so the senate thanks kathie alvarez, its history-making celebrity, for her many years of service and we wish the very best to her deputy, john merlino, who steps into kathie's role as the senate's new legislative clerk. [applause] -- mr. ryan: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. ryan: here's what we are trying to accomplish with this legislation today. we are trying to provide some more certainty. small business, they have to be able to plan for the future. charities who are serving those in need, they also have to plan for the future. families need to know whether there's going to be help for them at local food banks. a lot of them look to the tax code ironically, when planning for the future. they need a tax code that's easy to understand. but that is not the tax code we have today. whether we make a tax code more complicated, well, if we do that we are making their lives more unpredictable. that's a disservice to the people we are trying to serve. what would really help would be to fix our broken tax syst

so the senate thanks kathie alvarez, its history-making celebrity, for her many years of service and we wish the very best to her deputy, john merlino, who steps into kathie's role as the senate's new legislative clerk. [applause] the presiding officer: question occurs on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators who wish to vote or to change their vote? hearing none, on the confirmation of ashton b. carter of massachusetts to be the secretary of defense the ayes are 93, the nays are 5. the motion is carried. the motion is confirmed. mr. mcconnell: mr. president i move to reconsider. the presiding officer: under the previous order the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table. the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action and the senate will resume legislative session. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: for two weeks now the democrats have continued to filibuster fund

and, lord, we thank you for the many years of faithful service by kathie alvarez.we pray in your great name. amen. the president pro tempore: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? i move to proceed to h.r. 240. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: motion to proceed to tar calendar 5 h.r. 240, an act making appropriations for the department of homeland security for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2015 is and for other purposes. mr. mcconnell: mr. president later today the senate will consider the nomination of ash carter to be the next secretary of defense. if i could place one demand on him, it would be to leave his successor with our armed forces in a better position to deal with global threats than they are today. as i've noticed -- noted in the past the overall consequence of many of the president's p

that's kathie alvarez who has done such a great job of tableting our votes and just being somebody who's always here. we've had a great relationship. i know nothing about her politics. i just know something about her personality, which is warm and she has a great sense of humor and i'm going to miss her a great deal. and i wish her the very best. she's now worked in the senate for some 30 years. and for fen that's for anyone that's had any dealings with her i'm sure their experience has been just like mierntion a mine, a very pleasant experience. i wish you the very best in the future. and if you need any recommendations, i'd be happy to give one. mr. president, during the last six years of the obama administration there's been 12 million jobs created -- 12 million. now, remember, when president obama took office, because of the bush administration and their activities, we were losing 800,000 jobs a month -- a month. so i think it speaks well of what is taking place in the last six years to be able to talk about creating 12 million private-sector jobs. now, not everyone has benefited fro