mikulski: madam president, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. shelby: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. shelby: is there a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes. mr. shelby: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. shelby: madam president, we've had a spirited debate today for very important reasons, and i will conclude my remarks on this bill by just observing that with very few exceptions we've heard nothing but positive comments from our colleagues today here in the senate. we've also heard what an important step this will be to reestablishing regular order in the united states senate appropriation process. in the appropriations world, regular order means receiving the president's budget, holding hearings, marking up bills, and bringing them to the floor of the senate with an open amendment process which both sides of the aisle need and want. the passage of this omnibu

mikulski: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: mr. president, i come to the floor today as the chairperson of the appropriations committee, a committee i'm honored to chair to support the consolidated appropriations act for fiscal year 2014. this bill passed the house on wednesday with a stunning, an amazing vote of 359-67. the purpose of this agreement is to fund the operation of the federal government for the remainder of fiscal year 2014. the vote in the house which i hope will be parallel here in the senate shows what working together based on civility, listening to each other, being willing to compromise but not capitulate on principle but negotiating on what are the appropriate fiscal levels, show we can get the skwr-b -- job done. in today's era of shutdowns, slowdown, slam-down politics where negotiating occurs on cable tv rather than in committee rooms, we work together, setting aside partisan differences, working across the aisle and across the dome, we looked to find how we could put together a bill that both sides of the a

mikulski: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: again, i rise to compliment a subcommittee chairman. the senator from arkansas took over this committee the first time this year, so he is a new chairman although he is not new to the issues. i'd like to thank you for the work that you did and the bipartisan tone that you set. again, you have done an excellent job, i believe, working with the senator from missouri, senator blunt. and what was impressive was how you took really -- when we say agriculture, mr. president, that's one word, but agriculture in this country is very diverse. so am i right that you handle everything from artichokes to catfish? what do you handle in your bill? mr. pryor: we handle everything from artichokes to catfish and everything in between. in our bill, we take the entire department of agriculture, with the exception of forestry, forestry goes to another subcommittee, and we also do f.d.a. really, if you look at -- for example, i men

mikulski: well, i thank the gentleman from florida. it's just wonderful for both my colleague, senator shelby, and i to -- you're an astronaut senator. and to come from an astronaut senator to say, we think you're doing the job right, means a lot to us. ththe senate has been blessed by having three astronaut senators. senator jake garn, republican from utah, senator john glenn of ohio, and senator bill nelson. now, some of us have been in orbit a long time but you actually knew what you were doing. so thank you very much and we're trying to add gravity to this bill. mr. shelby: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. shelby: i just want to pick up on what senator mikulski was talking about. senator nelson has been not only an advocate for the space program for nasa, he, as most everybody knows, has been up there. and i was traveling with him one time and i believe we were over asia and he was showing me from the plane -- we couldn't see as well as he could from rotating the -- but i was very impressed. but

i want to pick up with what senator mikulski said. most of us have read these comments at the outset, even if some of our colleagues have very distinct policy difference is, which is we need to see if i think continuing to express our support for the men in the minute the intelligence community who do these jobs in and close ways and in dangerous ways. they have been under challenge with concerns about the nsa programs, snowden affair, effexor sequestration disproportionate perhaps in virginia and maryland, but all across the country. china director clapper, was talked about ways to give them some of the recognition. the state of being addresses i hope will continue to find ways that we can during these challenging times, a firm to their extraordinary work these men and women do protecting our country. i want to take my moment to, director clapper, it is following up on what senator mikulski race, i think the challenges around cyberterrorism and cyberthreats by the public report put out a year ago about coming out of china and russia.

andnt to take a moment follow-up up on what senator mikulski race. the challenges around cyber terrorism grow. a report was put out one year ago about challenges in china and russia. i believe you stated last year that you thought that the effect cyber attacks on america had an estimated cost close to $300 billion in economic damage. that is damage in terms of direct attack, and i also think that we see time and again cases where intellectual property is taken. people can enter the marketplace, leapfrogging over research and design, because the steel our intellectual capital. we have seen a series of committees looking at some of the data breaches. we are talking about 70 million intentional loss of data with target alone. they were disproportionately ill equipped. this is an indication that industry by industry, these attackers can find the weakest link and even companies who are doing the right thing, their colleagues in the industry are not keeping up to the standards that best set and there is a challenge. set and there is a challenge. is there a

mikulski: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: madam president, i rise today to speak on the consolidated appropriations act of 2014, but before i make those comments, i want to associate myself with remarks of the gentlelady from california, ms. boxer, and also the gentleman from rhode island, senator jack reed; and also all of those who voted to move forward where we continue to provide an economic social safety net for those people who have lost their job and are actively looking for work and to continue this economic and social contract that's been part of the way americans respond to help other americans at a time when they're down but they shouldn't feel like they're out. and i would hope that we could put party rancor aside, that we would adopt -- look at commonsense ways to move this bill forward. in terms of the so-called pay-fors, i've been here a long time. i've never seen this pay-before before -- this pay-for before on unemployment compensation particularly on a 90-day bill. we're talking about 90 days and w

i'm very proud to be part of the tireless effort of chairwoman mikulski. she has worked very hard to make sure we have a full appropriatioappropriation act t. just like chairman ry ryan and i said when we finished our deal, i'm pretty sure that chairwoman mccull scad and chairmachairwoms would say this is not perfect. but because they were willing to compromise, they're delivering far more for the american people than either could have done if they had refused to work together. mr. president, if this legislation is passed into law, which i strongly believe it will be, we will have a choice to make. we can build on the bipartisan work that's been done so far and continue reaching agreements through compromises, like people across this country do every day, or we could see more of the all-or-nothing approach which caused so much damage last year. i was in fact really disappointed that yesterday my colleagues rejected a good-faith offer to provide relief to workers and families who are still struggling in this country to get back on their feet, even after dem

lowey have done, along with senator mikulski and senator shelby, have been amazing. i want to thank mr. fattah for his partnership and help and, you know, just thank you. you've done a great job. i want to acknowledge the staff diane, as lie, jeff, well as bob and matt. they have done an incredible job. if the american people could have seen the hours, and i want to thank them. this bill totals $51.6 billion which is $1.4 billion below the enacted 2013 level. we have reduced spending by more than $12 billion for agencies funded in the c.j.s. there's no reason why anyone would vote against this bill. we're even $200 million below f.y. 2008, and so it's done an incredible job. the bill includes $8.3 billion for the f.b.i. to fight crime and protect the nation from further terrorist attacks and expand the f.b.i.'s capabilities. also, in addition is $1 million for an independent review to report to congress, to be conducted by an outside commission to look at the progress made over the last decade on the implementation of the 9/11 commission. i lost several hundred peopl

mikulski: madam president, i rise today to speak on actually two topics. one on extending the unemployment benefit program that is so essential to the people of maryland and to other fellow americans, and also to comment on the national security agency's surveillance programs, the need for reform of the program but the need to reject the mission of the agency and to cast a disparaging light on the men and women who work there. let me start first, though, talking about unemployment benefits. i come here today with great sense of urgency and passion over the fact that we need to extend these unemployment benefits that expired january 1. this is one of the coldest spells that we've had in decades in the northeast-midwest area. and i cannot -- i find it unfathomable when it is so cold that the big chill in washington is that we're not going to extend the unemployment benefi benefits, that extending a warm, helping hand to americans who have lost their job through no fault of their own and have been unemployed for more than six months. where are our national

paul ryan and patty murray sat down and hammered out a budget mikulski andara senator rogers put together the spending bill. this was an amazing breakthrough. we haven't done this for years. at one point, speaker boehner had to stand up to the tea party and say i know it's a compromise we are going forward. he continues that spirit, maybe we will get a farm bill. but the get an increase in the debt ceiling? >> am not going to speak for the republican arty. the president's position is clear. we should not play russian roulette. we should not jeopardize growth and kill off job because of another political squabble. we went through a 16 day government shut down because senator cruz another right wing republicans that is a good to do. it was a disaster and i hope they don't repeat it again when it comes to the debt ceiling. >> you can hear more from the sunday talk shows. they re-air in their entirety on c-span radio. you can tune in now and later tonight after midnight. the rnc met in washington last week for it annual meeting. they voted to make the primary time shorter for prime -- for can

susan collins started the group and it was half republicans, including kelly ayotte and lisa mikulskiand jeanne shaheen and myself, and senator heitkamp. we worked together and helped to lead the group and made a big difference. i think those friendships and that trust that we have is genuine. we get together for dinner every other month. the last event was at my house. we had in minnesota potluck dinner spent what was the hot dish? >> chicken. the one before that was in a mikulski and her husband actually fixed fish salmon and froze it and send it to her. >> wow. >> we allow the men to be hunter gatherers. [laughter] >> great. i'd like to ask all three congresswomen here, have you seen this spirit that the senator is talking about? we haven't heard about it translating to the house as much. hasn't been an effort to translate to the other chamber? what kind of partnerships are being formed? >> we certainly are having it in the freshman class. i'm a new member of the wanted 13th district in the st. louis area, and we just had a great dinner this weekend with a freshmen members from the

before that was senator mikulski and her husband actually fixed the salmon and froze it and sent it to her. we allow the meant to be hunter gatherers. [laughter] >> great. i would like to ask all three congresswoman -- have you seen this spirit that the senator is talking about? we haven't heard about it has leading to the house as much here and has there been an effort to translate it to the other chamber and what kind of partnerships have been formed? >> recently have in the freshman class. we just had a great dinner this week with the freshman members from the democrat side of the aisle and the republicans. i won't tell you how many bottles of wine we went through. [laughter] and what we talked about was coming together and getting things done. women are born networkers. they are born communicators. we are multitaskers. we are solution oriented and i think there are lots of opportunities for us to come together and make things happen. that is why i came to congress. i am somewhat discouraged with the level of dysfunction, to be perfectly honest. we can be vehicles of change in movin

been the chairman and breaking member of the different committees with dianne feinstein and arba mikulski and we have a way of getting down to business, kind of like douglas macarthur said. we are organized. we kind of say, this is where i am. you tell me where you are. and it's not that we compromise principles. we stand for the principles that we are able to move forward and do so many important things via allowing the basics of negotiation, which are that both sides can win something and move an agenda forward. then you have the people to decide if you are going the right direction. because thank heavens, we have great elections but we give the people the chance to say yes or no. [applause] >> the governor had a couple of daughters. i was wondering, excuse me. i was wondering what their contribution to texas was? >> who did you say to governor hobby? >> governor hogg. >> oh, okay. he gave a great constitution per se. and he was a contributor to the great state of texas. he has given so much to the history and culture of our state. the home that she had in houston is called bio band. it

appropriations committee chairman howard roger roger and senate appropriations chair will manage barbara mikulski the legislation will probably reach the house floor on january fifteenth now it is joint statement the lawmaker said quote not everyone will like everything in this bill but in this divided government a critical bill such as this simply can not reflect the wants of only one party we believe this is a good workable measure. lawmakers agreed to fund defense spending at five hundred seventy three billion dollars for the current fiscal year the bill also cuts funding for buying and developing new defense technologies and weapons systems. and finally jim rickards we apologize ahead of time the bad news for all you gold bugs out there according to goldman sachs head commodities research where there are now gold bullion and beginning of the year rally will not only lose steam but prices could drop sharply by the end of twenty fourteen potentially all the way down to one thousand dollars per ounce that's a sixteen percent drop from current prices of one thousand two hundred fifty one dollars

appropriations committee chairman howard roger roger and senate appropriations chairwoman of barbara mikulski the legislation will probably reach the house floor on january fifteenth now at a joint statement the lawmaker said quote not everyone will like everything in this bill but in this divided government of critical bill such as this simply can not reflect the wants of only one party we believe this is a good workable measure. lawmakers agreed to fund defense spending at five hundred seventy three billion dollars for the current fiscal year the bill also cuts funding for buying and developing new defense technologies and weapons systems. and finally jim rickards we apologize ahead of time the bad news for all you gold bugs out there according to goldman sachs head commodities research where there are now gold bullion and beginning of the year rally will not only lose steam but prices could drop sharply by the end of twenty fourteen potentially all the way down to one thousand dollars per ounce that's a sixteen percent drop from current prices of one thousand two hundred fifty one dollars

appropriations committee chairman howard roger roger and senate appropriations chair will manage barbara mikulski the legislation will probably reach the house floor on january fifteenth now at a joint statement the lawmaker said quote not everyone will like everything in this bill but in this divided government a critical bill such as this simply can not reflect the wants of only one party we believe this is a good workable measure. lawmakers agreed to fund defense spending at five hundred seventy three billion dollars for the current fiscal year the bill also cuts funding for buying and developing new defense technologies and weapons systems. and finally jim rickards we apologize ahead of time the bad news for all you gold bugs out there according to goldman sachs head commodities research where there are now gold bullion and beginning of the year rally will not only lose steam but prices could drop sharply by the end of twenty fourteen potentially all the way down to one thousand dollars per ounce that's a sixteen percent drop from current prices of one thousand two hundred fifty one dollars p

. --.ara mikulski get your thoughts on this trillion dollar spending bill. 585-3880. (202) republicans(202) 585-3881. independents, (202) 585-3882. many of the papers this morning having the winners and losers of what is in this legislation. restoringthat has, is -- that has come up is restoring issue -- benefits to military. they kept most of those cuts from military retirement benefits. susan, walbridge, ohio. what are your thoughts? caller: i think it is too much for the military. why don't we pay them? they should get paid by the hour. this spending bill, do you think it is something they should be voting on? caller: i don't think so. they should vote on unemployment right now. they might lose their homes, or all sorts of things might happen to them. i don't get it. the republicans are something else. i have never seen anything like it in my life. host: mike, independent color. caller, a fewst of us do get it. look at the obamacare. , whethervidual congressional or representative in the house has read the bill. look at the problem we are in now because of our two-party system. the

mikulski: i move to reconsider. i move to lay on the table. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the clerk will report h. con. res. 74. under the previous order, the concurrent -- the clerk: h. con. res. 74, concurrent resolution providing for a correction in the enrollment of h.r. 3547. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the concurrent resolution is agreed to and the motion to reconsider considered made and laid upon the table. mr. grassley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa is recognized. mr. grassley: if i'm not bothering anybody else, i'd like to start. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. all senators please take conversations off the floor. the senator is entitled to be heard. mr. grassley: today i would like to continue the discussion about the destruction of the senate as a deliberative body and continue to echo the call of the distinguished minority leader for a return to a functional senate. i've spoken on this issue before, and i think it's best

inbara mikulski of maryland the flush of victory said this could bode well. one thing people are looking for or are worried about is a compromise on immigration. we will see house republicans releasing their principles on how to do with immigration. it will be a real test on the farm bill and immigration whether the spirit of the omnibus compromise leads to legislative achievements in the coming months. we will really be into the midterm election season. host: another question -- technically, there are no earmarks. rks hasinition of earmake to be below a certain level. there's a different definition of earmarks. there are certain pet projects in their in energy and water related to the army corps of engineers and certain energy projects. government groups are still going through this to come up with their tally. it depends on the definition. if you have a really wide definition of earmakrs, congress would say you are defining is out of the whole process. this is a debate that still goes on. technically, as far as tiny or secretive things that are slipped in t

you saw barbara mikulski working with her counterpart to get an actual budget done, and now we're seeingng the door on immigration when we already have a very strong bipartisan comprehensive bill in the senate. so in part because of the anger of the american and in part because the president is out there mupushing, i think we are going to see movement to get some things done, so i think this is a combination of the president showing leadership and also congress finally getting that message that the american people want congress to move and move forward. >> the pushback from critics, as you well known, this is badly timed because things do seem to be happening, just the laundry list that you said, yet he keeps talking about the pen and the phone. senator coburn accused the government of devisiveness this morning. let me play that for you. >> what we need is real leadership and my friend has used the politics of division more than any president i know in my lifetime, and what you have today is tremendous anxiety in our country. >> do you understand the concern about the number of executive

murray, democratic senate budget committee chair, sat down and hammered out a budget and then barbara mikulski and congressman rogers put together the spending bill, an amazing break through. and at one point, speaker boehner will to stand up to his tea party republicans and say, i know it's a compromise, we're going forward. if he continues in that spirit, maybe we'll get a farm bill after waiting on the house for two years. >> do you get an increase in the debt ceiling without a fight? >> i'm not going to speak for the party. the president's position is clear. we should not play russian roulette with america's economy. we shouldn't jeopardize this economic growth and kill off jobs because of another political squabble. we went through the eight 16-day government shutdown because senator cruz and a lot of right wing republicans thought that was a good thing to do. it was a disaster. i hope they don't repeat it again when it comes to the debt ceiling. >> senator durbin, thank you so much for your time. >> thank you, david. >>> coming up here if you haven't noticed, there's a lot of talk about

i want to commend chairwoman mikulski, without whom this would not have been possible. it was, above all, her relentless pursuit of this goal and her unmatched ability to rally her subcommittee troops to get us to this point. but also i'd note that she was helped by some of the most hardworking members of the senate staff that one can imagine. i'd especially like to commend tim reecer of my staff and others who worked with him. again, keep track of the number of times i was getting calls or e-mails at midnight or 1:00 a.m. from tim on this as we worked through all the difficult parts. but it helped that we had the cooperation of my friend from alabama, senator shelby, the committee's ranking member, who knew how important it was to pass appropriations bills rather than put the government on autopilot. so this means there will be no sequester in fiscal year 2014. there will not be another disastrous government shutdown. you know, this government shutdown some tout, "look what we've done." what you did was you cost the taxpayer some $24 billion and private industry tens o

2 veterans of congress -- hal rogers, house appropriations committee from kentucky, and barbara mikulskits from maryland. the 2 of them worked in a closed-door setting for several weeks to nail this down, and they are confident they have the support of their respective caucuses to move this thing forward. >> peter, stay with us. we are thrilled to bring in fiscal analyst p.j. o'rourke. we really have to go back to "parliament of whores," that lasted. >> no kidding. >> what is new now versus when you wrote this classic? >> i wrote the book 22 years ago and i gave it to a friend of mine, and andy ferguson, the best political writer, and i said, "would you update this book?" he said "all you need to do is move one decimal place on over." >> are the party's fading away within our massive independent registration? >> no! this is what is so weird. basically, americans are politically independent, and yet the parties remain strong. why? because of their fundraising mechanisms. their brilliant fundraising mechanisms. moronic.ally, they are practical politics, they are useless. but boy, can they

in the spending bill, thanks to chairman mikulski is exemplary legislation talents, there is a provisionvides 120 days, within 120 days to put forward a multitier strategic plan. and so they will cripple us if we talk about the budget stuff without their presence and what it will look like with the prerogatives over the budget issue with omb. as we go forward, we are going in a moderate pace. requirement will be done within 120 days and i'm expecting that they will actually have a report within 120 days and i'm hoping that you and omb will put suitable effort. at a rapid rate in which this is growing and morphing into more complex and varied threats, all the ways in which it can affect ordinary americans. and it adequately structured with the problem in the long haul. what assurances can you give me about this with a multiyear strategic plan within 120 days. >> i don't want to be alarmist, but i think that this is well-founded. >> we have a lot of cybercapabilities that are associated with criminal organizations and nationstates. and we have adequately responded to it. and we have an exa

lowey have done, along with senator mikulski and senator shelby, have been amazing. i want to thank mr. fattah for his partnership and help and, you know, just thank you. you've done a great job. i want to acknowledge the staff diane, as lie, jeff, well as bob and matt. they have done an incredible job. if the american people could have seen the hours, and i want to thank them. this bill totals $51.6 billion which is $1.4 billion below the enacted 2013 level. we have reduced spending by more than $12 billion for agencies funded in the c.j.s. there's no reason why anyone would vote against this bill. we're even $200 million below f.y. 2008, and so it's done an incredible job. the bill includes $8.3 billion for the f.b.i. to fight crime and protect the nation from further terrorist attacks and expand the f.b.i.'s capabilities. also, in addition is $1 million for an independent review to report to congress, to be conducted by an outside commission to look at the progress made over the last decade on the implementation of the 9/11 commission. i lost several hundred peopl

she did get a letter from senator barbara mikulski saying, quote: i am just as frustrated as you areealth reform. i am particularly disappointed that the exchange web sites did not operate smoothly. now, this is the same problem, jon, that the federal government had, the so-called back end of the system which tells state officials and insurance companies who has enrolled. >> the back end's not working. there's no way to effectively match policies and people. >> reporter: and that profor vicki, of course, is a nightmare scenario that just keeps repeating itself. maryland, which planned to be a national model, had signed up less than 19,000 people by the end of of december. analysts say the federal government is still having the same sign-up snags and that more problems like vicki's are likely to emerge in the coming months. jon? jon: all right. jim angle keeping an eye on that side of the story for us from washington. thanks, jim. >> reporter: you bet. jenna: another big story, the president is about to lay out his vision for the future of the nsa surveillance program in a highly-anti

what the fair pay bill that barbara mikulski is we incentivize employers to tell what you pay employees, you can't be penalized for asking about a salary, incentivizes people to publish what different industries are paying their workers so that you actually can figure out am i being paid fairly. it's illegal to be -- it's not illegal to be d -- it's already -- it's focused on transparency. >> i want to ask you about the chatchter in the report that notes that even the women in higher ed tend to clust for the majors that lead toward lower paying jobs. the helping professions in many cases. this pipeline starts early. there's a report that of the approximately 30,000 high school students who took the a.p. computer science exam in 2013, only about 20% were women. is this cultural? can you get at this through law? are there other things you have to do to close the pay gaps an the choices people are making in their own careers? >> we have a goal of trying to incentivize more girls and minorities to go into stem subjects, science, engineer -- science, tech nelling, engineering and math this e

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 believe in a moment

>> well, the seating arrangement, i think, is something that was done by mark udall, lisa mikulski. i think it's a good sign. >> ifill: democrat and republican sitting together. >> it will be an endote to the up-down, whatever, puppet strings applause lines. there's separation of powers. >> elena kagan, steven breyer. but it's not mat jort who sit with the other party. by and large the democrats sit on one side, and the republicans sit on the other. president greeting members of the joint chiefs of staff, the head of the military branches, as he makes his way up to the podium, the front of the house of representatives. >> ifill: you'd think maybe he's done this before. now comes the moment in which he makes his nirs address, and then the applause continues a little bit longer because that's the way they do it. >> woodruff: and the tradition has it that the president-- if i thought we could hear, i'd stop talking. if the president gives the speaker a copy of his remarks, one year, when bill clinton was president, he handed a copy to the then-republican speaker, and there was nothing.

this debate, i want to take the opportunity again to thank chairman ronellers, to thank senator mikulski and senator shelby on the other side of the aisle. it really has been a pleasure to me to work with chairman rogers and all the ranking members on both sides of the aisle to produce this bill that i think we can be very, very proud of. i also want to thank again the appropriations staff on both sides of the aisle who are looking forward to a good night's sleep tonight. they have worked incredibly hard through the holidays but because of them, and because of the partnership, we are very proud to present this bill. 2015 and forward to we will have more time to consider the suggestions from all of our colleagues in working on this bill, i know that we will continue to invest in programs and projects that strengthen our economy and create jobs. although we could not include it in this bill, i do hope that we will have the opportunity very, very soon to pass an extension of unemployment insurance. oh. and in closing, the great ranking member, mr. farr, has just returned and i would like to

i want to thank you and senator mikulski for such a thoughtful opening statement.l submit my statement for the record, but i want to say we are witnessing an energy revolution in the country today. reducing more energy at home here than we had in decades. to translate that into numbers, predicts the u.s. will average 8.5 million barrels of oil per day in production, one million more than the average in 2013, and most importantly, very near the record of 9.6 million barrels per day last achieved in 1970. that is why we are having the hearing today, and i think the testimony that mr. hamm and others will provide is this number could be increased substantially based on new technologies, new opportunities that will benefit not just the exploration of production companies in which many hail from louisiana but also the land , the oil supply and gas suppliers and the general many factors that make products completely unrelated to oil and gas and employee a great deal of americans that are experiencing additional supply potentially, stable prices and reasonable prices. i w

think for your purposes we have an excellent panel this one and want to thank both you and senator mikulski for such a thoughtful opening statement. i'm going to say that my statement for the record but i do want to say that we are witnessing an energy revolution in the country today. producing more energy at home here than we have in decades, and to translate that into numbers, the eia predicts this year the u.s. will average a .5 million barrels a day in production, 1 million per day more than the average in 2013. and most importantly, very near the record of 9.6 million barrels a day last achieved in 1970. that's why we're having this hearing today and i think the testimony that mr. hamm and others will provide is that this number could be increased substantially, based on new technologies, new opportunities which will benefit not just the exploration and production companies, which many of from louisiana, we are proud, but also the landowners, also the oil supply and gas suppliers, also the general manufacturers that make products completely unrelated to oil and gas but that is a great

to do, if we would just take these bills to the floor as the new appropriation chairman, barbara mikulskifor maryland would want to do and destined or shelby, the leading republican on that committee would want to do, take those bills to the floor like we did for 30 years in a row, and that any member of the senate, any member of the house could bring an them as how they would like to spend money better and the appropriators, to the best of their ability, defend the bill that brought to the floor, but occasionally members come up with something better than you thought of to spend that $10 million or whatever amount of money it is. that's how you set priorities. so one thing about the system working again, we set the bar now so low that we surely can get over it. we surely can because it's not a very high bar. if we just go back to the normal way of doing things. if we would, you know, to legislate, we don't have to have a total rewrite of the tax code to do better than we've been doing. we can look at all the pro-job creating bills the house has passed that have sent to the senate. surely

inbara mikulski of maryland the flush of victory said this could bode well.hing people are looking for or are worried about is a compromise on immigration. we will see house republicans releasing their principles on how to do with immigration. it will be a real test on the farm bill and immigration whether the spirit of the omnibus compromise leads to legislative achievements in the coming months. we will really be into the midterm election season. host: another question -- technically, there are no earmarks. rks hasinition of earmake to be below a certain level. there's a different definition of earmarks. there are certain pet projects in their in energy and water related to the army corps of engineers and certain energy projects. government groups are still going through this to come up with their tally. it depends on the definition. if you have a really wide definition of earmakrs, congress would say you are defining is out of the whole process. this is a debate that still goes on. technically, as far as tiny or secretive things that are slipped in there,

in the spending bill that was just passed thanks to chairman mikulski's exemplary legislative talents, there is a provision that requires the department of justice within 120 days to put forward a multiyear strategic plan for this. you know i have had this discussion with the department of justice and the department of justice has said we can't talk about this because o.m.b. is not in the room and they will whip us unmercifully if we talk about budget stuff without their presence because it will look like we're submarining the prerogatives of the white house over budget issues so we brought o.m.b. in. and those discussions have gone forward at a moderate pace. i just wanted to flag for you this legal requirement that it be done within 120 days because i'm expecting that there will be a report within 120 days and i'm hoping that you and o.m.b. will both put considerable effort into it because if you look out four or five years at the rapid rate in which the cyberthreat is growing, in which it is morphing into more complex and varied threats, and at all the ways in which it can affect t

what we need to do, if we take these bills to the floor as the new appropriations chairman, senator mikulski and senator shelby, the leading republican on that committee would do, take those bills to the floor like we did for 30 years in a row and let any member of the senate or house and bring a amendment as they would like to spend the money to the best of their ability, defend the bill they brought to the floor, but occasionally members come up with something better than you thought of to spend that $10 million and that's how you set priorities. so one thing about the system working again, we have set the bar now so low that we surely can get over it. we can chin that bar because it's not a very high bar. if we go back to the normal way of doing things -- you know, to legislate, we don't have to a total rewrite of the tax code to do better than we have been doing. we can look at the pro-job- creating bills. surely some of those could pass the senate. we could look at these manufacturing things that a number of us are involved in a bipartisan way, and energy will drive manufacturing. more

what the fair pay bill that barbara mikulski is we incentivize employers to tell what you pay employees, you can't be penalized for asking about a salary, incentivizes people to publish what different industries are paying their workers so that you actually can figure out am i being paid fairly. it's illegal to be -- it's not illegal to be d -- it's already it's focused on transparency. >> i want to ask you about the chatchter in the report that notes that even the women in higher ed tend to clust for the majors that lead toward lower paying jobs. the helping professions in many cases. this pipeline starts early. there's a report that of the approximately 30,000 high school students who took the a.p. computer science exam in 2013, only about 20% were women. is this cultural? can you get at this through law? are there other things you have to do to close the pay gaps an the choices people are making in their own careers? >> we have a goal of trying to incentivize more girls and minorities to go into stem subjects, science, engineer -- science, tech nelling, engineering and math this ebes

mikulski: i ask now for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bill for a third time. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. there is. the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will read the title of the bill for a third time. the clerk: h.j. res. 106, making further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2014, and for other purposes. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the question occurs on the passage of h.j. res. 106. the yeas and nays have been ordered. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: the presiding officer: does any senator wish to vote or change his or her vote? the ayes are 86, the nays are 14, and the joint resolution is passed. without objection. the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from south carolina. mr. scott: i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. scott: thank you, madam president. madam presi