markey says many of his constituents have lost thousands of dollars selling herbalife products. the senator wrote to the company listing complaints and questions and he wants a response by february 28th. an herbalife spokeswoman tells first business..."we received the letter from senator markey this morning and look forward to an opportunity to introduce the company to him and address his concerns at his earliest convenience." herbalife sells nutritional and weight-loss supplements through individual sellers. neiman marcus is alerting customers 1.1 million credit cards may have been hacked. according to a statement to shoppers on its website-- neiman's confirms software was installed to collect the data and that social security numbers and birthdates were not compromised.the hacking spanned between july and october. it's estimated 2,400 of the credit cards were later used by scammers. meantime, a february 4t date is set for a senate committe to take up the massiive data cyber breach at target. the retailer's cfo will appear at the hearing. the fbi is warnings retailers to prepar

massachusetts senator ed markey, he's sounding a lot like an activist investor. bill ackman is calling phenomena -- calling for an investigation of herbalife. why? >> he's sounding an awful lot like bill when he's raising questions about whether herbalife is a pyramid scheme. markey says his concerns come from complaints from his constituents, including one who said she lost $130,000 in her retirement fund. as a distributor, there are concerns here about markey's part about how the business model for herbalife works and whether you're paid to get more distributors or actually reach the general public. he says it sounds an awful lot like a pyramid scheme. so he's asking to send letters to the f.t.c., the s.e.c. and the company itself, asking for answers to questions about specific business practices. he says in the statement, there's nothing nutritional about possible pyramid schemes that promise financial benefit but result in economic ruin for vulnerable families. i have serious questions about the business practices of herbalife and their impact on my constitue

markey saying he's not choosing sides merely asking for an investigation.to herbal life ceo michael johnson and seeking details from the company. so, yet again caught in the cross fire if you will there. bill ackman remains soundly in the corner that says the company is not one that should frankly exist. the stock price, however, had been as high as $80 a share not that long ago. they got the audited financials and there might be a return of capital in some form perhaps through a dutch auction that would even force him even more so although much of his position now is in the form of derivatives as opposed to just an outright short position on which he is still down, but today the shares you can see moving sharply lower again on news being reported by the "hill" that ed markey is going to ask the s.e.c. and ftc to investigate. >> this is what bill ackman was waiting for, right? this is what was not happening last year given all of ackman's presentations, his multipage presentations why it's a pyramid scheme asking the regulators to step in. >> it's a senator

>>michele markey thanks so much. >>thank you. coming up...chart talk - and the impact of drought on some stocks. and after this, the new investment strategy tool. social media - it's not just for sharing pictures & gossip. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ elaine: it was 17 years ago when i decided to become a mentor ♪ that i was assigned to christina. when she was in the first grade, she was a shy little girl, not able to smile much. christina: elaine showed me there were people out there to help me and guide me through life. when elaine let me read her diary, i didn't even realize how important i was to her, and now that i'm mentoring, i feel that same importance, and i can spread those same values to the girls i mentor. be someone who matters, to someone who matters. social media has transformed from a fun way to share pictures with your friends to a sophisticated method for companies to shape their image.here's the story of one firm that's taking it a step further.diane moca reports. far from silicon valley... chicago-based social market analytics h

it seems that they are on the same page, senator markey and bill ackman. >> although markey was careful to cnn i am not saying that these allegations are true. what he does proposes a series of questions to the company, he poses questions to the sec and calling for anis investigation. it doesn't want to be done by february 28. at least he wants the answers. i i read the letter. he is careful not to make specific allegations. but the letter is obviously damning. >> well -- >> anybody who reads it and planning was well understand. he is calling them out. >> well, he says there is talk that this is a pyramid game -- >> hurting his constituents. >> yes, he brings a couple of examples of his constituents. if you look at this as symbolic of the battle that is happened between herbalife and bill ackman, ackman has spent according to open secrets.org around 100 $30,000 over the span of last year making him one of the top -- according to $130,000ts.org, around over the senate last year making him one of the top spenders on politics. our blood has spent -- herbalife has spent more than $1 million

t promises to respond to markey.says we received the letter and look forward to introduce the company to him and address his concerns at his earlyiest convenience. 15% today, h.l.f. down. >> does the senator run the risk of looking like he is doing bill actionman's bidding? >> he does that risk. he is not taking sides in this dispute and reached a conclusion. he wants answers to his questions. bill ackman did not contribute to his campaign, but there isn't a direct connection there. ed markey is well known for going after companies he thinks have done wrong in the past. he is a freshman senator, but 36 years in the house and he has crossed paths with a number of big-name corporate entities. he is not a lawmaker to tangle with lightly here in washington. >> peter cook, thank you very much. you know, we have been seeing shareholder activism unlike any other time in history, all of these guys are pushing companies stored strategic or in some cases not so strategic moves. the question is are they really unlocking shareho

and we so kudos to senator markey who represented boston as a member of the house and represents the state of massachusetts but urban centers are vote short when it comes to dealing with issues like this in the united states senate which is why i things like these he stated are important not for politics but because public safety is often implicated in our disenfranchisement or a budget autonomy and it was an important civil rights issue to see us who members of the district this is senator outhaul strauss and us sat a senator from the district of columbia thanks for joining. as we approach the fourth anniversary of the supreme court ruling of the now famous citizens united case which ruled that corporations associations and labor unions all have the same political expenditure rights as people occupying wall street will be holing a protest tomorrow and zuccotti park r t the herc in the brings us the latest on this story this saturday the occupy wall street movement returns to its birthplace in the big apple zuccotti park for a day of action against corporate money and politics events

is that we're not as equipped to deal with it for example in boston senator from massachusetts ed markey almost immediately introduce legislation that would call for a revolving fund to fix these gas pipelines tighter standards in the district of columbia i'm not able to co-sponsor this bill i'm not able to vote for it so our lack of federal representation is once again hampering the way we deal with an important national problem and you're. and the infrastructure here with these pipes we can't see these are all underground so it's not like bridges and roads that we use every day so we got this kind of head and didn't they collected well a lot of our infrastructure just to collect including the bridges including the road you know we just passed a omnibus budget bill that has restored a lot of the sequester cuts to the defense industry so we're investing money nationally to maybe blow things up in other countries but we're not spending the money we need on infrastructure to keep things from exploding you're at home we have americans that want to work that need jobs we have jobs that need

i will say this common sensewise, what is ed markey adding to the equation?hey know all the allegations out there. are they going, is the securities & exchange commission going to just launch into an investigation is or the ftc, federal trade commission launch into investigation whether this is pyramid scheme, illegal sort of company -- david: which mark can i said a couple of his constituents lost their fortune. that is what is moving him. >> let me ask you this. if there is ftc investigation the stock will go down tremendously f you're an investor, just know that you have to bet on that, that they have to really do an investigation. for the long term you have to bet that they close it down. and, you know, those are interesting bets. i will say this. this is where carl couldn't really answer or he didn't and i asked him. bill ackman is the short. he has hedged the short. he is out of it. he is in puts. you can't really short squeeze him now. but guess what? who is the biggest holder? well it is carl icahn. how does he if he had to unwind his long position? d

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ed markey called for an investigation after hearing complaints from stit -- constituents.believes the business model could be a pyramid scheme. it relies on independent distributors to sell their products to consumers, think avon and mary kay. he says . . . herbalife said it will address the senator's concerns at its earliest convenience. the company's stock dropped 10% during the trade session. >>> up next, it's cold outside and natural gas traders love it. so how about the rest of us? how the cold snap in the east will effect the economy for all of us, that and the challenges for red lobster when "real money" continues. our in-depth series on education continues. >> how does math keep boys out of jail? >> thats an indirect equation, i would say. >> algebra is the answer part of our week long ln-depth series. >> only on al jazeera america. attacked. the mourners have been >> >>> lisa fletcher joins us now with what is coming up on "the stream." what do you have for us tonight? >> we're going to be talking about al-qaeda and how it has evolved. al-qaeda-affiliated groups a

>> shares of herbal life taking a big hit after massachusetts senator ed markey calmed on the sec andtc to look into the company's business practices. herbal life responded say they go look forward to addressing the senator's concerns. bring in the street dotcom's herb green beberg. fire behind the 1340ek? >> anytime you have a senator stepping up and raising questions suggesting there could, wondering whether there's a pyramid scheme or something? definitely some fire. the letter he wrote to, to the ceo of herbal life, michael johnson, is actually quite interesting. in the letter there's just, very significant questions, and when the company said, in its comments that they look forward to answering the questions, hey, i look forward to hearing the answers, because he starts out by going after the, quote/unquote, capacity of their compensation system, which as you know, somewhat confusing and complex. but then gets in there and starts wanting to know, you know, why the company's statements about the percentage of sales outside their quote/unquote network has changed in various convers

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senator edward markey sent letters to the securities and exchange commission, the federal trade commission and herbal life itself. he's asking for more information ant the company's operation and compensation system. herbal life, which sells vitamins and drink mixes to a network of individual distributors, has been under scrutiny because of act accusations that it's operating a pyramid scheme. shares plunged 10% today to 65.92. >>> linobo, the chinese pcmaker, is buying ibm's low end server business for more than $2 billion. it could be china's biggest test do ever. the purchase lets ibm focus on more profitable areas like software and services and to move out of hardware. in ibm's latest earnings report, weak results from its hardware operations were a big factor in the company's revenue mix. shares of big blue rose a fraction today to $182.73. >>> after the market close, starbucks reported that profits rose 25% last quarter. that was better than expected. but revenue came in below forecast. sales fell during the holiday season because more consumers shopped online. global sales were also

anglos but because of the kind of area the spaniards took in, the americas and joined the spanish markey either by conquest or prescription. you have a very peculiar kind of environment in which the nation's labor is absolutely critical. so you had to keep them alive so they would perform otherwise you couldn't exploit. in the parts of the united states that the english colonized, they could either rely on imported labor in the form of farmers from europe or they could bring in black slaves they don't ask why broadly speaking to the anglo american exterminate and expelled the nation's whereas spanish america tried to conserve them and keep them alive. it's not to do with different moralities. it's to do with different environments. >> host: how are the spaniards making their way across texas and new mexico and engaging or sometimes, adding with the indians, how do these interactions differ from what they had experienced in the caribbean in florida, for example as the native tribes they were encountering? >> guest: very very crudley. this is to say you don't question, it kind of con calls

the details on the letter ed markey sent -- he sent one to the federal trade commission director. allegations being made by some of his constituents that they have lost money because of herbalife's practices. allegations that the company is a pyramid scheme. these allegations went public after pushes for an investigation. poses questions to the management and asks that those questions be answered by february 28. he is giving a deadline for these questions to be answered. it sounds like from herbalife's statement that it is going to give the answers to those questions, some of which involve the company's compensation structure and the structure of herbalife in general. how much of its products are sold to outside consumers worse is folks who are inside the herbalife network of its nutritional supplements. we wanted to mention quickly that the shares at this point are down by about 11%. taking a sharp leg lower after s news came out. speaking of a sharp downturn, stocks are falling here in the u.s. we will be right back with more "market makers." ♪ >> another amazing day here at the

markey: i seek recognize --k recognition to speak on the floor. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. markey: 1.3 million people already have not had a happy new year. that's because of when we tried to extend emergency unemployment insurance before the holidays, the republican leadership said "no," the temperatures may be dropping to new lows, but we shouldn't freeze unemployment benefits. when the economy was collapsing and a.i. g.i., the multinational insurance company needed funds, we found that money for a.i.g. but when the americans who are still recovering from the very recession caused by these institutions need more unemployment insurance, we just can't seem to find a way to get it done. these aren't just numbers. these people -- 1.3 million people across the country and 60,000 in my home state of massachusetts -- they now face the harsh reality in 2014 that their country no longer has their backs. mr. president, one of these people is named vera volk from wynn, massachusetts, just north of boston. a 20-year employee in the biotec

senator markey calls for a federal investigation into the company of nutritional supplements. shares plunged on the news. >> he has taken on companies in the past and has done damage. the concerns that he lists to regulators stem from complaints from his constituents, including one who lost her entire retirement savings. his concern is that this is a pyramid scheme. other complaints he has heard about, companies pressuring folks to sign up family members, spend money on products, and then herbalife has been targeting low income and vulnerable citizens. sent letters to the sec and ftc, as well as the herbalife ceo. in a statement, he says -- continued -- he is serious. bill ackman is not the only activist making out today. >> this whole business of the divorce between ownership and management, i think it is hurting our economy greatly. to shelf. in the big picture, not micromanaging, we have got a lot of work on ebay p without question, it is a no-brainer that paypal should be spun off. >> carl icahn telling us yesterday that he wants to split up ebay and its electronic payment

dc is that we're not equipped to deal with the original and boston senator from massachusetts ed markey almost immediately introduce legislation that would call for revolving fund to fix the gas pipelines tighter standards in the district of columbia. i'm not even a co sponsor this bill on monday with a vote for it. so our lack of federal representation is once again. hampering the way we deal with an important national problem. yes and that infrastructure is here with the strides we can see i was there all underground sounds like brett braid is a drought that we use everyday so because if i can and does that get neglected. whoa low bar for sure could use to collect including the bridges including the routine we just passed me. it was budget bill that has restored a lot on the cob sequestered cuts to the defense industry. so we're investing money actually maybe blow things up in other countries but we're not spending money on infrastructure to keep things from exploding year in all we have americans that want to work that need jobs we have jobs that need doing it or not investing in inf

brings jobs to our country and you know helps us move forward and if you think it's time for waxman markey. the one thing i will say i think i'm not i'm like mark on my car you forget i'm not an expert not close but if the american people are saying that this is a problem and they believe there's a consists among the public that this is a problem that we you will see i don't think government intervenes i think of people started realizing that this is this insane cold is the result of global warming which is totally counterintuitive that maybe the maybe that be the way any of marc harrold team o'mara he knew some thank you all for being with us coming up during his state of the union address and i president obama will be focusing heavily on our nation's wealth inequality epidemic and on how to bridge the gap between the wealthy elite and every one else but if he's serious about fighting wealth inequality should we abandon so-called free trade deals that do more harm than good. i know c.n.n. the m s n b c news have taken some slightly but the fact is i admire their commitment to cover all si

herbalife shares fall today after senator markey called for annvestigation of the company colleague and a possible policy scheme. long sat -- ponzi scheme he has made a numr of campaigns claims he takes a short position in the company nd billionaire investor carl icahn takes the opposite position holding nearly 20 percent of the stock. one bit of good news wall bar and announces the $10 billion fund to promote american be venturing jobs in the push to sell more american made products. way to go. thinking of more. the white house opposes with the senior health care advisers is leaving after only six months of the job the and one official says he resigned because of a recent health scare and other family considerations. is to as the metaphor for the disaster that is obamacare according to hhs 3 million people have now selected a health care plan under obamacare although there is no word how many of those a pate for premiums of more than 6 million people have had their health care plan canceled because of obamacare. the rnc voted to shorten the nomination contest to avoid another long prim

markey and some of those folks had a very regulatory approach. although not totally so. and the teleco act of '96, mr. bliley and mr. fields, we decided to go with a market approach. and mr. copps, as he has pointed out, markets don't always work. but generically if they're open and transparent, unless there is a natural monopoly, they do give a lot more choice to people. and that's what the teleco act of '96 did. it rejected the philosophy that the government knows best, that the regulatory knows best, that if they have access to appropriate information, people can make choices that are good choices. and we see reflected today in some of the questions that mr. waxman especially just asked, you know, that some of my friends on the democrat side just don't like a market approach. how dare it be possible that under title i informational services you can have an open, transparent internet and you don't need the fcc to tell you what to do. my god! that's scary. we better get that fcc back on the job. they just maybe -- you know, if they can't do it under title ii as a common

the blast, about 75 miles north of oklahoma city, state trooper charlie hanger stops a 1977 mercury markeyot having a license plate. the one in the car was one james them me mcveigh. >> he was clean-cut, military-type appearance, a short haircut and a light wind breaker jacket on slipped and as he removed the wallet that jacket tightened up and i saw a budge that appeared to be a weapon and i grabbed the budge on the outside of the jacket and i instructed him to get his hands up and he said my weapon is leaded and i nudged him and said so is mine. >> he arrested mcveigh for carrying a concealed weapon, never imaging his prisoner is the oklahoma city bomber. initially, the name mcveigh means nothing to bomb investigators. they are looking for robert kling, the man that rented the ryder truck in junction city, kansas. >> it seems hard to believe that all this destruction was the work of only two men. >> the next day armed with sketches of kling and use suspected companion, law enforcement officers canvass the entire area. >> one agent was assigned the dream land motel and when he walked in,

they responded by telling cnbc it looked forward to addressing senator markey's concerns. then there's noble, one of the big losers today after the offshore drillers said that rig utilization was expected to drop this year. check out transocean and diamond offshores as well. they fell in sympathy with that noble report. a rough day for lockheed martin as well. it reports a 14% drop in fourth quarter profits as defense contractor sales shrunk amid budget cutbacks. and ongoing problems with the f-35 joint strike fighters could delay marine corps plans to deploy that particular plane. also, chinese stocks all losing ground after an s.e.c. judge said that the big four accounting firms should be barred from working for any u.s. listed chinese companies for at least six months. kelly, bill, back over to you. >> all right, dom. thanks very much. show us a chart of apple. e juwe'r getting word that karl icon has taken to twitter once again. this has been one of the few bright spots in the market today. >> he said he added another $500 million to that position for a total of about

it's down 10%, senator markey, senator from massachusetts, is calling for an investigation, again, thert of antitrust things, a lot of the stuff that your foe, bill ackman, has been saying who's short the stock. how big is the regulatory threat into finish. >> you know, i'm sort of on the board. we have delegates on the board. i really have to be very careful of what i say. but i will say this, i haven't sold a share of stock. i really believe in it. i think it's very undervalued. i think it's a great model. i do not subscribe to any of what is being said. but i can't really get into details at this point. >> let me just ask you as an investor, as a guy that's largest long position in the stock, bill ackman has hedged his short position. aren't, don't you have a hard time if you had to get out of this stock to get out, or are you just looking to be in this for a very long time? >> that's why i think things are wrong with what he said. we like these things. we buy them for a real long time. hey, i handle -- you know, i hold these companies for a very long time. in some cases eight years

>> net jets and markey jet which we built are natural competitors. they run a great business. the pilot forced air is unbelievable. we have the net jet's former director of safety and security. they view it and we're build that in a bigger way. >> you founded marquise jet, it's important to to mention that, and sold it. >> to warren buffett and berkshire. we have a lot of crew over there. it was a great experience. it set me up to do wheels up. >> ken, first of all, thank you. scott, kenny was able to send a plane down for me and my family to florida to fly us up here. the deal with textron announced a week or two ago which seems on paper to be a huge deal for the aviation industry but really for you. how does that change where your business is going? it must be a huge positive. >> huge positive. first off, scott donnelly pulled off a once in a generation deal. only six people who makes airplanes in the world. he put together two across the street by each other, beechcraft and cessna. two great leaders. to put these two together and what it meals for we'll wheels we have it fo

if the eu and just to hear from you said markey said if you'll share a young person twenty twenty to twenty five today in europe it's something different for he will for her to the new parcel on the ferry is an a in rome. darlene whatever so they are really european anti really you know compare different tune. additional ceased and this helps eastenders indication whatever the reason whatever to vote for older people who feel that i can only think that is in reality every day to our four young people there's a reality called secure it that they don't know if and this is the bs that they don't know it as institutional political or economic reality. i don't mind that yours is a group of people in europe called the flight. easyjet in the whole place is real cheap and people and kitchen easyjet culture. and if you look back just in french the people who are pretty un french or leaving france to go elsewhere. it tells you only need to know the name them. well ok well you have your four hundred thousand your peers to disneyland and growing into. i think i think for instance with with the w

there's senator ed markey of massachusetts.rted for the state department. behind him, richard blumenthal of connecticut. do you think, though, chris, getting back to the joe wilson point, this gets down to the nub of the issue. we think about what the president's agenda has to be tonight. and the implacable fact of the matter, who matter what he says and the agenda items he's discussing are polling, he will see nothing from the house republican caucus that will come to meet him halfway that in some ways part of it has to do with the structures in place. the fact they will be celebrated by a movement that is committed to destroying and on instructing the president. part of it has to do with for the most part a lot of the folks are true believers. when joe wilson said, for instance, said "you lie" he really thought the president was lying. when people get up tonight to give the gop responses and talk about socialism and the like, they genuinely believe and the people that vote them in office and donate money to them genu e genuin

markey and some of those folks had a very regulatory approach. although not totally so. and the teleco act of '96, mr. bliley and mr. fields, we decided to go with a market approach. and mr. copps, as he has pointed out, markets don't always work. but generically if they're open and transparent, unless there is a natural monopoly, they do give a lot more choice to people. and that's what the teleco act of '96 did. it rejected the philosophy that the government knows best, that the regulatory knows best, that if they have access to appropriate information, people can make choices that are good choices. and we see reflected today in some of the questions that mr. waxman especially just asked, you know, that some of my friends on the democrat side just don't like a market approach. how dare it be possible that under title i informational services you can have an open, transparent internet and you don't need the fcc to tell you what to do. my god! that's scary. we better get that fcc back on the job. they just maybe -- you know, if they can't do it under title ii as a common

jeff: just got off the line with sergio markey only. as early as october of this year. pretty exciting stuff. take a look at the auto stocks. down a bit today. here is the new logo that i want to show you. some people a little disappointed at the logo. it is fca. big letters. fca. designed by a company in italy. a lot of people think it is kind of stupid looking. i am told they symbolize the square. sergio talking about earnings. $1.3 billion the total. they would have fiat without chrysler, lost $600 million. you could say after chrysler was paid by fiat, fiat is now being saved by chrysler. i question whether anyone would run my job. he committed to another three years on the job. when he does leave, it will be somebody from within the company not without. where is the corporate headquarters now? we have a company incorporated in the netherlands. the taxol is the uk. dagen: love it. love you more. jeff flock. thank you. connell: jeff flock has been talking all week about how cold the weather is. right now it is 34 degrees in new orlea

schumer was particularly strong and a leader, senator kirsten gillibrand from new york, senator ed markey from massachusetts, as well as elizabeth warren from massachusetts who were early supporters of this bill. senator bill nelson of florida. senator rubio of florida, particularly senator nelson who got on this bill early and began educating people, not only in florida but around the country. senator al franken from minnesota. senator joe manchin. senator bob casey from pennsylvania. another senator that has no ocean but pennsylvania has i think the most new fema maps of any state in the union. the people of pennsylvania would really be affected if our bill doesn't pass. even the amendment that is being offered by one of the senators does not solve their problem, and it's unfortunate, and i hope that people will vote strongly against the toomey amendment. senator kay hagan from north dakota. of course yours truly in the chair. senator corey booker who came on early and was a huge supporter as soon as he got here. i think this is one of the first bills that you cosponsored. i couldn't be

markey: madam president, i have two unanimous consent request for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. i ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to and that these requests be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: thank you, madam president. i want to make a few very brief comments and the first is this: in the budget agreement that was hammered out right before we left for the holidays, a provision was inserted by congressman ryan that changed the cola details for our veterans. this provision is an outrageous provision. it's changing the retirement deal in the middle of a person's service or for many of our veterans, even after they have retired. between the time they've retired and the time they reach age 6

senator ed markey of massachusetts calling for an investigation into the company.arles payne is here as you know, going to make us some money with real-estate. charles: mortgage insurance after that so/so housing no. this would be the ideal pick. here is the company that weathered the storm. they lost $1.4 million. doesn't sound great except year-ago they lost $386 million. it is and inflexion point in their business. delinquencies are down substantially, new business of 24%. they are turning the corner here. stuart: it is a real-estate play and you like it. charles: on the cusp of a nice break down. stuart: despite the frigid weather much country is suffering through lawmakers, environmentalists doing everything they can to fix global warming. even john stossel is doing his part. >> i am such a good citizen riding my bike to work. i am going to save the earth. stuart: john is always a little tongue in cheek. this is a serious subject. we are indeed spending billions to combat global warming but we still don't know exactly what it is or if it is happening at all. a

markey, a senator from the commonwealth of massachusetts, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patrick j. leahy, president pro tempore. mr. reid: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. reid: mr. president, i would ask unanimous consent that the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i move to proceed to calendar number 26. -- calendar number 266. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 1846, a bill to delay the implementation of certain provisions of the biggert-waters flood insurance reform act of 2012 and for other purposes. mr. reid: mr. president, on this issue, we have a bipartisan coalition that badly wants to get this done, and so we're going to do everything we can to move afford on this. at this stage, the republicans have not cleared the proposed consent agreement. i've indicated to the republican leader that later today i would ask that, but also to stopgap, we have started the rule 14 procedure, which just in a minute i'll move

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. >>> senator edward markey of massachusetts is calling for a probe into herbalife.the nutrition company to obtain more information on its business practices. herbalife says it looks forward to addressing his concerns at his earliest convenience. hedge fund manager bill ackman has accused herbalife of being a pyramid scheme. >>> and the number of americans filing for first-time jobless benefits roads by 1,000 last week coming in at 326,000, matching estimates. that's the very latest from the fox business network, giving you the power to prosper. cheryl: southwest airlines soaring in 2013, posting record profits for the fourth quarter and the full year, reaping $754 million in the past 12 months. this morning i spoke to southwest's chairman and ceo, gary kelly, about the year that was, the year ahead, and here's what he had to say. >> great momentum in 2013, so we, we got a lot accomplished, we had a lot of things under construction, if you will, that got implemented in 2013. we made a lot of progress for things that we're going to implement here in 2014. so we still

reid of nevada, reed of rhode island, klobuchar, warren, durbin, whitehouse, markey, baldwin, leahy, coons, mikulski, murray, warner, hirono, murphy, harkin and brown. mr. reid: note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. portman: madam president, i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: is there objection. without objection. mr. reid: madam president, i have the floor here. the presiding officer: the majority leader. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: i thank you, madam president, for recognizing me. i've been trying to be recognized before the majority leader decided to what we call around here fill the tree, which means taking away the opportunity for amendments to be offered, although there will be an attempt i beli

of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable edward markey, a senator from the commonwealth of massachusetts, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patrick j. leahy, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i move to proceed to calendar number 297, s. 1950. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 297, s. 1950, a bill to improve the provision of medical services and benefits to veterans and for other purposes. mr. reid: mr. president, i was happy to move on behalf of chairman sanders who's put together this bill. it's supported by 25 different service organizations. following my remarks this morning and those of the republican leader, the senate will be in a period of morning business for an hour with the majority controlling the first half, republicans the final half. following that morning business the senate will begin consideration of s. 1926, the flood insurance legislation. we were able to reach an agreement for severa