landrieu: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. ms. landrieu: i ask to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. landrieu: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. landrieu: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations: calendar number 345 and 519, that the nominations be confirmed en bloc, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate, that no further motion be in order to any he of the nominations, that any related statements be printed in the record, that the president be immediately notified of the senate's action and the senate then resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. landrieu: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed t

senator mary landrieu is with us now. she led her state's recovery after katrina. senator, welcome.ave you on the program. >> thank you, carl. >> let's start a question on behalf of those who are among the most severely affected because it's always hard for fema to get universal good reviews after a disaster. we have seen signs that say fema, where are you in staten island? how much of that is deserved at this point. >> i'm in new orleans. i can tell you the people of new orleans and gulf coast and our thoughts and prayers are with the people of the east coast particularly in new york and new jersey and connecticut. fema is not a perfect agency by any means. they are going to have a lot of bumps in the roads. they are much better agency than showed up here for katrina. and the federal government both this president and the congress and i was a part of leading the team to help create a stronger, more robust fema. it's not perfect. i might want to add that it's much better. it's not the only central agency that has to show up. agriculture has to show up. energy has to show up. hud has

very focused on the presidential election, but republicans up leaders on education reform, senator landrieu had a workforce on education -- you had republican leaders, lamar alexander. there are areas on renewable energy where republicans in the past have supported the policies of the president. there has been a punishment to buy partisanship over last few years. is that punishment lifted? to republicans worry about facing a tea party apartment? -- opponent? i think that they may recognize that there is none of -- not a lot of point of coming to washington and being a republican. >> the romney proposal on the individual development accounts got a lot of praise. are there areas where you could see the two parties working together? >> surem, on job training but it is not just spend more money like the jobs bill the president obama wanted which was $8 billion when he was already spending $23 billion on a program that was scattered throughout the government. there needs to be necessary reform to improve job training so that people who are unemployed can get irrelevant training and when they gra

i spoke earlier today to senator landrieu and congressman bonner and senator nelson as well to tell them about what we have done with regard to the distribution of the moneys in connection with this settlement today. >> if we could have three answers to the same question because the attorney general and the associate wanted to -- you should focus on it is the largest criminal resolution ever and it's his tor rick that all of the money will go to the benefit of the gulf states. that is very unusual for a criminal resolution. it's a criminal fine and punitive. but nonetheless it's going to the different states, particularly to louisiana. >> i want to ask you about how do we get here but in terms of the government what are you doing internally >> so one of the important features of this resolution is about $350 million will be given to the national academy of sciences in an endowment. and the purpose of that is to improve our oil response, oil spill response, improve drilling safety measures. i think if there is anything we've learned from this great tragedy is we can improve the way we res

which is estimated will do everything they can to prevent mary landrieu from taking the gavel. but she is close. and any other on the republican side. is the republican leadership wincing at the thought about new ranking republican members doing damage to the agenda? chuck grassley, installed judiciary, and orrin hatch? >> i think both of them have established their bona fides over the past couple of years. i think it will be fine. grassley has been enough of an attack dog. same thing with hatch -- that i do not think they will have any problems continuing. do what they are doing. >> hatch, i think, suggested when he was running in his highly contested primary that he would be less of a lucy who see deal cutter than he was for much of his career. >> he also said he knew was never running again. >> that is true. after he won the state party convention, which is how they do it in utah -- the primary is sort of secondary -- he came out and told us back in august at the republican convention that he was very committed to tax reform, he wanted to work on it. max baucus, chairman of

lsu and arkansas, and look at jarvis landrieu take it to the next level. look at his glove.s. and in oakland, rookie harrison barnes is starting to come on. we had him in studio for game day and that was -- might have been the dunk of the year for harrison barnes. 10 points, 11 rebounds and the warriors win over minnesota. last year they got clay thompson and good selection in the draft and now harrison barnes so the team is looking good. >> they certainly are. road wins and the whole thing. >> and harrison barnes is giving free tickets to the warrior games for the boys and girls club. if you have seen tickets to nba games lately, that is a very big deal. >> who kaepernick or smith in. >> kaepernick. >> colin kaepernick. >> i say he did not deserve to lose his job. the good thing is -- >> he hasn't lost his job. he's still the starting quarterback. >> well we'll find out on wednesday. i think that is semantics. that is harbaugh playing. >> he is good at that. >> he's the starting back-up quarterback. >> third string. >> did you get the propane line? >> we fixed the propane l

up in 2014 going to continue to focus on the issues that their constituents care about and mary landrieurried, have a couple of kids, [ children laughing ] move to the country, and live a long, happy life together where they almost never fight about money. [ dog barks ] because right after they get married, they'll find some retirement people who are paid on salary, not commission. they'll get straightforward guidance and be able to focus on other things, like each other, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. hurry in this saturday and sunday for great deals. like the lucid by lg, free. or the galaxy nexus by samsung, free. this weekend, get the best deals on the best devices on the best network. exclusively at verizon. thrget 3 yearsgiving weekend, interest-free financing and save up to $600 on beautyrest and posturepedic. even get 3 years interest-free financing on serta icomfort and tempur-pedic. mattress price wars ends sunday at sleep train. 31-year-old woman who suffered a miscarriage and then was denied an abortion and died. cnn's nic robertson sp

mary landrieu.a complete nightmare for the democrats because she is not, obviously -- i mean, coming from an oil-producing state, she's really not in line with most of the party on those issues. and i had a conversation with a democratic aide not that long ago where i basically said so you guys are going to do everything you can to make sure that doesn't happen, right? even if patty murray decides not to take budget, you're going to make ron wyden stay there, right? and the answer was, we don't think we're going to get to that point which said to me, yeah, they're going to do everything they can to prevent landrieu from taking that gavel. >> is the republican leadership blanching at the thought of any of the new ranking republican members doing damage to the agenda? i'm thinking, i guess, most about chuck grassley, the now newly-installed judiciary and orrin hatch at finance. >> i think, i think both of them have established their bona fides there over the past couple of years. i think that they'll

up in 2014 going to continue to focus on the issues that their constituents care about and mary landrieu good at that. mark beggich is very good at that from louisiana and alaska, and so i think if they focus on the issues that are important to their constituencies, i think they have a very good chance of winning re-election and the democrats have a good chance of keeping the senate. >> i think it's good advice for anybody. never count on your enemy dropping out of the race basically. thanks for being here. >>> "outfront" next an investigation launched into the death of a 31-year-old woman centering on the explosive issue of abortion. who have used androgel 1%, there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%. both are used to treat men with low testosterone. androgel 1.62% is from the makers of the number one prescribed testosterone replacement therapy. it raises your testosterone levels, and... is concentrated, so you could use less gel. and with androgel 1.62%, you can save on your monthly prescription. [ male announcer ] dosing and application sites between these products differ. women an

up in 2014 going to continue to focus on the issues that their constituents care about and mary landrieuout that. and mark baguette is very good at that. from louisiana and alaska. if they focus on the issues important to their constituencies without regard to where the democrats, i think they have a very good chance of winning re-election, and the democrats have a good chance of keeping the senate. >> i think it's good advice for anybody. never count on your enemy dropping out of the race. >>> "outfront" next. the investigation centered on the death of a 31-year-old woman. from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and game from the great northwest. he'll start investing early, he'll find some good people to help guide him, and he'll set money aside from his first day of work to his last, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. try this... bayer? this isn't just a headache. trust me, this is new bayer migraine. [ male announcer ] it's the power of aspirin plus more in a triple action formula to relieve your tough migrai

mary landrieu and mark prooier for two. he has to show leadership. >> that's going to be interesting. we'll continue right after. trivia time. we asked how many senators in the upcoming 113th congress were born outside the u.s. i said three on twitter. my apologies, it's four. texas senator elect ted cruz hails from canada. they join michael bennett and john mccain who were both born outside the united states. sduf a political trivia question? e e-mail us. we'll be right back. melons!!! oh yeah!! well that was uncalled for. folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico sure are happy. how happy, ronny? happier than gallagher at a farmers' market. get happy. get geico. chances are, you're not made of money, so don't overpay for motorcycle insurance. geico, see how much you could save. i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers ab

we've heard concerns from mary landrieu before. kay hagen about that before.ever from a conversations i've had the belief is that if there is some sort of bigger deal that is signed off by john boehner, signed off by mcconnell, it gives these folks cover while the republicans are going to make a lot of noise, democrats aren't even altogether in their own caucus, don't know what they support, the conventional wisdom in terms of the democratic aides i've spoken to, look, this comes out every time there's a tax story. those folks will fall in line because there will be a bipartisan agreement. and it won't come down to harry reid having to scrounge up 60 votes. what republicans would he be able to find for 60 vote threshold like that. only so many olympia snowes and dick lugars out there. >> one of the big points of the story is that the senate has already voted on this and they voted without a filibuster in favor of letting the bush tax cuts expire for incomes over $250,000. that was an underreported very big development in the saga, this is before the election,

i spoke earlier today to senator landrieu.to congressman bonner and senator nelson as well to tell them about what we have done with regard to the destruction of the money next with this -- in connection with this settlement today. >> if we could have three answers to the question, you should focus on it is the largest criminal resolution ever and it's historic that virtually all of the money will go to the benefit of the gulf states. that is very unusual for a criminal resolution. it's a criminal fine and it's punitive but nonetheless it's going to the different states, particularly to louisiana. >> i want to ask you about how do we get here? we talked about the fines and penalties. but what are you doing internally, and also the oversight of funds that will be districted. how is that going to be monitored? >> so one of the really important features of this resolution is about $350 million will be given to the national academy of sciences in an endowment, and the purpose of that is to improve our oil response, oil spill respo

which is estimated will do everything they can to prevent mary landrieu from taking the gavel. but she is close. and any other on the republican side. is it the republican leadership lansing at the thought about new ranking republican member is doing damage to the agenda? chuck grassley, inside -- installed judiciary, and orrin hatch? >> i think both of them have established their bona fides over the past couple of years. i think it will be fine. grassley has been enough of an attack dog. same thing with hatch -- that i did not think they will have any problems continuing. do what they are doing. >> hatch, i think, suggested when he was running in his highly contested primary that he would be less of a lucy who see deal cutter than he was for much of his career. >> he also said he knew was never running again. >> that is true. after he won the state party convention, which is how they do it in utah -- the primary is sort of secondary -- he came out and told us back in august at the republican convention that he was very committed to tax reform, he wanted to work on it. max bauc

mary landrieu said she looked through this as part of a broader package. the small businesses -- if you're organized as a partnership, they are not corporations. you claim your business income on your individual tax returns. if that business income kicks you over $250,000, you almost certainly will be subject to higher taxes in january. host: paul, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i would like to know what these rates would go up to for the individual taxpayer if we do go off the fiscal cliff? guest: if we go off the cliff, the rate will go up to 39.6%. the low bracket will go away and the lowest tax bracket will be 15% if we go off the cliff. 15% to 39.6% if the goal of the cliff. -- if we go off the cliff. caller: what about the other rates? host: we have a question on twitter. guest: you don't pay taxes on losses. if you're making profits and a picture up over to roger $50,000, that could result in a tax increase -- if you make a you overd that takes you ovkics $250,000. caller: we need jobs in this country. i hear all t

democrats who are up for re-election moderate senate democrats like kay hagen in north carolina and mary landrieulouisiana will be willing to raise tax rates either. >> bill: maybe we're begging the question here. do you believe that we will end the year by going off the -- over the fiscal cliff? or do you think somehow there will be a resolution of it in this lame duck session? >> i think both, actually. i always think congress is going to mess up. i also have seen now ten times where they've come to an agreement toward the end of a couple of months. so my inclination is that the latter, they'll come to some sort of agreement. >> bill: who is dealing from the strength here? >> democrats are and rightfully so, they've won the senate. they've won seats in the house. you have to remember that. they didn't take the majority. >> bill: they picked up eight seats in the house. they picked up two more seats in the senate. they control the -- and they won the white house. >> boehner's message is -- and he's trying to define the mood before his members could define it for themselves is that listen, we kep

thursday new orleans mayor mitch bran landrieu wroest jindal and greenstein reminding them of the criticalealth needs in our state and urging them to reconsider their position. then friday, the editors of the typically conservative new orleans times picayune weighed in with a letter to readers stating very clearly governor jindal is ignoring his people's needs. i decided to get in on this one and address my letter this week to my own governor, bobby jindal. dear governor bobby jindal, it's me, melissa. mind if i call you by your given name? no, you prefer bobby? okay, bobby, you're the governor of a poor state. 21.6% of your constituents live below the official poverty line. 20% of them lack health insurance. we rank 49th in bhild well being and we boast one of the worse income inequality gasp in the nation. being governor of a state with this much poverty and inequality ought to give you a special sense of urgency but you don't seem to give a damn. what you do care about is reaching higher office and why not. your term limited in louisiana and the white house will have an opening in four

presidential election, but republicans up leaders on -- have been leaders on education reform, senator landrieu had a workforce on education -- you had republican leaders, lamar alexander. there are areas like renewable energy where republicans in the past have supported proposals that the president did, too. there has been punishment of bipartisanship the past two years, and is that punishment lifting? do the republicans worry about facing tea party opponents? or do they say -- i am hopeful about senators like senator alexander, because they may realize there is not up point to coming to washington -- >> the romney proposal on individual development accounts and training got a lot of praise across party lines -- >> community colleges -- >> are there areas where they might be -- >> on job training, of course, but not spending money like the jobs bill president obama wanted, $8 billion, $23 billion already on a jobs program scattered throughout the whole federal government that really should be challenged to there needs to be necessary reforms to improve job training so that people who are unemp

very focused on the presidential election, but republicans up leaders on education reform, senator landrieu had a workforce on education -- you had republican leaders, lamar alexander. there are areas like renewable energy where republicans in the past have supported proposals that the president did, too. there has been punishment of bipartisanship the past two years, and is that punishment lifting? do the republicans worry about facing tea party opponents? or do they say -- i am hopeful about senators like senator alexander, because they may realize there is not up point to coming to washington -- >> the romney proposal on individual development accounts and training got a lot of praise across party lines -- >> community colleges -- >> are there areas where they might be -- >> on job training, of course, but not spending money like the jobs bill president obama wanted, $8 billion, $23 billion already on a jobs program scattered throughout the whole federal government that really should be challenged to do better. there needs to be necessary reforms to improve job training so that people wh

i spoke earlier today to senator landrieu and congressman bonner and senator nelson as well to tell them about what we have done with regard to the distribution of the moneys in connection with this settlement today. >> if we could have three answers to the same question because the attorney general and the associate wanted to -- you should focus on it is the largest criminal resolution ever and it's his tor rick that all of the money will go to the benefit of the gulf states. that is very unusual for a criminal resolution. it's a criminal fine and punitive. but nonetheless it's going to the different states, particularly to louisiana. >> i want to ask you about how do we get here but in terms of the government what are you doing internally [inaudible] >> so one of the important features of this resolution is about $350 million will be given to the national academy of sciences in an endowment. and the purpose of that is to improve our oil response, oil spill response, improve drilling safety measures. i think if there is anything we've learned from this great tragedy is we can improve th

mary landrieu said she looked through this as part of a broader package.he small businesses -- if you're organized as a partnership, they are not corporations. you claim your business income on your individual tax returns. if that business income kicks you over $250,000, you almost certainly will be subject to higher taxes in january. host: paul, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i would like to know what these rates would go up to for the individual taxpayer if we do go off the fiscal cliff? guest: if we go off the cliff, the rate will go up to 39.6%. the low bracket will go away and the lowest tax bracket will be 15% if we go off the cliff. 15% to 39.6% if we go off the cliff. caller: what about the other rates? host: we have a question on twitter. guest: you don't pay taxes on losses. a you're making profits and picture up over $250,000, that could result in a tax increase that kicks you over $250,000. caller: we need jobs in this country. i hear all this money being talked. the average worker -- i am lucky i get 30 hours

you could have retirements and then you got mary landrieu. you've got pryor in arkansas. you've got kay hagan in north carolina. so you've got seats that could be contested. and even in lieu seats you've got al franken is one by very slim a margin. so that could be a tough one as well. so to me what that says is again, the senate, i don't think is going to be the obstacle to the grand bargain. again, i think the 100 for republican votes that speaker boehner will have to get together and actually how does barack obama help boehner do that? and that's going to be i think big key fiscal issue coming up >> one toshiba will be competitive in 2014, mitch mcconnell see. whether in the primary or the general election, he actually concerned about his reelection. he's been raising like $1 million a quarter in the off year. every quarter for the last year and a half or so. he hired rand paul's campaign manager. ron paul's former presidential campaign chairman to come right his race in 2012. so he assisted by turning -- preparing for the contest's. he has a tough spot. emitted commen