with the other side, and you brought out of our committee an incredible bill called the violence against women act. did you it with the republicans. i watched debbie stabenow did it with pat roberts, come forward with a farm bill. i've watched senator feinstein in intelligence, and senator levin and senator mccain. it can happen. we can make it happen. we have to make it happen. but i'll close with this: i served in the house for 10 years. i served with incredible members, and one of them was tip o'neill, and he was the speaker. and tip o'neill had a certain magic about him, but the magic was that he understood how to get things done because he didn't consider himself speaker of the democrats; he considered himself speaker of the house. and he knew the magic was 218. that was the number. he'd come over to me and every member when there

that came out and as what catherine herridge was saying on our show yesterday, perhaps what senator inhofeas talkling about, how high up in the state department did this go? did it reach the 7th floor of the state department, ie, hillary clinton's office. we don't know that. >> dave: and that's why people want to hear from secretary of state hillary clinton, and hopefully recover from the concussion, from the flu to give the answers. there were four americans who died. >> clayton: great point. >> we have other news for you, get to it, if you're just waking up, after a second round of voting it looks like egypt now has a new constitution. you can see supporters of president mohammed morsi casting ballots for the islamic drafted confusion and reports that the constitution had passed and morsi says it's establishing democracy in egypt, but the some say it's nothing more than a power grab. is a serial killer on the loose in michigan this morning, concerns after police made another gruesome discovery in a drain pipe. this is the second time in four months that they have found human remains ther

nebraska, webb, mccaskill, udall of colorado, hagan, begich, manchin, shaheen, blumenthal, mccain, inhofe, sessions, chambliss, wicker, brown of massachusetts, portman, ayotte, collins, graham, cornyn and vitter. mr. whitehouse: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island is recognized. mr. whitehouse: may i ask unanimous consent that we continue in morning business until 7:00 p.m. the presiding officer: is there an objection? no objection, so ordered. mr. whitehouse: i note the absencabsence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: mr. begich: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from alaska is recognized. beck beck recognized. mr. begich: i ask we vacate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. begich: you now lay before the senate a message from the house with respect to h.r. 2838. the presiding officer: the clerk lays before the senate a message from the house. the clerk: resolve that the house agree to the amendment of the senate to the title of the bill h.r.

filibuster and continuing opposition of robert bacharach of oklahoma who has the support of senator inhofe and senator coburn, two republican senators from oklahoma? how else do they complain the refusal of nomination of richard taranto to the federal circuit when the judiciary committee had seven of the republican senators voting for him, one senator lee cast a no vote but said it is a protest on another matter, and every single democrat voted for him. now, these delays may serve some petty political purpose. the american people don't want petty political purposes. they want our nation's courts to be staffed. they want the american people who seek justice to be able to get it. so we should take action on all pending nominees. federal judicial vacancies remain above 80. by this point in president bush's first term, we had reduced judicial vacancies to 29. there were more than 80 vacancies when the year began. there were more than 80 vacancies this past march when the majority leader was forced to take the extraordinary step of filing cloture petitions on 17 district court nominations, some

mccaskill, udall of colorado, hagan, begich, manchin, slay hurricane katrina be, blumenthal, mccain, inhofe, sessions, chambliss, wicker, brown of massachusetts, portman, ayotte, collins, gramm, cornyn, and vitter. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i move to proceed to h.r. 6516, which is the russia moll did a have a trade agreement. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 552, h.r. 6156, an act to authorize the extension of nondiscriminatory treatment, normal trade relations treatment, to products of the russian federation and moldova and to require reports on the compliance of the russian federation with its obligations as a member of the world trade organization and for other purposes. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from -- mr. mccain: i thank the -- the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: i would like to thank the majority leader for his patience in allowing this legislation to be completed. i would note that there was 145 amend

inhofe if oklahoma who home schools her kids and fears that somehow this convention would hand the powerto an unelected group of international bureaucrats to direct the schooling of children and oklahoma. .. if you know what i do and you you. thank you. >> i welcome senator from iowa. >> it has been inspirational to watch them work together in a bipartisan fashion and to bring us to this point. i just hope that you we do not lose that in terms of the vote. i just came over from the dirksen building where we had a wonderful building honoring bob dole. mr. president, some time ago, i went back and i read senator dole's speech on the senate floor. april 14, 1969. mr. president, i would ask that it be included in my remarks that this speech be printed in the record. >> without objection. >> he spoke of the future. of people with disabilities in america. and what we needed to do to change our society. that was 1969, it is 21 years later when we passed the americans with disabilities act. the country has changed so much for the better because of that. they say you ought to do what america did,

give senator carper -- senator vitter, did you have to make an opening statement in lieu of senator inhofe >> all be very brief, particularly since i may have to leave when the hearing is still proceeding, but i wanted to be here for two reasons. first of all, to express our strong support for all of the victims of sandy, for colleagues directly affect the end to commit to work with them on their clear and immediate needs. secondly, to hear what some of those nature need our besides the obvious pima recovery effort, which is ongoing, particularly the flood and storm protection needs. third, and begin to explore together ways we can expedite the process after katrina because katrina was so vague we expedited a lot of core requirements, both through congressional action in executive order and it absolutely made a critical difference and there was no negative environmental impact that has been noted are documented in many ways. we need to learn that lesson for sandy. we need to learn the lesson more broadly and see how we can reasonably expedite import in action an ongoing basis and i look fo

. >> senator inhofe. >> thank you, mr. chairman. let me first say that i agree with the senators, senator rubio in this reference to you, senator lugar, except since we're both in high school at the same time, i didn't get that message. but you've done a wonderful job for a lot of years and we respect you. both senator corker and senator rubio have talked about some of the events leading up to the disaster. however, they assumed i guess that everyone already knew, and i think it's imperative for us to put these things in the record so that we know what signs were out there. i'm referring to the one sentence on the report that says the board found the intelligence provided immediate specific tactical warning of the september 11 attacks. we will run over some of these things and ask you both if you agree with that statement. it's more than a yes or no answer, you can give it for the record. in april, two former security guards for the consulate in benghazi through ied is over the consulate fans. in may, the offices of the red cross in

. >> senator inhofe. >> thank you, mr. chairman. let me first say that i agree with the senators, senator rubio in this reference to you, senator lugar, except since we're both in high school at the same time, i didn't get that message. but you've done a wonderful job for a lot of years and we respect you. both senator corker and senator rubio have talked about some of the events leading up to the disaster. however, they assumed i guess that everyone already knew, and i think it's imperative for us to put these things in the record so that we know what signs were out there. i'm referring to the one sentence on the report that says the board found the intelligence provided immediate specific tactical warning of the september 11 attacks. we will run over some of these things and ask you both if you agree with that statement. it's more than a yes or no answer, you can give it for the record. in april, two former security guards for the consulate in benghazi through ied is over the consulate fans. in may, the offices of the red cross in

inhofe: first of all, let me thank the chairman of the judiciary committee for allowing me to say something about our vote that's coming up. mr. dowdell has been nominated to a vacancy in the district court for the northern district of oklahoma which sits in my hometown of tulsa. in fact, he's a neighbor of mine in tulsa. after graduating from the tulsa's college of law mr. dowdell began as a clerk to the chief judge of the tenth circuit court of appeals. since 1983, mr. dowdell has accumulated extensive state and federal litigation experience representing a variety of clients, working at the same firm in tulsa that -- to which he is a partner. mr. dowdell is a native tulsan, has been involved in the community, in addition to being widely recognized for its work on behalf of his clients, i received a number of letters from members of the legal community throughout tulsa highlighting mr. dowdell's work ethic, his character, his abilities as an advocate for his clients. mr. dowdell already has experience as a mediator and arbitrator and has served as an adjunct settlement judge for the northe

now in all fairness, at bat -- inhofe late august we were sued by the aclu that we didn't prevent us from being a will to get access to the database what we would be able to do with it after that point and we haven't received access to the database. the discussions have just basically gone bats appointing because we are trying to do the right thing. we don't want to accuse somebody that is assisting the united states that they are not able to vote and they are not a citizen. that same database gives us time and information on individual citizenship and would allow us to make sure to have the 3,500 eda two that we would be able to find out that who is a citizen and who isn't. we know what least six of those individuals were not citizens because the department of investigation did find that out through the investigative work that takes a lot of time we would have been able to have done this differently. >> governor the charge that the florida law suppressed voting and was designed to do so it's my understanding and brown that the court rejected the arguments finding that the voting cha