murray: madam president? the presiding officer: under the previous order, there will now be two minutes of debate equally divided in the usual form prior to a vote in relation to amendment number 432, offered by ms. stabenow. mrs. murray: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. ms. stabenow: i yield my one minute to the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: madam president? the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. ms. stabenow: madam president, this is a very simple, straightforward amendment. a "yes" vote supports medicare as an ongoing insurance plan. a "no" vote sides with what the house of representatives has done with the ryan republican budget. dismantling medicare, turning it into a voucher program, adding $6,000 on average costs to seniors, and to add insult to injury, their budget takes the money, doesn't strengthen medicare, gives another tax cut for the wealthiest americans averaging about $245,000 for those at the very, very top. please vote "yes." let senior

madam president, i yield the floor. ms. mikulski: madam president, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: ms. mikulski: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: i ask the call of the quorum be vacated. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. mikulski: madam president, in a few seconds i will be propounding a unanimous consent request. we were originally scheduled to have a vote, a series of votes at 11:15. we think we have a way of working out some of our concerns. if we just take a little bit of a breather and do the kind of negotiation based on the civility and common sense that we've been using during this deliberation. so therefore, madam president, i hereby ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the previous order, all postcloture time be considered expired at 2:00 p.m. with the time until 2:00 p.m. with equally divided between the two leaders or their designees with all other provisions of the previous order remaining in effect. the presiding officer: is t

i thank you, madam president. mrs. murray: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: i want to thank the senators virginia and hawaii for excellent statements and really laying out the framework why it is important that we have a bill that deals with both spending cuts and revenues and rulely appreciate their time both in committee abc news on the floor. i ask unanimous consent that at 3:45 p.m. today, there up to 60 minutes of debate equally divided between senators klobuchar and coats or their designees for a report on the economic goals and policies under section 305-b of the congressional budget act. ethe presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mrs. murray: on behalf of senator men then derksz i ask consent that margaret taylor, a state department detailee to the foreign reels committee, be given floor privileges on budget resolution. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: thank you, madam president. mr. sessions: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator f

madam chairman, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from louisiana seek recognition? mr. fleming: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. fleming:, madam speaker, the assault on religious freedom must stop. the so-called h.h.s. mandate established under obamacare forces individuals, charities and businesses to buy health insurance that includes coverage for drugs which may destroy life. this week a federal judge stopped the enforcement of the h.h.s. mandate against the founder of domino's pizza, the former founder. like many other companies, domino's corporations, the company offers health insurance to its employees but not coverage for drugs that could destroy human life. to do so would violate the religious rights and beliefs of the companies' owners. that injunction is a victory, but no one should have to battle

thank you, madam president. i yield back my time. ms. mikulski: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: madam president, i rise to speak on the cruz amendment. as i said, i'm glad senator lee had his chance. as i said, the cruz amendment would prevent the department of health and human services from implementing funding for the discretionary spending aspects of the affordable care act. as the presiding officer knows of the affordable care act so well and played a major part in it when she was a member of the house of representatives, you know that this would be -- have disastrous consequences. its consequence would essentially defund the affordable care act. they call it obamacare. i call it obamacare. as i said earlier, obama does care, and that's why we passed that legislation in the first place. the cruz amendment would issue or enforce -- it means that c.m.s. couldn't do their job to, for example, issue regulations on ending gender discrimination. you can say there are all these pages of regulation, but why should you a

thank you, madam president. mr. mccain: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: madam president, i want to thank the chairperson, chairwoman, senator mikulski, for her allowing me to speak as if in morning business. on march 15, one 2001, thousands of syrian men, women and children in the city of dara gathered in a public square known today as dignity square. they came together so -- to peacefully protest against a syrian regime's decision to arrest and torture a group of 15 teenagers whose crime had been exercising their universally recognized rights to free speech. their crime was speaking truth to those in power in syria. they'd sketched on the wall of their school a statement that remains true in syria today. the words were "the people want the regime to fall." since these peaceful calls for change were first heard in syria, two years ago, more than 70,000 men, women and children have been massacred by the assad regime. more than one million refugees have fled their country at a rate of 8,000 people

moore: thank you, madam speaker. as i stand here, i pray that this body will do as the senate has done and come together as one, to protect all women from violence. as i think about the lgbt victims that are not here, the native americans that are not here, the immigrants that are not included in this bill, i will say, ain't they women? they deserve protections. we talk about the constitutional rights. don't women on tribal lands deserve the constitutional right of equal protection and not to be raped and battered and beaten and dragged back onto native lands because they know they can be raped with impunity? ain't they women? and i would yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentlewoman from washington is recognized. mrs. mcmorris rodgers: madam speaker, i recognize a champion and prosecuting those with domestic violence in domestic violence situations, pat meehan from pennsylvania, the gentleman from pennsylvania. the speaker pro tempore: what time does the gent

thank you, madam president. ms. stabenow: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: thank you, madam president. let me say first as i rise to talk about the budget that was released in the house of representatives, i want to first commend our chair, senator mikulski, and ranking member senator shelby for working together. i couldn't agree more than with what senator shelby just said about giving back to regular order, about working together. this is really an example, i think, of what we need to be doing, and so i want to commend both of you. we have obviously very difficult points of view and people can come together and listen to each other and be willing to compromise, which is not a bad thing. i mean, in life, i don't know any part of life where we don't compromise. trying to figure that out. when you have children, wouldn't it be nice not to have compromise, but somehow we always have to. and so i just want to commend both of our leaders on the appropriations committee. i am very hopeful that we can

madam speaker, the c.b.o. reported just recently that some seven million people have actually lost their health insurance, the health insurance provided by their more. and those who still do have health insurance, particularly those who get it maybe not from their employer but from the individual market, small group policy, the cost has actually increased some $2,500 a year instead of coming down as anticipated and predicted and promised, in fact, by president obama. but that just absolutely is not happening. so what we're going to be talking about, madam speaker, is, again, what needs to be done to correct this situation, because the thing that was never really discussed to my satisfaction when this bill was crafted was, how are you going to get the best and the brightest young men and women in this country to continue to go into the field of medicine, to become the doctors, particularly the primary care, internal medicine, pediatrics, pediatricians to provide that care when the reimbursement system under med

madam clerk, could you read the adoption calendar? >> items 24 through 26 are being considered for immediate adoption without committee reference. a single roll call vote will enact these item. if a member objects the matter can be removed and considered separately. >> colleagues, would anyone like to sever any of these items? roll call vote. >> on items 24 through 26, supervisor farrell? >> supervisor farrell? >> on items 24 through 26. farrell aye. supervisor kim? kim aye. supervisor mar? >> actually, i'm sorry about this. i forgot to sever item number 26. >> mr. president -- >> why don't we go through the vote, rescind and come back again. madam clerk? >> supervisor mar? mar aye. supervisor tang? tang aye. supervisor wiener? wiener aye. supervisor yee? yee aye. supervisor avalos? avalos aye. supervisor breed? breed aye. supervisor campos? campos aye. supervisor chiu? chiu aye. supervisor cohen? cohen aye. there are 11 ayes. >> these resolutionses are adopted. supervisor mar, if you'd like to make a couple comments about item 26 or

thank you, madam president. with that, i yield the floor. mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: yesterday the senate invoked cloture on that appropriations bill we've been working on for several weeks now. now what we're doing is burning, wasting 30 hours postcloture. during the postcloture time, each senator has the right to speak for one hour. it's obvious there's 100 of us so all can't speak. so a senator who doesn't want -- like the bill and wants to express their views as to why it's a bad bill, they get one hour. so, madam president, this is really a waste of time. a waste of time. it always is a waste of time. but it is a waste of time now because we have some important things to do. next in line is the budget resolution. we've heard speeches over here. oh, gee, have we heard speeches. we need the democrats to do a budget. no one mentions -- but that's okay -- no one mentions that we did not have a budget resolution. we had president obama sign the law that took care of our budget problems here. but we want to satisfy

that is why, madam president, i'm introducing this amendment today. this amendment to the continuing resolution is a very simple amendment. it simply provides that none of the funds within the continuing resolution shall be spent to implement obamacare or to engage in rule making under obamacare. now, let me be clear. in my view, obamacare should be repealed altogether. i think the harms from obamacare -- particularly the harms on the most vulnerable among us -- are significant enough that we should repeal it in its entirety. i recognize that is not a view shared by every member of this body. at a minimum, however, i would submit that every member of this body should agree that restoring economic growth should be a critical priority, and with our economy gasping for breath -- last quarter we were at 0.1% growth -- allowing been become to be fully -- allowing obamacare to be fully implemented right now has the potential of pushing this economy into a recession. i know no member of this body wants to see the economy going into a recession. no member of

. >> madam chair? >> madam chair? >> yes, >> hoping that i could follow up on commissioner weiner's comments? >> thank you. >> i have to echo what commissioner weiner just said from my perspective, this feels like ground hog day we have been in hearing after hearing and constantly asked for additional increases to consultants to tell us a bit of what we already know. but, we have not received any real sense of what near time projects and pilots might be available for this project and whatvy heard from you is we have been here which is they are coming. they are coming. i have to tell you that i have contemplated voting against this particular item but i understand that might appear arbitrary and i want to get a sense of when we will get this, and what are we actually spending our money on? >> i would say, within you see, i can commit to the next few months. we will give you that if not sooner. just, why are we going to take so long, given that we have been asked this question for a number of months and by the way i am

madam clerk, can you read the in memoriam? >> yes, today's meeting will be adjourned in memory of the following individuals on behalf of supervisor campos, for pastor rance white side. on behalf of the full board of supervisors for the late geraldine gerry meister. >> and madam clerk, is there any more business in front of this body? >> that concludes our business for today, mr. president. >> ladies and gentlemen, we are adjourned. [adjourned] [gavel] >> good afternoon. welcome to the san francisco board of supervisors meeting of tuesday, march the 12th, 2013. madam clerk, could you please call the roll? >> supervisor avalos? avalos present. supervisor breed? breed present. supervisor campos? campos present. supervisor chiu? chiu present. supervisor cohen? cohen present. supervisor farrell? farrell present. supervisor kim? kim present. supervisor mar? mar present. supervisor tang? tang present. supervisor wiener? wiener present. supervisor yee? yee present. mr. president, all members are present. >> thank you. ladies and gentl

madam secretary kindly read the roll >> (reading role). >> thank you madam secretary good afternoon i did want to welcome you to the public utilities commission. even though public compete is important we do have a procedure and then we hope that you'll hear the second tone that will mean your minutes are up. i want tow tell me everybody about those rules. so approve the minutes of february 13th. sits been moved and seconded. any questions? >> hearing none motion carries and we'll vote. >> all those in favor? general public comments. this is an opportunity for the members of public to address those procedures that are not on the today's agenda is there any public comment? >> i want to make comments and on items (inaudible). i have information about this - >> thank you. i have 3 cards here. i'll call up mr. dick allen. good afternoon i want to thank all of you for scheduling a workshop. i have a couple of questions about the workshop we would like to know the guidelines so we'll know how to kick our discussions with you and also will be having an agenda for us to follow? i think that's

madam clerk, will you please call item number 1? >> item number 1 is an ordinance approving exceptions to requirements of the seismic safety loan program under the administrative code and the sslp program regulations, regarding a $2,379,464 loan for an existing affordable housing project at the hotel isabel located at 1091 mission street. >> thank you. and supervisor kim is the author of this legislation. >> thank you, chair wiener. this is basically -- we are asking for an exception to our seismic safety loan program -- deferred extended loan program. hotelies isabel is one of our affordable housing units here in district 6 on the south of market. currently has 72 units affordable housing and it's owned by the hotel [speaker not understood] a limited partnership with who is general partner is todd koh who is here today and we're just ready to ask for an exemption from the loan to value ratio requirement and other underwriting criteria set forth in the san francisco administrative code for a number of reasons that i believe the mayo

quorum call: a senator: madam president? madam president?the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. brown: thank you, madam president. i ask unanimous consent that -- to speak as if in morning business and to speak for up to ten minutes and that senator inhofe, the senior senator from oklahoma, be given 20 minutes after i speak. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. brown: thank you, madam president. i rise to recognize the lasting contributions of 80 courageous americans -- the presiding officer: order, please. mr. brown: thank you, madam president. i rise to recognize the lasting contributions for 80 courageous americans who participated in the doolittle raid, our nation's first offensive action against -- on japan's soil during the second world war. i'm glad to have senator boozman as the lead republican in an effort to make sure that these men have the recognition they deser

madam president, i yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: madam president, i come to the floor to note a sad anniversary. friday, march 1, marked the sixth year since the freak death of the 12-year-old maryland child named did a monte driver. -- damonte driver. i have spoken about him many times since his passing which happened just weeks after i came to the united states senate. the death of any child is tragic. damonte was even more so because it was entirely preventable. he died from an untreated tooth decay. it started with an infected tooth. damonte began to complain about headaches in early january, 2007. by the time he was evacuated at children's hospital's emergency room, the infection had spread to his brain and after multiple surgeries and lengthy hospital stay, he passed away. the principal at damonte's school, gina james, remarked everyone here was shocked.

supervisor mar. >> thank you, madam clerk. colleagues, i'm introducing a resolution today that addresses a dire crisis for san francisco's city college and what they face this year with their accreditation process. and as we look forward also to a hearing that will be coming up later this month at the board. my resolution that i urge support for would help us pass assembly bill 11 99 authored by assemblyman paul fong, but also sponsored by assemblyman bill ting and tom ammiano as well. city college, as you know, serves one in 10 san franciscans. it has one of our top nursing programs in the state and half of our public school graduates in san francisco start college in higher education there. it also is critical for the future of our work force in san francisco as it trains adult workers and gives them new skills that better their lives and to get better jobs. as we work together to protect and strengthen city college, this resolution is really important in allowing the city college to move forward with more flexibility in its

madam president, these are straightforward questions. these are questions to which i believe the senator from kentucky deserves an answer. many of us here this evening are here to support him in that endeavor in his attempt to at least try as this nomination moves through the process, get the answers to the questions that would allow him to perform the advise and consent function that is in the united states constitution as it applies to nominations and as it is, has implemented here by united states senators in history. i just want to say to the senator from kentucky, and i have a question for him in just a moment that it really is remarkable to see this process unfold. in my time here, and i came in the 2004 election, started with my service to the united states senate in january of 2005, i've not seen a time where we had a senator who as a matter of principle stood down here for the number of hours that he has today and insisted on getting some answers. and i give him great credit for the job that he has done in pressing this issue. h

madam clerk, any communications? >> there are no communications, mr. president. >> and if you could read our 2:00 p.m. special order. >> the first item of business is the policy discussion between mayor edwin lee and members of the board of supervisors. specifically district 4. the mayor may initially address the board for up to five minutes. the president will recognize the supervisor who will present her own question to the mayor. follow-up questions are in order as long as the entire discussion does not exceed five minutes per supervisor. >> thank you, madam clerk. mr. mayor, welcome back. welcome to all the questions we'll be asking you today. >> thank you, president chiu. i'd especially like to acknowledge our district 4 supervisor katy tang and like to say the supervisors hit the ground running. i look forward to addressing the important question you have for me today. thank you. >> with that i'd like to recognize our mayor district 4 colleague, supervisor tang. >> good afternoon, mayor, colleagues, and i guess i'm the only one who has a question

supervisor avalos. >> thank you, madam clerk. today i'm introducing a resolution for us to vote urging bart to allow bikes access to the bart trains, at least the front three trains moving forward in the future. currently bart is actually conducting a pilot program. it started yet, allowing bikes on the first three trains during the morning commutes. right now heretofore, bikes have not been allowed on the morning commutes and we're really trying to make sure we are bringing up the bart system to meet the transit needs of people across the bay area. so, this will come before us. colleagues, i hope you can support it at the time. thanks. >> thank you, supervisor avalos. supervisor breed. >> thank you so much. i just wanted to -- i'm actually requesting a hearing. so, the chairman of the san francisco pedestrian safety advisory committee can update the board on critical pedestrian safety issues in the city ~ and the recent efforts of the committee to address them. pedestrian safety is really important to me, and with the number of

madam clerk, could you read the in memoriams? >> yes, mr. president. today's meeting will be adjourned in memory of the following individuals on behalf of supervisor tang, for the late ms. chan ran chang. >> and madam clerk, is there any more business in front of the body? >> >> that concludes our business for the day. >> ladies and gentlemen, we are adjourned. [adjourned] ?oo hi, i'm holly lee. i love cooking and you are watching quick bites. san francisco is a foodie town. we san franciscoans love our food and desserts are no exceptions. there are places that specialize in any and every dessert your heart desires, from hand made ice cream to organic cakes, artisan chocolate and cupcakes galore, the options are endless. anyone out there with a sweet tooth? then i have a great stop for you. i've been searching high and low for some great cookies and the buzz around town that anthony's are those cookies. with rave reviews like this i have to experience these cookies for myself and see what the fuss was all about. so let's see. while attending san franci

horsford: thank you, madam speaker. to my good friend and colleague, representative jeffries, thank you for co-anchoring this special hour and all much our colleagues, to discuss the impact of the sequester. you know, far too often, talk of the so-called sequester ignores the very real people who fill the -- who feel the pain of unfair cuts. our jobs as representatives is to be the voice of our constituents. well, tonight, i hope we can have a frank discussion about what these cuts really mean to all of our communities. my colleagues talked about the 7 50,000 to one million job losses that could result as a result of the sequester. any day, congress can pass a reasonable balanced deficit reduction solution to avert these devastating, across-the-board cuts. that's what the american people are asking for, in fact. according to a "usa today"-pew research poll, three out of four americans surveyed said congress should focus on a balanced approach to the deficit, with a combination of spending cuts, strategic spending cuts a

thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. mr. schumer: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mr. schumer: well, first, let me thank the chair of the budget committee, my friend and colleague from the state of washington, for her remarks and, even more, her excellent work on putting to thputting together ac budget. that may be the reason why our colleagues want to delay. for four years they've had a great time saying, you don't have a budget. you don't have a budget. it was the only thing they had to say because the actual confines of their budget is so far away from what the american people want they couldn't get into the details. nobody wants to end medicare as we know it. nobody, as in the ryan budget, wants to reduce taxes dramatically on the wealthiest americans -- 39% to 25% -- and then take away deductions from middle-class people, good deductions that make sense like the mortgage deduction, the charitable deduction, the retitle deduction, the health care reduction. no, no wants to do that. and no one wants to eat our se

>> thank you, madam clerk. i want to acknowledge that today is the argument at the supreme court on prop 8 and we hope that both prop 8 and tomorrow, they are both gone and deservely so. these are the two worst pieces of public policy generated in recent history to just completely take a segment of our population and tell us that we are not full citizens of this state or this country. i want to really thank the people who last night organized an absolutely incredible rally in march from the castro down market city to send good arguments to washington. it was an incredible gathering. there were at least 5,000 people there. just before march they told me they were worried it might be too small a crowd to justify a march to city hall. the streets were barely big enough to contain the crowd and it was just wonderful energy, a lot of people who i had never seen been in public gatherings in san francisco. i think this is an issue that has drawn a lot of people that are normally an activist and made them activist. it'

supervisor avalos. >> thank you, madam clerk. colleagues, today i am requesting the city attorneys to draft legislation that would make it -- actually draft a charter amendment that would say that it would be city policy to work to eliminate raise in gender pay and equity in the city and city work force. last week i had a hearing in the budget and finance committee looking at how the city has historically used comparable work to adjust pay -- make sure we eliminate pay inequity over the past three decades. unfortunately we've seen the city has departed greatly from looking at pay equity as a standard. and we want to bring that back by bringing it forward, possibly a charter amendment that can make sure that we are doing everything we can do to ensure that women, especially women and people of color are able to have the adequate pay for their work for the city. so, i look forward to that being drafted and having a discussion here at the full board in the weeks to come. thank you. >> thank you, supervisor avalos. supervisor breed.

. >> thank you, madam clerk. today i'm introducing a resolution calling for the mta to implement a city-wide full scale bike sharing program by 2014, next year. bike sharing gives residents access to publicly usable bikes at stations spaced throughout urban areas. they are especially effective in places like san francisco with expensive public transit and other ways of getting around. these programs not only get people out of their private automobiles and provide people options other than driving their car, but they also free up seats on overcrowded bus he and trains. bike share programs have been proven to lower personal automobile use, for example, in paris. there was a significant reduction in traffic within the first year of the implementation of that city's bike sharing program. and 78% of car owners use bike share for trips previously taken by a car. bike share programs are also good for local economies. and starting this year, san francisco will participate in a bike sharing pilot program that will serve a

without, we will take the recommendation and madam clerk, could you call item number four? >> recommended increase of the amount of the professional services krt with perkins and will by $395,000 to a total amount not-to-exceed $1555000 for planning urban design, conceptual engineering and out reach and environmental analysis services for better market street planning and environmental studsy authoritying the executive director to modify no one material contract terms and conditions. >> good evening, deputy for planning, this item is a request to amend an existing consulting contract that the authority has with perk ins and will, on behalf of the team leading and the department of public works which is leading the better market street project. lindy here is will be providing a brief overview and the main part of the item. i would like to give you background, began in october of 2010, after the authorities received planning grants from the state and the region. the initial contract was in the amount of $990,000, to do the design, conceptual design and out reach. we did come

coburn: madam president? the presidin ms. mikulski: madam president, i yield the floor. msfloor.cull officer. mr. coburn: i ask that the pending amendment be set aside. the presiding officer: without objection, the clerk will report. the clerk: mr. coburn for himself and mr. mccain proposes amendment number 66. mr. coburn: madam president, this is a fairly straightforward amendment. it actually follows thified lines and the recommendations of the office of management and budget. the administration claims that during this sequestration period we will have to furlough essential government workers, which will negatively impact the daily lives of the american people. despite dire warnings to cut the t.s.a. agents -- by the way, director pistol thinks they're going to be just fine, totally opposite of what the rest of the administration has said -- air traffic controllers, food inspectors, thousands of new federal jobs postings since the sequester went into effect. and let me just spend a minute. sequester has been in effect. the department of treasury is looking to hire a le

>> all right. >> so moved, madam, could you please call item five? >> recommending authorization of the executive director to execute the cooperation agreement with the construction services and the right-of-way certification with the california department of transportation and the united states coast guard license agreement associated with the utility agreement and all other related documents for the reset of federal and state funds for the yerba buena iceland ramps improvement projects >> i am the project manager, for the project and i have a short presentation to give you to give you a history and make sure that you understand the improvements and get into a discussion on the item in front of you. >> we will go through the existing conditions and a little bit of the overview and status and schedule and staff recommendation. >> let's talk about the existing conditions, if you have been out there, you will know that they are not very good, the existing on-ramp on the left side there, is very short. and acceleration distance short and the west found

madam clerk, can you read the in memoriam? >> yes, today's meeting will be adjourned in memory of the following individuals on behalf of supervisor campos, for pastor rance white side. on behalf of the full board of supervisors for the late geraldine gerry meister. >> and madam clerk, is there any more business in front of this body? >> that concludes our business for today, mr. president. >> ladies and gentlemen, we are adjourned. [adjourned]