this was not humorous to maria cantwell or to ted stevens, by the way. i would say there's probably some recourse. let me get back to you on that. but the biggest problem is that most of the people who do this, they either can't be reached because, you know, they're in romania or in southeast asia and they're registering a domain name for $3, or even if they're an american registering a domain name for $3 with inaccurate information, they'll be hard to track down. then they registered it for a legitimate person and want some money for it. if we could -- i wasn't involved in this when they started the domain name -- the internet corporation for assigned names & numbers nu numbers. if i -- in retrospect, there are somethings we should have done differently. and we're hoping that one of the areas where we have been involved -- just because we saw so many problems -- is trying to encourage reforms within the process. but i'll get back to you on your specific question. >> thanks. no more? many graves? >> i guess the fs the equal rights floated out there, and

joining me now, senator maria cantwell, a democrat from washington who voted against the blunt amendment today -- earlier today. senator, thanks for being here. >> good evening, reverend sharpton. >> now did your colleagues who voted for this bill make a big mistake, in your judgment, today? >> well, i think the issue is that we keep going back to every progress that we're trying to make her to talk about jobs or the budget or reconciliation or appropriations. and every time it's a battle over trying to defund access to women's health care. i don't understand why the other side thinks that that's so important in balancing the budget or jobs and the economy or what it has to do with the transportation bill. and these issues have been settled law and giving women access to their employers instead of having their boss decide whether they should be given access to these things it should be between a woman and her physician. and these have been upheld in court. so we're just going over it again and again when there's important work to be done for the nation on jobs. >> senator you said two th

. >> and washington senator maria cantwell, fresh from the senate floor, joins me now. senator cantwell, let's talk about what's going on here. what are you hearing in the cloakroom and in the corridors of the senate about the relationship between men and women, male and female senators, as we get so deeply embroiled in these fights over contraception and health care. >> well, the women are fired up and they're very concerned that this would be a pandora's box, allowing employers to go back to a time period in which they could deny benefits to women. and we know how important it is to fight for this, and that's why i think you saw the women of the senate coming to the senate floor to make sure that our voice was heard on this. >> now, susan collins was one who said that while she objects to some aspects of the blunt amendment, does not think it's well drawn, needs to be tightened, she still feels that there was a political agenda coming from the democratic leadership side and that this was 2012 politics being played out on the senate floor. trying to frame an issue that

on the senate night maria cantwell was a finance member committee, she was the only member not to take30" money. >> we found one. you know when the greek guy goes around looking for the one honest person. good luck in washington but we found one--mind you that's just the 30 corporations you focused on. other people say you focus on 30 corporations but there are many more and they have the highest tax rates in the world. is that true? or are their taxes impacted much lower? >> when we started this study for citizens for tax justice we looked at a broader sample of a set of 280 corporations that made up the bulk of the profitable fortune 500 over those three years. and we found that if you look at all of those 280 profitable companies on average their effective tax rate was 18.6% which is half of the 35%. like you said, when corporations don't pay whether you're a small business or you're an ordinary taxpayer you end up footing the bill for the infrastructure in this country our education system, all businesses large and small thrive, the burden is shifted to the ordinary tax payer. >> o

. >> in a few minutes we are going to speak with the democratic senator maria cantwell of washington. she was on the floor. we'll have her here as our guest. there is growing concern that the gop could be entering dangerous territory by embarking on this prolonged culture war. one of the things to watch is who among republicans will vote no. as kelly mentioned at least one among the gop is voicing dissent. >> i think with respect to the blunt amendment i think it is much broader than i can support. i think we should focus on the issue of contraceptives and whether or not it should be included in a health insurance plan. >> joining me this morning alisha menendez and washington post political columnist, dana. the stakes are high for the senate. republicans want to use it against people in missouri. what is the impact of republicans waging this fight now with women and independents and so important for 2012? >> they are doing a very good job of firing up the democratic base particularly women and independents. i think for a while this was a winning issue for them. it was really about re

we begin with washington senator maria cantwell, a democrat. senator, thank you for coming on tonight. >> good evening. >> what is the fight over here on this? why isn't this the bill, which has passed before, zooming through? especially in this particular political environment? >> that's what women want to know. they want to know how something that has been so bipartisan in the past, the violence against women act, that's usually passed with great bipartisan support, may not meet its deadline for being reauthorized. so after the debate on planned parenthood, after the debate on the blunt amendment, you bet women are saying, what's going on? >> well, let's take a look. here's one of your colleagues on the other side of the aisle, jeff sessions, a member of the judiciary committee, a republican, he's against the new version of the bill. he told "the new york times," "i favor the violence against women act and have supported it at various points over the years, but there are matters put on that bill that almost seem to invite opposition. do you t

we begin with maria cantwell. what's the fight over here on this?l zooming through, especially in this political environment? >> that's what women want to know. they want to know how something that's been so bipartisan in the past that's usually passed with great bipartisan support may not meet its deadline for being reauthorized. after the debate on planned parenthood and the blunt amendment, women are saying, what's going on? >> one of your colleagues on the other side, jeff sessions, he's against the new version of the bill. he said "i favor the violence against women's act and have supported it over the years. but there are matters on the bill that invite opposition. you think they might have put things in there we couldn't support that they could accuse you of not being supportive of fighting fie vooi lens against women? he's accusing you of putting stuff in the bill that's purposely put in there as a poison pill. i totally misstated that. he's accusing the democrats of writing a bill republicans can't sign on to. >> no, listen. there are provi

joining us, democratic senator, maria cantwell, obama campaign manager, stephanie cutter, chris cillizzaofficials question our very purpose in afghanistan? my exclusive interview with u.s. ambassador to afghanistan, ryan crocker, and nato commander, general john allen. all that, up next. one chance to hunt down the right insurance at the right price. the "name your price" tool, only from progressive. ready, aim, save! grrr! ooh, i forgot my phone! the "name your price" tool. now available on your phone. get a free quote today. i remember the day my doctor told me i have an irregular heartbeat, and that it put me at 5-times greater risk of a stroke. i was worried. i worried about my wife, and my family. bill has the most common type of atrial fibrillation, or afib. it's not caused by a heart valve problem. he was taking warfarin, but i've put him on pradaxa instead. in a clinical trial, pradaxa 150 mgs reduced stroke risk 35% more than warfarin without the need for regular blood tests. i sure was glad to hear that. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa i

chuck schumer, now a member of the united states senate, cosponsors included then-representative maria cantwellnow in the senate, then-representative ben cardin who is residing today and former speaker nancy pelosi. in the senate it had 60 cosponsors. ted kennedy was the lead sponsor, we've heard senator brown, the senator from massachusetts, saying the position he's taking on this issue of religious freedom is exactly the same position that senator kennedy took during his lifetime. but 60 other members of the senate cosponsored it including senator boxer, senator feinstein, senator kerry, senator lautenberg, senator murray, and senator reid, the majority leader of the united states senate today. it was signed into law by then-president clinton demonstrating it was clearly religious freedom was not a partisan issue. it was a bipartisan concern of congress and the reason why this bipartisan legislation passed to protect religious freedom. so that just like members of the catholic church who are today concerned about being forced to provide coverage for surgical sterilization or drugs that induce

limit small business abilities to delay rule complained to another by washington state democrat maria cantwell we continue the export-import bank's charter for another four years. its current charter runs out may 31. and now to live coverage of the u.s. senate here on c-span2. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. lord god almighty, the psalmist tells us,you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting to everlasting, you are god. on this first day of spring, we applaud your creative genius and relish the beauty of this land. we are so thankful for your love and grace. lord we depend on you to make known to our nation's leaders your plan to prosper us, to give us a future and a hope. move in your mighty power and restore in our senators a faith in the wisdom of your word. inspire and equip them to seek your wisdom and to pray for your favor as we align ourselves with you

, which was the substitute, that included the export-import bank reauthorization, and the cantwell, senator maria cantwe cantwell, amendment failed to obtain enough votes to invoke cloture mostly on a party-line vote. two republicans voted to extend the export-import bank authorization. two. this is a bank which gives out of companies in america a fighting chance around the world to compete with those companies in other countries that are subsidized bie by their governm. we have the export-import bank to help our companies, companies in my state like boeing and caterpillar, good-paying jobs right here in america, sustained by exports, helped by the export-import bank -- defeated on the floor of the united states senate. only two republican senators would step up and vote for that bank. and it used to be noncontroversial. we did it because we knew it was so good for our country. it turned out to be a partisan issue, too many turn ought to be partisan issues on the floor lately. it is clear that politics and the theoretical jobs created by a bill that significantly reduces investor protections are