and i want to thank you particularly for joining senator mikulski and secretary salazar and the subjecteing corrected, i don't think you will find another restaurant as unique as north of the border, if you do find such a restaurant please let us know because we will go there but good luck in all you do. i also recognize the assistant secretary of paul c. rhea suh and pamela haze, they're the continuity and expertise and you will recognize that. i want to congratulate pamela haze, an honor richly deserve to. as we turn to the budget is worth noting the president's request this year, 2014, provides the interior department would increases of energy department, land acquisition, science programs and operations of the nation's public land and secretary sally jewell saw a budget request for conservation when the department has been challenged by acts of sequestration and other pressures on the budget. let me suggest a few details we can discuss as the hearing proceeds. all told interior department programs funded by the subcommittee increase 4% compared to fiscal year 2015 for a total of $10

. >> dear senator mikulski. >> reporter: two pages of heartfelt prose. >> mr.owbray has been waiting for 67 years and we don't want him to wait any longer. >> reporter: if that day ever comes that he gets those medals what will that mean to you? >> a lot. i would probably throw a party. >> reporter: would you? fortunately, her school was way ahead of her on that. [ applause ] >> reporter: this week, unbeknownst to leanna or charles, there was an assembly planned because unbeknownst to leanna or charles the letter worked. leanna got the honor of handing charles his medals. [ applause ] >> reporter: an 8-year-old correcting a 67-year-old injustice. >> it was nice. it was worth the wait. [ applause ] >> reporter: any kid can learn about history. but only a rare few can fix it, too. steve hartman "on the road" in salisbury, maryland. >> and that's the "cbs evening news" for tonight. for all of us at cbs news all around the world, i'm scott pelley. i'll see you sunday on "60 minutes." good night. m see you sunday on "60 minutes." unday captioning sponsored by cbs >>

. >> thank you very much, chairwoman mikulski, members of the committee. appreciate this opportunity to speak about the treasury budget, and i'd just like to say that i am sorry my friend, senator lautenberg, isn't here today, and i only wish him well and that he returns soon. i want to start by thanking the talented public servants at the department of treasury. tear thoughtful, dedicated, focused, tear goal is to further the mission of the department and the american people. it's really my honor to work with them. and i'd like to begin with an overview on the economy and then get into the treasury budget. our economy is much stronger today than it was four years ago, but we still need policies that will help create jobs is and accelerate growth. since 2009 the economy's expanded for 15 consecutive quarters, private employers have added 6.8 million jobs, and the housing market has improved. consumer spending, business investment are solid, and exports have expanded. but very tough challenges remain. families across the country are still struggling. unempl

barbara mikulski was chairman of the appropriations committee. we had a meeting the other day, before she brought the secretary of defense hagel and secretary shinseki together asking for further cooperation. there's no question, no one disputes this, that historically these guys in the v.a. and d.o.d. have looked at each other as not as contesting agencies rather than cooperating agencies. we need far more cooperation. >> why is that? can you explain that? >> i think it's the culture of, you know, the d.o.d. has its mission, which is to fight wars, and the v.a. has its mission, which is for take care of the people who return from wars or veterans. and they've looked at each mission in a different way. what we understand is you're dealing with one human being. you were in vietnam. you were in iraq. you were in afghanistan. you served this country. we're proud of what you've done. now you're home. we're going to do our best to support you. you are one human being. and the systems have to work together in a much stronger way than they have in the p

>> thank you, chairwoman mikulski. and members of the subcommittee. i appreciate the testimony time today. 94 million refunds for a total of $250 billion. this unfolded despite the difficult challenges presented by substantial tax law changes and were not enacted until jiri second we are going to provide more online self-service option. enforced initiatives include increasing resources and tools available for identity theft and addressing other issues and improving the manner in which we use data. we have a number of initiatives. a one example is identity theft. more than double the number at the start of last filing season. the last fiscal year, the irs is spending nearly $330 million of our budget of identity theft and refund fraud. and it was money well spent. during fiscal year 2012 the irs protected more than 20 billion in revenue, up from 14 the prior year. so far the irs has been that were rejected over 3.3 million suspicious returns and i know that the current budget environment is tight. but it's important to understand that these and other a

i hope we move the nomination forward. >> thank you senator mikulski. further debate? >> mr. chairman? i can count so i know the outcome of this election but i feel compelled to just note from my colleagues that when mr. perezwasfor his nfmaon hearing, i probed a series of questions that dealt with the disclosure of np information, disclosure that i thought was rather significant because it potentially could move marketing and is the ranking member said, tell with the decision accompanied by the name of countrywide. a decision that came through late one night at 10:45 p.m., and exchange on a private e-mail with "the new york times" reporter at 11:00 p.m., 15 minutes after the decision and the day before and he public disclosure by the justice department. now, in many cases i would walk away with a conclusion from that but i did not stop there. i sent a letter to the public affairs department at the department of justice and let me just recap partially what i said in the letter. during the recent senate hearing assistant attorney general thomas perez was questioned regarding h

. >> thank you and good morning chairman mikulski and ranking member shelby. and even though not here i thank the other members of the subcommittee. i served over to the time on the subcommittee. i want to thank you for the opportunity to appear here today and only half of the men and women of the fbi. and let me begin by thanking you, particularly you do or your continued support over these 11 years that we have worked together. as pointed out we live in a time of diverse and process to threats from terrorists, spies and cybercriminals. at the same time, we face a wide range of criminal threats, from white-collar crime to public corruption to transnational criminal syndicates migrating gains, and child predators. and just as our national security and criminal threats constantly evolve, so, too, must be fbi counter these threats even during a time of constrained budgets, as senator here pointed out. today, i would like to highlight some of the fbi's highest for a national security and criminal threats. i'll start with reference to boston. as illustrated by tha

[applause] you have got outstanding members of congress led by your senior senator barbara mikulski.ou're own leader in the house of representatives, he is doing a great job every single day and he loves this state, steny hoyer. [applause] so we have got some extraordinary folks here. eli -- elijah cummings is here. [applause] but more importantly, elijah's mom is here. [applause] and we are so proud of elijah, but his mama apparently prays for me every day so i'm grateful l oftheall of your members of congress, every single day are working and fighting on your behalf in terms of making sure that we are growing, an economy that creates outstanding middle class jobs. that's the challenge that we should be rallying around every single day. and i know it can seem frustrating sometimes when it seems like washington's priorities aren't the same as your priorities. i know it often seems like folks down there are more concerned with their jobs than with yours. others may get distracted by chasing every fleeting issue that passes by, but the middle class will always be my number one focus, p

put a little tribute together for him which included a video message from senator barbara mick -- mikulski we have loved you to give us the right forecast at the right time. and from all of us in maryland who just say we love you and we want to say "you are our sunshine ♪ ♪ our only sunshine ♪ ♪ you make us happy even when skies are gray ♪ ♪ you never know how much we love you ♪ ♪ please don't take our sunshine away ♪ ♪ bye bob, we love you ♪ >> bill: who let the dogs out? she's so funny. >> we're going to miss you so bad. >> come on up and have some crab cakes. get you some crab. come on up, bob. oh boy we're going to miss you something bad bob. >> bill: she's one of the authentic characters. >> i love her. >> bill: i saw her the other night at an event. she's like three feet high. she belts it out. she's really good in front of a crowd. she's great. one of a kind. barbara mick ul ski. when harry reid said when he got to the senate, she was the only one. now there are 24. she's a pioneer. eliot spitzer will be joining us as he does every wednesday morning. mark takano, member of congress

barbara mikulski is fighting hard to make sure that this sequester that is slowing down growth that we start to see growth slowing down because of furloughs and cuts in defense spending a whole bunch of stuff that was a well thought through come with guy to make sure we got a budget that doesn't push our economy back down. we need an economy that pushes our budget back. the american auto industry is thriving. american energy is booming. american ingenuity has the potential to change the way we do almost everything thanks to the determination of the american people, we've been able to clear away the rubble of the crisis appeared were now progress, but her work is not done in our focus cannot drift. with got to stay focused on our economy and putting people back to work in raising wages and burning manufacturing back to united states of america. that has to be what we are thinking about every single day. [applause] the middle-class has been taking a beating for more than a decade. folks in washington are willing to fight back on your behalf, every single day because every single day you

senator mikulski. , mr. chairman. dr. collins, welcome and your entire team and other heads of institutes. i just wanted to tell you in the warmest way what a sense of joy and pride that i have representing nih. it is located in my home state of maryland. at aw that every day premier institution, it is one of the reasons we want to be in the senate. be an advocate for the kind of resources and policy so you get to be you and what the american people want you to do, which is defined here is for disease and find containments of disease. work for those things that can prevent them from happening or escalating. it is not only a source of pride, but i can tell you i will acrossth other senators party lines to make sure they get the kind of allocation they need to do their job. much has been said here about the sequester. i will not go into it in detail. i'm concerned about the negative impact that it has. one of the people who work at nih and those who participate in programs at the university of and others that are out there

mick lls key have work -- you and senator mikulski have worked on this. they should not be forced to live away from their children in their later, later years. senator durbin asked for recognition and senator blumenthal. >> i don't see the gentleman in the audience today. there he is. >> ok. >> i had a chance to meet and personally thank for his -- >> thank you, sir. >> for being here. >> thank you for continuing this effort. i believe senator akaka and senator inouye worked hard on this and i am glad to support your efforts today. >> thank you. anybody else? >> senator blumenthal. >> mr. chairman, i ask to be added as a co-sponsor and i strongly support this measure which recognizes the contributions of these individuals and their families to the united states. >> i also would ask to be a co-sponsor. if there is no further debate, those in favor signify by saying aye. opposed. the ayes have it. the ayes do have it. senator whitehouse, you had a -- >> yeah. >> issue you wanted to bring up. >> senator graham and i wanted to have a brief colloquy. we don't

>> part of this chairwoman mikulski, hits a little close to the individual case. and i more than willing to come up to you and talk to you about it. some of our -- >> silver spring company still millions of dollars. this has been and your own taxpayer advocate has said this is, but at other times. >> it has. >> so if it has come up at other times, art their yellow flashing lights to have dealt with this sooner? >> i think all the cases are a little different, and so not >> quite sure i'm not quite sure what individual case and i don't think i could speak to any event. but all the cases are little bit different. it does happen. there are times when taxpayers are absolutely unknowingly involved, and there are times when they are more, more part of this then not. all these things are different. what i will tell you is we will, in these cases, work with the taxpayer and try to relieve as much stress and as much liability as we can. with respect to penalties that is not difficult to with respect to interest, it'll more difficult. frankly with respect to taxes it's very

. >> senator mikulski. >> thank you, mr. chairman. yourollins, welcome and entire team and other heads of institutes. i just wanted to tell you in the warmest way what a sense of joy and pride that i have representing nih. it is located in my home state of maryland. i know that every day at a premier institution, it is one of the reasons we want to be in the senate. be an advocate for the kind of resources and policy so you get to be you and what the american people want you to do, which is defined here is for disease and find containments of disease. work for those things that can prevent them from happening or escalating. it is not only a source of pride, but i can tell you i work with other senators across party lines to make sure get the kind of allocation they need to do their job. much has been said here about the sequester. i will not go into it in dait te impact that it has. one of the people who work at nih and those who participate in programs at the university of maryland and others that are out there working every day. tha

we've worked with senators my cull skip in a re -- mikulski in a really good way, senator shelby. senator landrieu has worked hard on this bill and now she has an amendment we're trying to dispose of. i hope we'll get the approval to do that. and then once we finish our work, congressman shoe -- congressman shuster in the house needs to pass a bill or could take up our bill and pass it. when i read this list here -- and i didn't even get to all of the names -- this is one of the broadest coalitions i've ever seen behind any piece of legislation. it is a huge and important coalition. it represents america. it's people who work every day at building the infrastructure, utilizing the infrastructure, making sure that our homes are safe from flooding. the national governors association, that's a rarity to have that kind of a list. so all i can say is at these last hours -- and it looks like, gary, do we know yet when we'll have our vote? okay. at this point we're supposed to vote at noon, and we'll be back to you with some further comments. and at this point i would yield the floor so

there to call on kevin but let me also backed an hour earlier legislative process senator graham and mikulskiand others organized a series of classified briefings for senators to bring them more into awareness what is going on in this field did you were gracious enough to make one of those presentations and it was very effective and i thank you for that. proceed with your testimony that i will introduce the other witnesses as they are called up, a mr. mandia. >> thank you, mr. chairman and ranking member. today american companies will be under siege by criminal attacks, economic espionage, and today when i will talk about is as sophisticated economic espionage. while many are trying to counter the threats at the end of the day there is a security gap that we need to close. so i would like to talk about three things why the gap exists, with the private sector is doing about it and how law enforcement can help in regards to that status. first the reason of the security gaps in misheard chartered we would be very successful so i looked at the ultimate fighting champion mugging my grandmother it

. >> thank you and good morning, chairwoman mikulski, ranking member shelby, and members of the subcommittee. i served over a time on this subcommittee. i want to thank you for the opportunity to appear here today. on behalf of the men and women on the fbi, let me begin by thanking particularly you two for your continuing support over together. we live in a time of diverse and persistent threats from terrorists and cyber criminals. we face a wide range of criminal threats from white-collar crime to public corruption, to migrating gangs and child predators. just as our national security and criminal threats evolve, so reats.he fbi counter these today, i would like to highlight several of the fbi's highest priority national security criminal threats. i will start with boston. the terrorist threat against the united states remains our top priority. we have seen an extraordinary effort by law enforcement and agencies to find and hold accountable those responsible for the boston bombings. one of the bombers is dead. a suspect has been charged and we continue in our efforts to identify any others

17 senators as follows -- reid of nevada, leahy, nelson, coons, klobuchar, reed of rhode island, mikulski, warner, whitehouse, brown, cardin, casey, harkin, sanders, franken and menendez. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: madam president, we're moving forward on this. this will be the sixth or seventh year that we have tried to fill vacancies on the d.c. circuit. there are four vacancies there. i hope that the president sends us some more names. i understand that will be the case maybe before the end of this week. it's really outrageous we have been stopped procedurally from doing the work of this country in filling these nominations in this very, very important court, but anyway, we're going to have a cloture vote on this on thursday, as we should do, and hopefully finish this thing by the end of the week. if we get cloture, we will finish by the end of the week if we have to stay over another day or so. i will ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it

i want to thank my cosponsors, as of this morning, my cosponsor included senator kirk, senator mikulski senator murkowski, harkin, sanders, levin, menendez, stabenow, heinrich, boxer, gillibrand, durbin, murphy, baldwin, landrieu, brown and begich. when congress passed the e.r.a. in 1972, it provided that the measure had to be ratified by three-fourths of the states, 38 states, within seven years. this deadline was later extended to ten years by a joint resolution enacted by congress. but ultimately only 35 of the 38 states required ratified the e.r.a. when the deadline expired in 1982. congress has the authority to give the states another chance and should do so. in 1992, i want to point out to my colleagues that the 27th amendment to the constitution prohibiting immediate congressional pay raise was

second it is not what barbara mikulski says about how he stood up to predatory lenders or functions in terms of insuring failed labor practices. i would conclude my remarks by thearyland chamberf commerce. and typical -- chamber of commerce, absolutely 100% chamber of commerce and they said this. mr. perez proved himself a pragmatic public official who was going to bring different voices together. the maryland chamber had the opportunity to work on and a ray of issues of importance to employers and the business community in maryland from unemployment housing and foreclosure crisis, regulation of financial institutions, worker safety and professional licensing. despite differences of opinion mr. perez was always willing to allow all parties to be heard. we found him to be fair and collaborative. we believe our experience in maryland would bode well for the nation. i hope we move the nomination forward. >> further debate, mr. chairman? >> you can be recognized and i can count so i know the outcome of this election. i feel compelled to just note for my colleagues that when mr. perez was h

as secretary arne duncan wrote in a letter to chairwoman barbara mikulski about the effects of the sequester"education is the last place to be reducing our investment as the nation continues to climb out of the recent recession and to prepare all of its citizens to meet the challenges created by global economic competitiveness in the 21st century. indeed, irk i can assure that you our economic competitors are increasing, not decreasing, their investments in education, and we can ill-afford to fall behind as a consequence unfortunate indiscriminate across-the-board cuts that would be required by sequestration." secretary duncan goes on to explain that sequester will create particular hardships for recipients of impact aid, which includes schools that serve native american students and children of military families. in addition to investing in education, we should be build being up and repairing our nation's infrastructure. cuts to economic -- the economic development administration will hinder the ability to leverage private-sector resources to support infrastructure projects that spur local

the women of the senate have been getting together this way ever since barbara mikulski started thisong time ago. >> twenty years ago. it was a very good conversation, a lot of it was about the budget and what impressed me the most is republicans and democrats alike in that room, and we run the range, liberal or a conservative, were very serious about the budget issue. and in that room to almost to a person i think said on willing to take a test but if everyone does. that gives me hope. so i think for the 20 women and around speakers i've heard this a number of times. [laughter] i don't disagree on that. last question and then a silly out question. but if there's no deal this year, is it fair to say there's not a deal until after the next presidential election speaks well look, here's how i would answer that. the american public, all of us, are tired of managing by crisis. it is hurting the businesses. it's hurting our families. and when i took on the supercommittee, the one thing i said was i want to find a solution to the deficit problem, but also want to show the american public t

chairman mikulski, i would like to thank you for your support to the bureau over the years i have been director and for your support of our office. our transpour formation over the last decade would not have been possible without not only your cooperation but your support. for that we in the bureau thank you. again, i look forward to any questions you may have. >> thank you, very much, director, for your testimony. i anticipate that other members will be joining this committee. all our appropriations subcommittees are holding hearings today, so everybody is spread a bit thin. i want to go to the reduction in 014 and the sequester even more. let me go to the consequences of your request and the consequences of sequestration in 2014 and 2013. we are already in a tight budget before sequester. >> yes. >> we already faced a reduction. >> but -- >> go ahead. >> in response to one of the comments senator shelby made, in terms of being a nimble f.b.i., and to continuously reprioritize , i would say we are working to do that. and we moved from a system where we went from what has been the impa

we were able to do, though, is to make sure that the appropriators knew our concerns -- senator mikulski and senator shelby -- worked with us on a letter, and it really commits to helping us move toward the new authorization levels in this bill which ratchet up spending on the ports. we also make sure that some of our ports that are donor ports -- let's say the one in l.a. long beach that don't have deepening issues on the channel that need to use those funds for other uses, get a chance when those moneys come in to have an opportunity to get back. some of my people are paying in pennies on the dollar. it isn't fair. so we do try to address the issue of the larger ports, the smaller ports, great lakes. we make reforms of the inner way waterway system, critical for transporting goods throughout the country. expediting product delivery is something we do. and i want to take a moment here. i want to be unequivocal on this project delivery piece. i stand here with credentials going back forever. in my case, it's a long time. and i can say very proudly that every single environmental law stay

but his office gets called into the same is true for senator cardin and mikulski. senator cardin is on these issues and mikulski is conservative to put yourself and social and economic issues and that's good, but i think she needs her feet to be held to the fire on these foreign policy issues. calls are important, letters to the editor are important, just a more active concern about what is happening in the international arena because frankly i think this country is sound asleep on these national security issues and we are paying a price for that. >> thank you for such a comprehensive overview of the subject. would you comment on the military aid that we give to countries around the world clean as having an influence on policy. >> i am a critic of military aid. if you look up the top six recipients of military aid, it is hard to see what we get backed for that kind of assistance. israel, egypt, turkey, pakistan, afghanistan and iraq. israel i would argue does not need military aid. they have a very successful economy and have to make the same choices we do about gu

cut to the women of the senate have been getting together this way ever since barbara mikulski startedhis a long time ago. >> 20 years ago. it was a very good conversation and a lot of it was about the budget. what impressed me the most is democrats and republicans in the room, and we run the range, were very serious about the budget issue. they said they were willing to take a tough vote if everyone was. that gives me hope. a we can put 20 women in room, we can probably come out with a deal. >> ever heard that a number of times and i don't disagree. question and it's kind of silly. but if there's no deal this year, is it fair to say there will not be won until the next presidential election? >> the american public, all of us, we are tired by management -- of management by crisis. it's hurting our businesses and their families. i said i wanted to find a solution to the deficit problem but i also wanted to show the american public that a democracy can work. if we are forced through another budget crisis, manufactured way of getting to a budget deal, that's going to reinforce that we can

barbara mikulski is on the appropriations committee; she's fighting hard to make sure that this sequesterhat is slowing down growth, and we're starting to see growth slowing down because of furloughs and cuts in defense spending, and a whole bunch of stuff that wasn't well thought through -- we've got to make sure that we've got a budget that doesn't push our economy back down. we need a budget that pushes our economy back up. the american auto industry is thriving. american energy is booming. american ingenuity in our tech sector has the potential to change the way we do almost everything. and thanks to the grit and determination of the american people, we've been able to clear away the rubble of the crisis. we're now poised for progress, but our work is not done, and our focus cannot drift. we've got to stay focused on our economy, and putting people back to work, and raising wages, and bringing manufacturing back to the united states of america. that has to be what we're thinking about every single day. [applause] the middle class has taken a beating for more than a decade. you deserve