we've attracted other sponsors, including senator booker and senator -- and senator isakson. and we hope that other senators will want to join in. and finally i would say before going to senator bennet that as chairman of the senate committee that handles education -- health education labor and pensions, that we're ready to move on this. and as soon as we can finish our work on fixing no child left behind, which we've been working on for six years and had 24 hearings on and almost all the members of the committee who are there now were there last year when we reported the bill, as soon as we can finish that work, we're ready to move to reauthorize the higher education act to deregulate higher education and to start with the fast act and with the legislation that senator king and senator burr have promoted. so mr. president i thank the senator from colorado for his partnership on this and is a salute him for his leadership. mr. bennet: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. bennet: thank you mr. president. i am delighted to be on the floor today w

senator isakson. >> thank you mr.chairman, and thanks to ranking member murray for having what i think is a very important hearing. talking about listening to michael bennet talk a minute ago, i happen to be one of the two remaining members of congress actually wrote no child left behind. everyone has gone on to bigger and better things. we would all tell you the follow, last night commerce committee meeting and ted kennedy and i george miller fred upton, john boehner, went into the basement on capitol and signed off con r on commerce committee report we almost said in unison if this works, because this will be impossible for schools to maintain ayp because it will get harder and harder to do. if we had done a reauthorization seven years ago a lot of problems we know there are do, wouldn't go on because we would have corrected that, that's number one. number two this is not a defensive speech i'm making here but for educational purposes. assessment was very important. disaggragation was more important and focusing on

isakson: mr. president i'm very pleased to announce today that the biennial budget proposal introduced by senators isakson and shaheen has been dropped. there are 21 cosponsors, 15 republicans, 6 democrats and 1 independent and the number is growing as we speak. senator shaheen and i started this initiative two years ago. it received 68 votes and a test vote on the budget in 2013. we believe it will receive the necessary votes to become the law of the land in the united states of america. you might ask why a biennial budget or you might ask why a $18 trillion debt? we don't have the oversight necessary of the spending we do now to keep us from wasting money. it's time we ran our country like you run your home. it's time we held our agencies accountable. it's time our appropriations weren't just idle promises but our oversight was the rule of law in the united states senate. mr. president, 20 states in the united states out of 50 have biennial budgets. countries around the world have biennial budge

senator isakson and i -- senator isakson of georgia and i communicated this concern to president zuma december in writing and this week we will write to the senate finance committee with the same message. we only have a short period of time where we can get a long-term extension of agoa done, and i will work hard to reauthorize and improve agoa so its benefits are even more widely felt on the continent of africa. but i won't allow it to include countries that violent violate fair trade rules which means an important ally and partner of the united states, south africa, won't be included if they're not willing to play by the rules. there are too many jobs at stake stake, too much work to do to allow a critical trading partner like south africa to continue its unfair treatment of american industry. mr. president, i hope and pray that we can still resolve this needless impasse. but if we don't my commitment and my path forward is clear. with that, mr. president i yield the floor. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate stands adjourned until 11:00 a.m. tomorrow. >> >>

. >> thank you, senator isakson. i share a lot of your concerns as well. look forward to working with you. if i might go back governor engler do what you had senator thune talked about. they feel about bipartisan comprehensive tax reform. it will come down to pete oddo supply in the hardware store. if they walk away thinking that all the discussion in washington d.c. about the big guys that get the break in pete and fran are going to get at the numbers, they may think they are going to have to pick up some of the cost in order to have to break for the big guys, that is a showstopper both substantively and politically and you to your credit have indicated you are interested in talking about this. i understand that there is some discussion going on in the business community in an effort to try and think this through and you have to find a paid for and the like. they given the fact that the small businesses while over 80% pay taxpayers, i understand there is discussion about the concept of perhaps coming up with a small business credit, and something that wou

isakson discusses his book with computer history museum president and ceo john hollar and then takes audience questions. >> and now for tonight's program program, the history of computing is the ongoing story of how one of the greatest periods of creativity in human history has been unleashed. it is he even sorts out the real story between the internet. walter will take us on a journey starting with the distant figures but important figures of john babich. please join me in welcoming walter isaacson. c thank you john. it's great to be back and this is an amazingly wonderful place. it's such an honor to be back here and you can even reveal my inner geek if you need to. c i think you are about to do that yourself. >> i grew up soldering ham radios. my dad was an electrical engineer and i love circuit boards so it's good to get back and write about them. >> is that how you originally got into this? did you develop the kind of fascination with that kind of technology before you knew what he wanted to do? >> one of the things you think is a biographer it's partly about pleasing dad. my da

senator isakson. >> thank you mr. chairman and thanks to ranking member murray for having what i think is a very important hearing. i listened to michael bennet talk a minute ago. i happen to be one of two remaining members of congress that wrote no child left behind. everyone else has gone on to bigger and better things. we would tell you the following. when the commerce committee finished meeting and ted kennedy and i boring miller fred upton, john miller went to the basement of capitol signed the commerce committee report. we said almost in unison because if this works we'll be in trouble in six years because it will be impossible for schools to maintain a-wy because it will be harder and harder to do. if we had done reauthorization seven years ago, a lot of problems wouldn't be going on because we would have corrected that. that is number one. number two, this is not defensive speech i'm making here but for educational purposes. assessment was very important. disagragation was more important and focusing on indivi

isakson author of "the innovators" how a group of hackers, geniuses and geeks created the digital revolution discusses his book recently at the miami book fair. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. they gave me a script and they just gave me permission to deviate from it. so that's what i'm going to do. i first met walter isaacson a month ago in washington d.c. and he gave me a copy of his new book and i was really excited because i love coming home from trips for something for my wife. i got home and i was like honey i've got a copy of walter's new book because i knew she was a big fan. she says now we have two copies. she had gone out and bought the afternoon. it's a spectacular book and if you haven't read walter isaacson it's a joy to read him. he can access with the devices that connect our lives. everyone if he was carrying around some of you that has dozens and dozens of independent technological strength to give us the connectivity that if we just assume today. walter is the best person i know at explaining the connection that lead to the things that change our lives. in his new book

isakson author of "the innovators" how a group of hackers, geniuses and geeks created the digital revolution discusses his book recently at the miami book fair. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. they gave me a script and they just gave me permission to deviate from it. so that's what i'm going to do. i first met walter isaacson a month ago in washington d.c. and he gave me a copy of his new book and i was really excited because i love coming home from trips for something for my wife. i got home and i was like honey i've got a copy of walter's new book because i knew she was a big fan. she says now we

thousands of our heroes every year to suicide, which is a tragic situation and senators mccain and isakson are leading efforts to do something about it. their legislation would provide more of the mental health and suicide prevention support our veterans deserve. the measure already passed unanimously through the house of representatives. now we hope for a bipartisan outcome here on the senate floor. the same should also be said of a second piece of legislation we'll consider. it's a debate that will challenge our colleagues on the other side with a simple proposition. do they think presidents of either party should have the power to simply ignore laws that they don't like? well our democratic colleagues -- will our democratic colleagues work with us to defend key democratic ideals like separation of powers and the rule of law? or will they stand tall for the idea that partisan exercises of raw power are good things? the house-passed bill we'll consider would do two things. fund the department of homeland security and rein in executive overreach. that's it. it's simple, and there's no reas