merkley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new mexico. mr. udall: thank you, mr. president. let me, first of all, just thank senator whitehouse for heading up this campaign finance task force. i think this has been a real solid effort by a number of senators, and senator whitehouse, whether it's at netroots or here on the senate floor, has been participating this evening, and we really appreciate all of his help. the presiding officer, senator merkley, has also been a key member of the task force. senator bennet, who is going to be speaking after me, another member of the task force. and we so appreciate all of us getting together. and one of the things we need to be reminded of this evening is where we are. we just took a vote to try to get on to the disclose act bill. 51 democrats said let's get on to the bill, and 44 republicans, not a single republican voted to allow us to get on the bill. basically what we're in in the senate, as senator bennet and senator whitehouse and senator merkley know, we're in the mode of a full filibuster now. w

merkley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: thank you, mr. president. i thank my colleague from louisiana for her remarks. would you be able to engage in just a question or two while you're down here? i think back to the period when our forefathers and foremothers came here and said we're going to set up a new set of colonies, a new set of rules, and one of the things at the very heart of that was the notion that we, the people, we, the settlers, we, the colonists, we're going to decide how things run rather than having kings and queens. or other very strong folks kind of handing down the laws from on high. that was a powerful, powerful concept that got integrated into the first three words of our constitution, we, the people. and do you have any sense whether really this flood of secret, this massive flood of secret money coming from powerful individuals, billionaires and companies does damage to this concept of we, the people? ms. landrieu: absolutely, and the senator is -- the senator is correct, the senator is correct. as i said, the rece

merkley: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. merkley: thank you. i come to the floor to address several issues. first, i want to talk a little bit about the disclose act. earlier this week we had two votes on whether to end debate on whether to debate the disclose act. the disclose act is a very simple concept, and it's that folks who make very large donations to the political system disclose who they are, so that the citizens of america can know where that money is coming from. is it coming from this particular sector or that particular sector? is it a group that is opposing as but skies for healthier america duel -- as blue skies for a healthier america actually working for something else? is it trying to weaken the pollution control standards and put more pollution in the streams in citizens have a right to know where the money is coming, especially very large contributions, because right now what we have are folks who are putting millions of dollars in. now, i ask you

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senator merkley is going to talk about the fiscal cliff and then harvard professor michael sandel whatey can't buy. he's one of the great philosophers living today. >> cenk: all right great. looking forward to it. thank you eliot. when we come back, we'll talk about the fight that eliot had with maria. another criticism about the news media and how she handled it when we return. eliot spitzer joins the new news network. >>we don't stop until we get answers that are truthful, serious and not based on simplistic answers. 38 >> cenk: back in the day governor eliot spitter was the attorney general for new york. he used to be known as the sheriff of wall street. why? because he actually went after people who committed financial fraud. now apparently cnbc hates this. and he was recently on with maria bartiromo and they got into a debate about how he went after the former ceo of aig hank greenberg. i want to show you the clip and talk about her general attitude toward her job. so watch the clip first. >> hank greenberg's accounting was fraudulent. his company -- >> come on, you can't say frau

senator merkley. >> thank you mr. chair. >> i'm sorry, senator franken was next. i apologize. i got out of line. >> i withdraw, thank you. [laughter] >> i didn't look at my list here. >> i will take his and i will raise it one. dr. leath you have testified about some of the information that iowa state university includes on its financial aid award letters including information about students current indebtedness and the amounts of their payment after school. can you explain why you feel it's so important to include this type of information in award letters? >> there are a couple of reasons. one of the things we trying do is educate her students beyond the actual maturity in the classroom, in other words make them better students and it's hard to get this level of personal responsibility of a are not well informed in these areas. we have shown by her data that kids coming into not understand personal financial commitments or even their obligations so to be good citizens and manage their money. the other thing we think and have a significant role in driving down in debian is jus

. >> reporter: danny merkley with the farm bureau federation says there's plenty of water testing already but agrees that the top concern should be ensuring clean working water to affected forms and communities. however farmers argue the new rules will be ineffective. >> quiet honestly our opinion is it would require growers to do an awful lot of paper work that would not go where it needs to to protect water quality. >> reporter: the farm bureau and other groups are appealing to the state to stop the rule changes sighting cost and that growers for decades have made wiser use of fertilizers. but studies show the issue goes beyond the coastal area. the pacific institute estimates 1 million central valley residents may have nitrate contamination drinking water and how long before the problem can be fixed? >> we don't know. decades. >> reporter: to understand the problem advocates say testing is essential. but the old question surfaces who should pay. >> someone has to pay for the additional cost of regulations and that always ends up to be me and you the consumer. >> reporter: ken pritchett

. >> reporter: danny merkley with the farm bureau federation says there's plenty of water testing alreadyut agrees that the top concern should be ensuring clean working water to affected forms and communities. however farmers argue the new rules will be ineffective. >> quiet honestly our opinion is it would require growers to do an awful lot of paper work that would not go where it needs to to protect water quality. >> reporter: the farm bureau and other groups are appealing to the state to stop the rule changes sighting cost and that growers for decades have made wiser use of fertilizers. but studies show the issue goes beyond the coastal area. the pacific institute estimates 1 million central valley residents may have nitrate contamination drinking water and how long before the problem can be fixed? >> we don't know. decades. >> reporter: to understand the problem advocates say testing is essential. but the old question surfaces who should pay. >> someone has to pay for the additional cost of regulations and that always ends up to be me and you the consumer. >> reporter: ken pritchett,

again, this has been a snowe and merkley initiative. i think senatormarkl senator mes really stood up to fight for this. under current law, taxpayers can elect to deduct up to $5,000 of start-up expenditures in the taxable year in which they start a trade or business. the $5,000 is reduced but no below zero to the amount by which it exseated $50,000. examples are labor markets, transportation systems, advertisements for the owning of a new business, et cetera, et cetera. compensation for consultants that help you get your business started up. the small business jobs act temporarily increased the amount of a start-up expenditures could deduct from their taxes from $5,000 to $10,000 with a phase-out threshold of $60,000. senatormarkly thought to have this provision in the small businessage of it has been repeatedly endorsed bier the national association for the self-employed, national federation of independent businesses and part of the start-up america legislative agenda president obama has called for making this permanent. again, my ame

leath, i know senator merkley asked the question about financial literacy. i wanted to follow-up on that. i am happy to hear about full- service financial counseling at iowa state, which i understand offers individual counseling workshops in courses on personal finance, such as budgeting and the use of credit cards. i am a strong proponent of financial literacy requirements in education, and i think we need to be doing so much more now to ensure that young people understand what it means to take out a student loan, how to use credit cards, because you cannot get by without understanding that. not all that is bad, as long as it is used for education purposes investment purposes, and education is a huge investment -- investment purposes, and education is a huge investment. when i was in the state legislature in north carolina- mandated that a financial literacy curriculum be taught in the high schools. it is still not enough, and it is still just a very, very small part of a larger class, but what have you been doing, and what do you plan to do to attract more

led by senator udall from new mexico and senator merkley from oregon. they had been here a while and they thought that the senate was dysfunctional. well, they hadn't been here a long time and i was willing to go along with the traditional view, let's not rock the vote here. that was under the hope and i thought the assurance of my republican colleagues that they would not have these continue wal con sensical motions to proceed, filibuster, taking -- through that finally on a piece of legislation and i said in the senate a few months ago that i was wrong. it's hard to acknowledge that you're wrong. it's difficult for any of us to do. especially in front of so many people. but i said that i think they were right and i was wrong. and i stick by that. i think what has happened the last few years of changing the basic rules of this senate where we have not 50 votes to pass something but takes 60 on everything, i think that's wrong. i think that where -- where we waste weeks and weeks on motions to proceed and i had a conversation with a real traditionalist

. >> senator merkley. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, chairman. in your opening comments, you mentioned housing refinancing and families that are underwater. we have about eight million families whose mortgages are under water. some can refinance through harp but it's been a pretty small number, only about 200,000 so far. in part because the complexity with second mortgages. if families who are under water could refinance from those higher rates to lower rates, could that be a significant factor and substantial tool, if you will, in helping to move the construction economy forward and stabilizing those eight million families? >> if that were possible, it would be helpful, because it would both reduce the payments and reduce defaults and foreclosures and improve the income of the people who could refinance. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to switch to another comment. i believe you made in response to chairman johnson and i didn't catch the exact words but i believe you said you had emails about fixing interest rates to make the banks look more

senator merkley. i'm sorry. senator franken is next. >> i withdraw my thank you. [laughter] >> i did not look at my list here. >> i will take his thank you, and i will raise it wanted. dr. leath -- one. dr. leath, you have testified about information i was state include the financial award letters, including information about students current indebtedness, and the amount the loan repayment after school. can you explain why you feel it is so important to include this type of information in award letters? >> well, there are couple of reasons. one of the things we tried to do is educate students beyond the material in the classroom, in other words make them better citizens, and it is hard to get this level of personal responsibility if they are not well-informed in these areas. we have shown by data that students do not understand personal financial commitments, so to be good citizens and manage money well, we have to do this. we think it could have a significant role in driving down indebtedness gesture the educational process. students that go through these program

. >> senator merkley told us about it.he hour. we're in all sorts of trouble and we're only 45 minutes in. right back on "the stephanie miller show." >> announcer: welcome to the party barn. may we take your order? it is "the stephanie miller show." that redefined tv journalism. >>we're going to places where few others are going. >>it doesn't get anymore real than this. >>occupy! >>we will have class warfare. >>i'm being violated by the health-care system. >>we're patrolling the area looking for guns, drugs, bodies. hey joe? yeah? is this a bad time? no, i can talk. great -- it's the 9th inning and your hair still looks amazing. well, it starts with a healthy scalp. that's why i use head and shoulders for men. they're four shampoos for game-winning scalp protection and great looking hair... go on, please. with seven benefits in every bottle, head and shoulders for men washes out flakes, itch and dryness. and washes in... confidence. yeah it does. [ male announcer ] up to 100% flake free scalp and hair with head & shoulders

before you took the chair, madam president, our colleague and friend, senator merkley of oregon, sent me a note to ask senator sessions of alabama, and i want to read it. he said ask senator sessions the following: what is more important? taking care of our national security or giving bonus tax breaks of over $100,000 a person for the richest 2% of americans? you see what the president's proposed is that we cut the tax breaks off at $250,000 of income. and it means the top 2% of americans would pay more. they would pay the rate they used to pay under president clinton. and the republicans have said no way. president obama's tax proposal would save us $800 billion. the department of defense cut over ten years is $600 billion. so the republicans here, almost to a person, are basically arguing that rather than raise taxes on the richest 2% in america at all, we would run the risk of jeopardizing our national security. that's false choice. we can have a strong national defense, and we must. but we can also have a rational approach to reducing our debt. our military is the best in the worl

merkley: perhaps the most important three words of our constitution are we the people. we the people, the whole notion is threatened by oceans of dark secret cash, oceans used as a threat on the front end and as election hammer on the back end. it simply is destructive to our democracy. and tonight is the night for some profiles in courage to stand up for the american system, for democracy and for the people. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: madam president, 1822, the founding father james madison wrote a popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy or perhaps both. knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives. a vote for disclose is a vote to arm the people with the power that knowledge gives. to arm them with the popular information about elections, information necessary to prevent this great popular government of ours from becoming a spec

merkley and the committee. i will try not to let it happen again. >> okay. we are going to let the second panel go and call up the third panel if he would come and thank you for your patience as we do this here, and we participate your participation. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> tomorrow, at the center for strategic and international studies examines the conflict in syria. it has taken the lives of an estimated 70,000 people. we will hear from amnesty international advisor and a foreign affairs analyst. live coverage begins at 1030 eastern on c-span. >> this weekend on book tv, growing up in the shadows and secrets of the rocky flats nuclear weaponry facility from full body burden, kristen iversen looks at the effect on the environment and the people saturday at 7:00 p.m. eastern. and sunday on afterwards, the light of jeane kirkpatrick. she meant she was a magnolia with a magnolia and accent. by 1979, she was in full-fledged opposition to what she saw as carter is him. particularl

capital gains, we've talked about the increased deduction for start-up expenditures which is senator merkley's provision. now i want to talk about the s-corps holding period. this comes out of the finance committee, senator snowe and senator cardin have been strong advocates of this provision. under current law when a corporation becomes s corporation and there are of course benefits for becoming that type of corporation, it's required right now to hold its business assets for ten years or pay punitive taxes. this ten-year holding period in our mind is too long. it ties up assets that could be sold to raise capital. in 2010, in our small business bill, we reduced this holding period to five years. to have businesses better be able to manage their planning cycles. so this proposal is to extend the five-year holding period through 2012 and 2013. you know, potentially if we could afford it we'd like to make this proposal permanent but in the landrieu success act amendment, it would extend it through 2012 and 2013. and has a minimal cost. the next provision is the carryback provision up to five ye

i worked with senator merkley on that type of piece of legislation. with that type of success, i don't understand why we don't try that more often. the new medical device tax is one more example of a policy that we all know is bad for jobs and in fact bad for our economy. the house has already voted to repeal this job-killing tax, but i'm disappointed to say that the senate has not taken the time to work to repeal it in a truly bipartisan manner. for those of you who don't know what the medical device tax is, or why should you even care, well, in massachusetts, we have over 400 medical device companies in our state employing tens of thousands of people. this 2.3% tax on medical device sales would cost our economy thousands of jobs and limit americans' access to the most ground-breaking state-of-the-art medical devices. for example, a medical device company with 2,000 employees in my home state has estimated that taxable medical devices represent approximately 30% to 40% of the total net sales in 2011. what that means in plain language is that tax will

. >> senator merkley. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, chairman. in your opening comments, you mentioned housing refinancing and families that are underwater. we have about eight million families whose mortgages are under water. some can refinance through harp but it's been a pretty small number, only about 200,000 so far. in part because the complexity with second mortgages. if families who are under water could refinance from those higher rates to lower rates, could that be a significant factor and substantial tool, if you will, in helping to move the construction economy forward and stabilizing those eight million families? >> if that were possible, it would be helpful, because it would both reduce the payments and reduce defaults and foirks and improve the -- foreclosures and improve the income of the people who could refinance. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to switch to another comment. i believe you made in response to chairman johnson and i didn't catch the exact words but i believe you said you had emails about fixing interest rates to

senator whitehouse from rhode island, the leader of our task force, that led us to this point, senator merkley has been very active and involved, as have you, mr. president. senator shaheen, senator bennet. so many people on the task force did a very, very good job. senator udall as well. and so did so many of our colleagues. the fact that we have been on the floor now for close to five hours and there hasn't been a moment's pause says something. it says -- it talks about the broad support that this modest but powerful act has on our side of the aisle. the fact that no one unfortunately on the other side of the aisle has come to debate this issue says something as well. the only debate, in fact, we heard was the republican leader in a brief speech in an argument that was sort of almost 1984-ish, that the reason we shouldn't disclose that people who give would be harassed. well, by that, we should probably have everything be in secret, because of course in an open democracy when you do things in the political arena, you're subject to criticism. that is what freedom is about. and now to come up

senator merkley talk about financial literacy. with courses on end personal finance as the strong proponent and we need to be doing so much more what it means how to use a credit card. not all debt his bad if used for investment purposes. and unapt purchase offense had dramatically increased bonanza this state is of very small part of a larger class. i am inclined to think each and every sudan should take a course like this. >> reconsider making it mandatory pro career of 283% with the student body and they are more receptive retaining its permission because the peers think it is important. because of they push this that it is worthwhile it would be more meaningful. we would consider making it mandatory. >> you have to make it mandatory. with that involvement unfortunately we would support making it mandatory. >> we are achieve being bad dream initiative and looking at the students to make it the mandate if you are in a remedial course you must take a success scores that do cover financial literacy. students get lost between the f

udall of new mexico, stabenow, begich, whitehouse, levin, casey, harkin, carper, coons, mikulski, merkley, gillibrand, inouye, blumenthal, warner. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask consent that the mandatory quorum required under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call:

set interest rates, there are issues that surface later in terms of bubbles and asset bubbles and merkley, you know. he didn't get into the real issues, though. >> who? bernanke? >> bernanke. did you watch -- >> i did. >> i think he tried really hard to stay back and even keel. he had schumer basically saying at the end of his testimony, get to work, mr. chairman. it's your fault -- >> oh, no, i'm saying about libor. i saw him try to address it but i didn't see a sort of meaningful conversation about what that was all about. >> some of the e-mails -- >> it's not their rights. it's london. they're not the regulators. >> but they have perspective. >> they were pretty sure -- >> the new york fed. >> i like some e-mails they read. not about keeping rates low but i've got a big derivatives position on it. >> that was 2007 and 2008 day they went the opposite direction. >>> let's go across the pond. time for the global markets report. kelly evans, it was your birthday yesterday. today we have another birthday here on the set. >>dy hear it's becky's birthday today? happy birthday? >> happy birthd

is not quite as explicit as you characterized the bid was more the market chatter -- >> that is to merkley from the transcript of the conversations to the barclays employees and employee of the federal reserve. >> the trader was based in new york and was talking about rumors and things he heard. he didn't have explicit information, but the point of the important point is the federal reserve of new york did have the appropriate authorities and it briefed all of the financial regulators who in turn undertook investigations which began about the same time in putting especially the cftc -- >> you said yesterday you didn't know anyone in the federal reserve knew of the reports that there are providing false information to affect the libel writ because it affected their derivatives interest-rate swaps. there were many reports that there were obviously of conduct would be much more effective if it was done in concert rather than independently but what makes sense to act in concert you wouldn't be affected independently if the positions for all over the place. is there an examination now as to whe

led by senator udall from new mexico and senator merkley from oregon.they had been here a while and they thought that the senate was dysfunctional. well, they hadn't been here a long time and i was willing to go along with the traditional view, let's not rock the vote here. that was under the hope and i thought the assurance of my republican colleagues that they would not have these continue wal con sensical motions to proceed, filibuster, taking -- through that finally on a piece of legislation and i said in the senate a few months ago that i was wrong. it's hard to acknowledge that you're wrong. it's difficult for any of us to do. especially in front of so many people. but i said that i think they were right and i was wrong. and i stick by that. i think what has happened the last few years of changing the basic rules of this senate where we have not 50 votes to pass something but takes 60 on everything, i think that's wrong. i think that where -- where we waste weeks and weeks on motions to proceed and i had a conversation with a real traditionalist l

this is senator merkley's. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: mr. president, i thank, first, my colleague from california. i agree completely with senator boxer. i happen to be on the floor to be able to listen to my republican colleagues as they were talking about the estate tax. i think we have got to clarify what the legislation we're going to be voting on in a few minutes is all about. it's an effort to fully protect about 98% of americans from the uncertainty as to whether their income tax will go up on january 1. that's what this bill is about. there is a lot of other problems that we have, the fiscal cliff that we have been talking about. and i understand the concerns we have with the estate tax. we have a problem with physician reimbursement under medicare, we have problems with the sequestration orders and the impact it would have on all of our agencies, whether it's national security, whether it's the domestic budget. we have concerns about extending tax provisions for the energy sector of our economy. we have the unemployment insurance ad

many of my colleagues, in particular senators durbin, senator franken, senator blumenthal, senator merkley, senator sanders and others, we found that appropriate balance in this legislation that's before us. the changes we have made to the original text and to the house-passed version have significantly strengthened privacy rights. that's why i say, madam president, we can celebrate real progress here today. i long thought that it was the privacy issues that would be the rock on which this ship would founder, that the critical and unaddressed privacy issues in cispa and secure i.t. just spoken to by senator franken would be issues that would prevent me from supporting cybersecurity legislation in this session of the congress, but we have made remarkable progress. let me, if i can, briefly review a few of the areas where that progress has been made. we made sure that companies cannot pry into the private online activities of everyday americans in the name of national security. i want to mention just one more improvement. in addition to those mentioned by senator franken just before me conce

senators franken, senator merkley, senator blumenthal.i've also received a great deal of support and encouragement along the way from organizations dedicated to ensuring that students have a genuine path to success in higher education. in particular, i thank the cowns council for opportunity in education, the leadership trust, the leadership council on civil rights, institute for college access and success, campus progress, and the national association for college admissions counseling. all have been involved in helping us over the last couple of years to get the data that we need. on behalf of service members and veterans, we have had tremendous assistance from the iraq and afghanistan veterans associati association, the veterans of foreign wars, the military officers association of america, blue star families, the vietnam veterans association, student veterans of america, the american legion, vet jobs, vets first, paralyzed veterans of america, the national association for black veterans, the national guard association, the air force se

follows: reid of nevada, stabenow, whitehouse, franken, durbin, brown of ohio, blumeening that will, merkley, coons, casey, cardin, shaheen, gillibrand, schumer, reed of rhode island, mikulski, rockefeller. mr. reid: i ask that the mandatory quorum required under rule 22 be waived. fer if without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: once again, i'm disappointed, as i think most people in the country are, on an issue as timely as this, outsourcsourcing jobs, that we e again are being sometime mid into -- stymied into moving to that legislation. we're going to have a rule on this -- we can't have a vote on this until two days go by, so that's a vote on thursday. and if cloture is i voked on that, then we're only on the bill. and then to get off of it, take another series of days. i mean, get final action on this is going it take a week. that's so unfortunate. that's so unfortunate that we have to go through this, and we've gone through this so many times. and there's, i repeat, not an issue more timely than this, outsourcing jobs. whether it's the olympic uniforms or the many other jobs that have

i'd like to open with thanks to senators chuck schumer, mike bennet, al franken, jeff merkley, jeanne shaheen and tom udall for their hard work in our task force that developed this legislation, and i look forward to continuing to work with them through this debate. on thursday, majority leader reid moved to proceed to had this vital piece of legislation, and we will vote on it this evening. i thank the leader. i and many of my colleagues are looking forward to the opportunity to make the case for this important measure. but in a sense for the american public, the case has already been made. as anyone who watches television knows, our airwaves are filled with political attack ads. the organizations paying for many of these ads have patriotic and benign-sounding names with words like prosperity and freedom and future frequently to be found. these names sound harmless, but all too often, the ads are actually paid for by secret special interests. billionaires and wealthy corporations seeking secret special influence in our democracy, and in the process drowning out the voices of regular

led by senator udall from new mexico and senator merkley from oregon. they had been here a while and they thought that the senate was dysfunctional. well, they hadn't been here a long time and i was willing to go along with the traditional view, let's not rock the vote here. that was under the hope and i thought the assurance of my republican colleagues that they would not have these continue wal con sensical motions to proceed, filibuster, taking -- through that finally on a piece of legislation and i said in the senate a few months ago that i was wrong. it's hard to acknowledge that you're wrong. it's difficult for any of us to do. especially in front of so many people. but i said that i think they were right and i was wrong. and i stick by that. i think what has happened the last few years of changing the basic rules of this senate where we have not 50 votes to pass something but takes 60 on everything, i think that's wrong. i think that where -- where we waste weeks and weeks on motions to proceed and i had a conversation with a real traditionalist

like to start with particular thanks to senators chuck schumer, michael bennet, al franken, jeff merkley, jeanne shaheen and tom udall for their hard work on developing the legislation, and i look forward to joining them as this debate goes forward. the majority leader this morning moved to proceed to this vital piece of legislation. i thank him. i and many of my colleagues are looking forward to the opportunity to make the case in this chamber for this important piece of legislation. but in a sense, that case has already been made. as anyone who watches television knows, our airwaves are filled with negative political attack ads. the organizations that pay for these negative political attack ads all have patriotic sounding names dotted with words like "prosperity," and "freedom" and "future." the names sound harmless but they're phony. all too often the ads are paid for by secret special interest interests -- billionaires and wealthy corporations seeking special secret influence in our democracy and drowning out the voices of middle-class american families. as "usa today" put it just la