mikulski: but i'm the lead-off speaker, and, madam president, i want to be very clear. why are we on the senate floor? we believe that women need a fair shot to get equal pay for equal work. we want the same pay for the same job, and we want it in our law books and we want it in our checkbooks. we want to finish the job that we began with lilly ledbetter five years ago. five years ago one of the first bills passed during the obama administration was that we passed the lilly ledbetter bill which reopened the courthouse door to women who wanted to seek redress for the way they were treated unequally in the workplace. but we need to finish the job, and that's what paycheck fairness does. what does finish the job mean? well, right now in the united states of america there is a veil of secrecy, a veil of secrecy. and where is it? in the workplace. right now in many companies and businesses, employees are forbidden to talk about the pay that they receive with another employee. the other thing is in many places when an employer seeks redress, she's retaliated against. and last

mikulski: thank the senator for his comments. the presiding officer: majority time has expired, madam chairwoman. ms. mikulski: thank you. that answer my question, mr. president. msmr. reid: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not. mr. reid: at 4:30 today, the senate proceed to executive calendar 556, 502, there will two minutes of debate equally devoided between the two leaders or her designee. the senate proceed to vote on the nominations. ththe motion tothe motion to red on the table, with no intervening action or debate, and the nominations be printed from the record and president obama be notified's senate's action and the ha senate return to legislative session. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: for weeks republicans have been trying to get democrats to focus on the one issue that americans say they care the most about, and that's jobs and the economy. everyone agrees we're in the midst o

mikulski: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: mr. president, what is the pending business before the senate? the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. ms. mikulski: i ask that the quorum be vacated. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. mikulski: and what is now the pending business on the floor? the presiding officer: the motion to proceed to senate 1992 -- 2119. ms. mikulski: i believe the number of that bill refers to the paycheck fairness bill; is that correct? the presiding officer: the senator is correct. ms. mikulski: what a bloodless way to talk about such a important public policy issue, to use the motion to proceed -- and very few people to realize -- to simply get a bill on the senate floor, we have to vote on a motion to proceed on whether we're going to take it up. and because this is now going to require a 60-vote majority because of the invoking of this fog of filibuster, we can't even get to a majority vote on how to make sure women get equal pay for equal work. no wonder people are fed up with us

that's why i worked with senator collins, senator mikulski to work op the equal pay agent. this proposal prevents retaliation against employees who inquire about, discuss, or disclose salaries. it reenforces current law, which prohits pay discrimination based on gender, and requires employers to notify the employees of the rights, but we don't stop there because i believe we need a solution that addresses both discrimination and the opportunity gap or the need to provide both men and women with good paying jobs. our amendments cop sol date due publictive job training programs and provides federal grants to states for the creation of industry-led partnership. this program is met to provide women and men who will under represented in industries that report worker shortages with the skills they need to compete. such industries include manufacturing, energy, transportation, information, technology, and health care. importantly, no new spending is appropriated. up fortunately, my colleagues from the other side of the aisle are blocking consideration of what i believe is this ver

[applause] senator mikulski. [applause] congresswoman delauro. [applause] >> and i want to thank all members of congress and all the state legislators who are here and all the advocates who are here, because you'll contributed to that effort. and i want to give a special thanks to the members of the national equity -- equal pay task force who have done outstanding work to make workplaces across america more fair. we are here because today is equal pay day. [applause] equal payday. and it's nice to have a gay. [laughter] but it's even better to have equal pay. at our job is not finished yet. equal payday means that a woman has to work about this far into 2014 what a man earns in 2013. think about that. a woman's got to work about three more months in order to get what a man got here because she is paid less. that's not fair. that's like adding an extra six miles to a marathon. it's not right. ain't right. it's not right and it ain't right. [laughter] american should be a level playing field, a fair race for everybody, a place where anybody who's w

the senate, when it comes to the fair paycheck act, and it failed twice before, and will senator mikulski get enough votes to avoid the filibuster? >> well, we will see, but regardless of what happens, it is important for us to stand for the women and the families of the country and say it is not right to have people discriminated against based on the gender. >> i am curious, i know that the women of the senate on both sides of the aisle meet. do you have these conversation, and what do the republican women say about this? >> well, when we meet on the bipartisan basis and having one of the dinners tonight, we will go by mikulski's rules which is what is said at the dinner stays at the dinner. >> okay. senator jeanne shaheen, and no rule-breaker you. thank you for being on the program. and back to irin and rebecca, it is worth point ought that in the 120 midterms women voted republican 49% of the time compared to 48% of the time for democrats. very, very different than what we saw in the obama/romney split. so where is this debate going as we head towards the midterms? >> well, i would say

so i think this is why senators barbara mikulski and barbara boxer are looking into it and saying this doesn't sound right. >> axelrod: and some legal challenges already under way. we'll see how those turn out. jill schlesinger, thank you. >> thank you. >> axelrod: it's one thing to get touched by an ankle but touched by a fan seemed to upset an outfielder. curtis granderson caught a ball and was tapped on the back by a fan. he thought it crossed the line. they exchanged words and the fan was eject from the stadium. just ahead, take a look at this $120 million home and that is a mark-down. clb >> prince william and kate, the duchess of cambridge, and baby prince george continued their royal tour. nearly 10,000 people greeted the couple. they laid flowers at a war memorial and the duchess of cambridge visited a children's hospice. when it comes to location, location, location, there's no more valuable location than greenwich, connecticut-- or at least that's the location of what's believed to be the most expensive private home ever sold in the united states. the 13,000 square foot mansi

so we have to fix that problem, and barbara mikulski and the president led us and he signed the bill, the lilly ledbetter which extends statute of limitations so when you find out you've been discriminated against, you can bring a lawsuit. all this says is you can find out for sure earlier by just asking someone. so i am just in shock. and don't tell me women don't want fair pay; all they care about is flexibility. you can't buy groceries with flexibility. and if you want flexibility in the workplace, you can work that out. but get your pay first. for example, i have employees, men and women, who want to get their pay settled, and then they'll say is it okay if i work four days a week at the same level but i don't get paid for that fifth? that's fine, if that's the flexibility workers want. but don't substitute flexibility and say if you want to work four days a week, we'll give you that. but guess what? you'll be paid less for the job than a man. please. yes, we are obsessed with this. we are, because we democrats believe in justice and fairness and equality not just in words and spe

i'm going to bring up barbara mikulski and run that sound bite just in response.ouldn't it be better for the republicans and democrats to actually put on the table things that address the problem that does exist, right? it does exist. we agree to that. >> no. it does not exist in places that i've had some effect on. and it doesn't exist for a lot of people i know. it may exist elsewhere. if it does, they should have targeted legislation to address it. a lot is done at the state level. washington, d.c. is run by democrats. is there a problem? and they can pass whatever they want locally and statewide to address this alleged discrimination. if there's some horrible problem, let them pass it. where is the legislation? shouldn't. >> first of all i don't think there are company heads that say i'm going to discriminate against women. it is there. for example i know a major magazine editor when this person was hired to take over the magazine immediately looked at the salaries and there was complete discrepancy between men and women. the first thing this person did was fi

and i now turn it over to senator barbara mikulski. >> mr. chairman, thank you so much. thank you for scheduling this hearing and i know that there have to be some arrangements made earlier. i thank you for your long-standing commitment to the military. and you are going to hear from penny, who was a young military officer. and there was a tragic helicopter shooting and by her own grid and courage and bravery, she is now a congresswoman and we are awfully proud of her and the health care system to bring her back on. >> today's we will do the budget, we have to focus on several things. so much as we have silence for fort hood and it shows that we need to have a renewed commitment also to military health. so much of military focuses on acute care and in a way what i ever disagree that we need to support that. this includes the battlefield, the mental health that service has taken, and the mental work that we need to do it if you care. but that is really based upon research and i really believe that we thank you again for what we are putting in the president and let's take

senatormy mikulski chairedded ts subcommittee hearing. >> good morning. the subcommittee on commerce justice science will come to order, and, today, we'll take testimony on the budget request from the department of justice. today, we'll be listening to the attorney general, eric holder, testifying in behalf of the justice department, and after that, we hope to hear from the justice department's inspector general, michael h organization rowitz. one important oversight issue, this is a committee of not only making sure we spend the right money in the right way, but also to make sure we have the wonderful advice of the inspector general. at the -- we want to alert everyone, though, there could be the possibility of votes beginning at 11:30, so we're going to kind of move it, and, so this is a hearing today one of 60 hearings in six weeks where we're doing our due diligence in taking a look at the requests from the agencies and the president's budget. today, we really take testimony from i think one of the most important agencies in the government copslation.

senator mikulski. and

baldwin: i'd like to start by thanking senator mikulski for organizing us all today but much more importantly for your leadership over the years on this issue. we are so proud to have you as our dean. i've come to the floor today on equal pay day to stand up and speak out about an issue that impacts women and families in every state across this country. today i rise to give voice to the belief that we need to be working together across party aisles to build an america where hard work is rewarded and where there is a fair shot for everyone to realize their pursuits and dreams. in america today the growing gap between rich and everyone else is at its largest point in 100 years. the absence of upward mobility for hardworking families demands action because if we can't close this gap we might someday talk about the middle class as something we used to have not something that each generation can aspire to. as i've traveled my home state wisconsinites have told me that the powerful and well-connected seem to get to write all their own rules while concerns and struggles of middle-class families ofte

senator mikulski, and congresswoman delaurel. i want to thank all of the members of congress and state legislators here and advocates who are here, because you all contributed to that effort. i want to give a special thanks to the members of the national equity -- equal pay task force who have done outstanding work to make workplaces across america more fair. we're here because today is equal pay day. [ applause ] >> equal pay day. and it's nice to have a day, but it's even better to have equal pay. and our job is not finished yet. equal pay day means that a woman has to work about this far into 2014 to earn what a man earned in 2013. think about that. a woman has got to work about three more months in order to get what a man got because she's paid less. that's not fair. that's like adding an extra six miles to a marathon. it's not right. ain't right. it's not right and it ain't right. america should be a level playing field, a fair race for everybody, a place where anybody who is willing to work hard has a chance to get ahead an

senator mikulski. and congresswoman delaural. i want to thank all the members of congress, all the state legislators who are here, all the advocates who are here, because you all contributed to that effort. and i want to give a special thanks to the members of the national equity equal pay task force. who have done outstanding work to make workplaces across america more fair. now, we're here because today is equal payday. equal payday. and it's nice to have a day. but it's even better to have equal pay. and our job's not finished yet. equal pay day means that a woman has to work about this far into 2014 to earn what a man earned in 2013. think about that. a woman's got to work about three more months in order to get what a man got. because she's paid less. that's not fair. that's like adding an extra six miles to a marathon. it's not right. ain't right. it's not right and it ain't right. america should be a level playing field. a fair race for everybody. a place where anybody who's willing to work hard has a chance to get ahead.

yesterday, chairman mikulski of the senate appropriations committee, had a hearing on research and we had some great witnesses. among them, dr. francis collins, who is the head of the national institutenationalinstitutes of . they came to talk about america's investment in research and innovation. you would think that with the success of the salk polio vaccine and all the other things that have followed, that america would have learned a valuable lesson about this investment. but, sadly, today, some 60 years after the discovery of the salk polio vaccine, we are not making progress as we should. in fact, in some respects, we are falling behind. because of our failure to adequately fund the national institutes of health over the last 10 or 12 years, we've seen a 20% decline in the awards for medical research. 20% of worthy research projects have not been funded because we have not put the money down to make it happen. i talked to dr. francis collins about this two or three months ago. he heads up the n.i.h., a brilliant, wonderful man who was in charge of mapping the human genome projec

. >> warner: in the senate, democrats, led by maryland's barbara mikulski, joined in trying to ratchet up the pressure. >> we want the same pay for the same job. and we want it in our lawbooks and we want it in our checkbooks. >> warner: republicans accused the president and democrats of using the pay issue purely for political gain. cathy mcmorris rodgers represents a district in washington state. >> on this equal pay day, let's stop politicizing women and focus on the policies that are going to empower women and create a higher paycheck, more opportunities, and that opportunity for a better life. >> warner: house majority leader eric cantor, said both sides should take a look at existing laws. >> it's probably better for us to sit down and see that the law is being properly implemented, rather than play politics. >> warner: the political volleys underscore the key role of women voters in elections. mr. obama won women by double digits in the 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns. as did democrats in the 2006 mid-terms, when they captured majorities in both the house and senate. but re

senator mikulski,

i'm here with travis mikulski, an deputy editor of autoblog. thank you for being here.e have been talking about how very little she has said and what potentially she might have known. people seem to be asking how could this woman spent her entire career and had so many senior positions and not known anything about this until she was ceo? >> it's not only her, but past ceos. she said they did not know anything either. has -- how has this gone from being known by nobody in the company to being known by everyone in the company. >> there are a lot of people here who feel strongly that they should be held liable. what kind of recourse do they have? nothis a revenue company and longer associated with this? >> it is a tricky situation. we've spoken about how there was the possibility of bankruptcy because of the liability of this .ailure there are a number of loops to jump through. there are some pretty wild ways to do it. have retained someone to help advise in this? >> that's a good sign gm intends to compensate the victims and the victims families. there has been talk of st

listen to this from democrat senator barbara mikulski of maryland. >> i am telling you if we don't passhis bill i am so emotional i am going to press on. it brings tears to my eyes to know how women every single day are working so hard and getting paid less. i get a angry. i get out rage, i get volcanic. stuart: turns out some democrat senators should practice what they are preaching. this from the washington free beaten. on average democrats in the senate a female staffers $5,500 less than men. senator mary landrieu of louisiana the average male salary in her office 13,000 higher than the average for females. senator kay hagan north carolina paid male workers $15,300 more than women. let's move beyond whether or not men and women get equal pay for equal work. forget that for one seconds. seems to me this gender pay issue doesn't have much traction for the president at the moment. >> not right now but you are seeing phase ii of the war on women. the original war on women was based on free birth control, reproductive rights, all the things the democrats pushed to get women voting in 2012

barbara mikulski mentioned she plans on holding her first full committee markup on may 22. and that is also going to be the military constructions veterans affairs bill. soon thereafter, she situate like to focus on agriculture. host: you can follow her reporting on twitter.t thanks for joining us. >> at an event marking nato's 65th anniversary, vice president biden talked about the importance of the military alliance and how nato members should react to russia's violation of ukrainian sovereignty. his remarks of the atlantic council in washington are 20 minutes. [applause] >> see the respect this group has, mr. vice president? theehalf of fred kemp and atlantic council, welcome to our family. we have members of the board of directors. we have members of our international advisory council and most important, we have got some serious leaders from europe who are trying to determine their destiny around europe full and free. so over the last day, we have had the pleasure of hearing from many of these leaders. and it really is a distinct letter to conclude this extraordinary an

. >> senator mikulski, thank you for your leadership on this issue. i've come to the full floor today support of equal pay for equal work. collectively we are still working toward the spirit when the equal pay act was signed, with women were earning 59 cents on the dollar for every dollar earned. women are taking head found that median earnings for women were lower than those for men and 264 out of 265 major occupation categories. 56% of all occupations, men get paid more than women. the effects of discrimination are real and long-lasting. women are roughly the same as first paying for college, but according to the american association of women, these women make only 82 cents on the dollar compared with men one year after graduating. but they face an even deeper road to repay those loans. unequal pay means until her retirement in the average person that collects social security will receive about $3000 less each year than a similarly situated man, because the benefits they earned are less when they are working. there is a big problem and women are fed

and i thank all our leaders here, i particular want to acknowledge senator mikulski, our colleague from maryland, for her extraordinary issue on pay equity issue, on this particular issue, on paycheck fairness, and for the work she's done throughout her whole career as a real leader on gender issues. as senator shaheen pointed out, today we call equal payday. the reason for that is that women on average earn about 77% of what a man earns for doing the same work. we're not talking about different work. the exact same work. women are discriminated against in the amount of compensation they receive. so on average, women have to work three additional months every year to earn the same amount of money that a man earns for doing the same work. that's just not right and needs to change. today i was at the white house with the president and some of our colleagues. lilly ledbetter was there. as i know the presiding officer recalls, lilly ledbetter has been one of the leaders on pay equity. she worked at goodyear for over 20 years. after being there for two decades, she found out from one of her

. >> it's interesting, on friday, you know what happens, senators boxer and mikulski wrote to the administrationour article. what reforms are they calling for? >> they want the social security administration and the treasury department to back off on these very old debts where they're going after not the person who was overpaid but their children. they want the government to be more humane about this and they don't understand why this removal of the statute of limitations was put in place a few years ago. i tried to get to the bottom of that. i asked social security, they said ask treasury. i asked treasury, they said ask congress. congress said go back to the bureaucracy, it had to come from somewhere in there. this happened in the final months of the bush administration but we don't know if it was a political appointee or career bureaucrat who set it in motion. >> appreciate it. >>> what complaining on the stand could mean for oscar pistorius as he wraps up a week of testimony. bloating? one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three ty

lunches action of the party lunches come up at 12:30 and members will return with senator barbara mikulski was the sponsor of the equity built which is before the senate and democratic colleagues talk about that bill which requires employers to pay men and women a similar publications the same wages for similar jobs. now to live coverage ofde the. senate. dr. black. the chaplain: let us pray. eternal god, today make our lawmakers instruments of your grace and goodness. teach them how to be patient with themselves and each other. forgive them when they permit impatience to lead them astray preventing them from seeing the wonder and majesty of your purpose for our nation and world.

after the paycheck fairness act failed to reach a vote in the senate, that is the second barbara mikulskiclip we've shown. but molly, i wanted you to say something before the braechblg. >> i think the problem for republicans is they don't have a good answer on this. so even if there are a lot of problematic aspects of what the democrats are saying here, you just played a bunch of clips of middle-aged white men basically telling all the ladies that this isn't a problem. and women feel this very viscerally. so to tell them that they're exaggerating, or that it's all in their head does not go over well. that sort of classic man-splaining. so i think republicans have a lot of work to do themselves and that is quite alienating. >> i know they were concerned about what you're talking about, and they made more of a concerted effort, like kathy mcmorris rogers giving the state of the union response this year, in terms of putting more female faces. but that hasn't turned into much so far, has it? >> well, they do that, but it's still going to be the case that the majority of republican politicians

the bill sponsored by barbara mikulski had 52 sponsors, but democrats were unable to persuade republicans to vote for the legislation, which needed a 60-fold -- a 60-vote threshold. had it passed, the bill would have made it illegal for employers to retaliate against workers who inquire about or disclose their pay. goose creek, south carolina, a vietnam veteran. caller: how you doing this morning? yes, i am a totally blind veteran, a lifetime member of the dva, which is the -- the bva , blind veterans association. was progressive. i was not totally blind until 2000, but i can say that the teva system -- dva system has been wonderful for me -- the v.a. system has been wonderful for me. i have been to several blind hospitalsses or rehab in augusta. they have trained me on the computer, and they have issued me brand-new computers, all to help blinded aides , and iate my disability found out that word-of-mouth through the veterans is essential for veterans to be knowledgeable of what benefits they should be looking for if they have a problem. they should seek out other veterans who are in the

mikulski: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: madam president, i rise today to speak on paycheck fairness, the bill that we will be voting on tomorrow in the united states senate. during the next hour, 11 women -- 11 democratic women will be coming to the floor to speak. i ask -- but i'm not going to introduce each one. we want to get right to the issue rather than flowerily talk about each other; we want to talk about the need for paycheck fairness. so i ask unanimous consent that each woman speak up to five minutes each. the presidinthe presiding offict objection. ms. mikulski: but i'm the lead-off speaker, and, madam president, i want to be very clear. why are we on the senate floor? we believe that women need a fair shot to get equal pay for equal work. we want the same pay for the same job, and we want it in our law books and we want it in our checkbooks. we want to finish the job that we began with lilly ledbetter five years ago. five years ago one of the first bills passed during the obama administration was that

mikulski: mr. president, i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote? if not, the ayes are 51. the nays are 40. the nomination is confirmed. the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that -- the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the rest of the votes tonight be ten minutes in duration. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion. we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of david weil of massachusetts to be administrator of the wage and hour division department of labor signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the que

committee i look forward to working with her and with our leading full committee chair, senator mikulski, to make sure that we are successful in fighting ardently, steadfastly for amtrak this year and in the future. i come to talk about the importance of our national passenger rail system, amtrak because this isn't just about getting people from point a to point b. investing in amtrak means creating jobs, making our economy or dynamic and america more competitive. amtrak is performing better and better each and every year and as the presiding officer knows, all too well, ridership over the last decade has steadily increased. in fact, ten of the last 11 years have seen record numbers and last year we broke through 31.6 million riders on amtrak. the trains are more and more crowded but are arriving more and more frequently on time and the quality of the train sets and the quality of the service provided by the conductors and the other folks who work for amtrak has steadily increased. as the value proposition of amings that-track has increased, so has ridership and though record ticket sale

and women are overrepresented in low-wage jobs and that's why i'm so proud senator mikulski is going to lead us next week toward equal pay for equal work, a wonderful bill. i think it's called the paycheck fairness act. and i will tell you this, when we lift the salaries of these workers, it helps entire families. senator harkin's bill which we're all supporting, will benefit 14 million children, and we have to do it, we have to do it for workers like wendy arellano who works directing vehicles at an airport and she has two other jobs, i say to my colleagues, but she still doesn't make enough to support her two daughters. we should do it for women like sherrica elliott who works as a janitor scrubbing the floors and cleaning the toilets but still doesn't make enough to keep her gets pooch the poverty line and do it for women like nia potts who is working so hard to finish her college degree but is struggling to support herself and her son. i joined nia at a press conference last week. in closing i want to talk a minute about the tipped minimum wage. this is a disscrais -- discrais be

first our chair, barbara mikulski. she's from the northeast corridor. i often stop by in baltimore as i take the train from new york to washington. and she has been a staunch defender of amtrak from the day she got here. and to chairman murray. chairman murray is chairman of the transportation subcommittee. she is not from the northeast corridor, and, of course, cares very much about amtrak across the nation and has been a defender of those of us who care about amtrak and depend on amtrak in the northeast as well as throughout the whole country. and in tough budget times, these two folks have stood up from amtrak from one end of the nation to the other and we very much appreciate that. now, as the committees begin their work on the fiscal year 2015 appropriations, my colleagues and i are here to urge something that will benefit millions of riders on the northeast corridor which runs from boston to washington, d.c. and i want to say, mr. president, we are mindful of the fact that we depend on national support for amtrak, even though the northeast corrido

of 1938 and so forth and for other purposes signed by 18 senators as follows -- reid of nevada, mikulski, murray, durbin, yibled, schatz, heinrich, baldwin, boxer, stabenow, hirono, hagan, landrieu, mccaskill, shaheen, feinstein, klobuchar. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. bennet: mr. president, thank you very much. for that recognition. i come to the floor today to talk about jobs and about one sector in particular, -- maybe we should should have a job sector to fix this desk but that's not what i'm here to talk about. one job sector that's created tremendous job growth in colorado and across the united states and that's wind energy and the jobs that it's brought to our state. during last thursday's markup in the finances committee, we worked in a bipartisan fashion to include a two-year extension of the production tax credit known as the p.t.c. any -- and the investment tax credit known as the i.t.c.