mr. mcconnell. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: madam president, i'm here in support of what our colleague from arizona is going to be talking about shortly, and it's basically this -- we have a white house that is busily at work trying to quiet the voices of those who oppose them. by doing the following -- they are proposing a new regulation directed at 501-c-4 organizations who have been active for over 50 years in expressing themselves about the issues of the day in our country. and this regulation actually predates the i.r.s. abuses that we saw during the 2012 election. i've spoken about this a number of times, including a couple of major speeches at one of the think tanks here in town about what a threat it is to citizens when the heavy hand of the i.r.s. comes down on them because they speak up against policies of the government. this regulation that senator flake is going to speak about here in a few minutes that we'd like to see delayed for a year has generated 120,000 comments -- i would say to my friend from ari

mr. mcconnell: reserving the right to object. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, could we have order in the chamber. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. mr. mcconnell: we have a number of ideas on this side of the aisle to promote economic growth and job creation, and we would like the opportunity to offer amendments to implement these ideas. for example, senator paul has an amendment to create economic freedom zones to help struggling areas of our country to recover from economic downturn. senator tim scott's skills act would improve job training programs for the very long-term unemployed. his extension is actually designed to help. in addition, senator ayotte, collins, portman and others have been working very hard. senator coats as well; to come up with a path forward on a meaningful offset that would extend unemployment benefits without adding to the deficit. their ideas have so far been blocked. so i'd like to ask the majority leader to modify his request to provide for an orderly process for amendments. i ask consent

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: late last week the obama administration proposed yet another round of drastic cuts to a popular medicare program used by millions, millions of american seniors. not surprisingly, they did it quietly in the hopes that these latest cuts to medicare advantage would somehow get lost in what some folks the friday news dump. but the american people aren't easily fooled. the far left has always hated medicare advantage. it is a program that offends them ideologically because it offers more market-based choices to seniors than traditional medicare. but the left's prodding is not the only reason the obama administration has already cut the successful program so deeply and why it now plans to cut it even deeper. the hundreds of billions of dollars worth of cuts that washington democrats want to impose on medicare advantage, cuts that will cause millions of seniors to lose doctors and face higher premiums are basically to fund obamacare. some folks might describe this as robbing peter

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: would the senator withhold his request? mr. toomey: happy too, yes. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent to proceed on my leader time. the presiding officer: the senator has that right. the senator is recognized. mr. mcconnell: yesterday we were, instead of finally explaining to the american people why he believes certain employers should get obamacare exemptions while the middle class should not, well, he just double downed again on the same old talking points. it's truly disappointing. i wish he'd finally agree to work with republicans on a way to replace obamacare with bipartisan reforms that could help the middle class and those who are hurting the most. because this much is now perfectly clear. obamacare is not working the way the administration promised. it's hurting the middle class, it's eliminating incentives to work, in the middle of a jobs crisis, and it will lower overall compensation, things like salaries, wages, and benefits for the american people. with those who earn the lea

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: over the past several years i've often come to the floor of the senate to talk attention to the obama administration's radical environmental agenda, and the deeply harmful effects it is having on the people of kentucky. the environmental protection agency's war on coal is the most obvious and tragic example. today i'd like to highlight this administration's environmental agenda at perhaps its most absurd. and at the heart of our story is a two and a half inch minnow, two and a half inch minnow. called the dusky tailed darter. a two and a half inch minnow called the dusky tail darter. last week the obama administration sided with this minnow over the economic well-being of thousands of people in southeastern kentucky who live near or depend on lake cumberland as a major driver of commerce, tourism, and recreation. obama administration the obama administration did this by determining that the presence of the darter in the lake's tributaries meant that the raising of the lake's

mr mcconnell as the pleaded not guilty he was acquitted by the jury at dublin circuit criminal court this afternoon i think it's time to honor members to stick to have voted in favor of strike action in their long running dispute over pensions the dispute centers around the restructuring of the joint attending to dublin airport to parse the pension scheme which has a deficit of around seven hundred and eighteen million euro the team to start everyday with up to me but realistically the other parts of the tag anywhere from two weeks from today. extensive could it be would you go for the nuclear option b to b o would you be looking for words to mood or anything like that. the tories what with the whip in the election commission. what are probably so from the militant committees that don't look like as if it's going to be there more harder of the offense rather than dollars with events i want to something when talking to you and your election to withhold it from a neighbor the funniest and standing by for a second chance a serious thing but that week and looking at the prospect of cance

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. icials and an inspector general's report confirmed what we've been hearing from constituents transvestite quite a while, that the i.r.s. was being used to target americans for daring to exercise their first amendment rights. for daring to think differently, for daring to hold opinions contrary to high-ranking government officials. they confirmed that civic groups the administration opposed, including at least one in my home state of kentucky, were harassed and bullied by the i.r.s. they confirmed that individuals who supported these groups were intimidated and attacked. and they confirmed something else, too, that this happened in the runup to a national election. so americans were rightly outraged, outraged, when the worst fears of citizen organizations came to light. and americans rightly expressed the obama -- the american people rightly expected the obama administration to take concrete steps to end this harassment once and for all. to put safeguards in place that would ensure the

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, a broad, bipartisan majority in the senate would like to vote on iron sanctions. the dilemma we have here is that the majority leader doesn't want this vote to occur. so i'd like to start this morning with a few words about an issue that should be of grave concern to all of us, and that is the threat of the of a nuclear-armed iran. now, it's no exaggeration to say that this is one of the most significant foreign policy challenges of our time and one that we simply have to get right. that's why a strong bipartisan majority has sought to pass legislation here in the senate that puts teeth into the negotiations that have followed november's interim agreement. the challenge we've had is the majority leader doesn't want us to vote on it. it could be that he's afraid it'll actually pass. republican senators and hopefully some democratic senators as well are going to continue to press the majority leader to allow a vet on this legislation before -- a vote on this legislation befor

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: the two parties have engaged in a lot of big debates over the past several years, and no one obviously should be surprised by that. the president came into office vowing to fundamentally transform the country, and a lot of us have had big problems with the policies he has tried to implement in pursuit of that goal, but there are some things we should all agree on, and one of them is this -- no president, no president of either party should use the power of the federal government to punish his ideological opponents. that's why when the targeting of conservative groups by the i.r.s. came to light after the last presidential election, just about everybody denounced the nixonian tactics up and down and loudly declared that it should never, never be allowed to happen again. they knew that this kind of targeting represented a direct attack on our most fundamental of freedoms on our abilities to organize and educate and engage in the democratic process, and while the abuse may have

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: republican leader.nt -- mr. mcconnell: today is an important day. it's the last day of the so-called comment period, when americans can officially register their opinions on the i.r.s.'s latest effort to suppress free speech. so far nearly 100,000 comments have come through. 100,000. nearly everyone i've seen is opposed. just to put things in perspective, that's basically the largest number of comments ever, ever for a rule like this. even the head of the i.r.s. said he saw more comments on this proposal than ever before on any regulation. and that was 70,000 comments ago. 70,000 comments ago. the commissioner of the i.r.s. said this is the most comments he'd seen on any regulation. so people are surely making their voices heard, and loudly. and the message they're broadcasting is pretty clear. leave the first amendment alone. leave it alone. get out of the censorship and harassment business. stick to the job you're actually supposed to be doing, and let's be clear, the folks who are logging opinions li

mr. mcconnell and fact checkers were quick to point out the problems, many of the media outlets pushed the story. obamacare beats a january enrollment projection. and enrollment in obamacare rises, more young adults sign up. well, more than what? they have way more than they wanted. more from ed henry, and joe trippi. >> megyn, the bottom line is the big picture is pretty bad for the president because the original projection of 7 million people enrolling even under the best case scenario they talked about tonight, 3.3 million people enrolling as of now. they have until now to get them enrolled. they believe the website set them back so badly at the beginning. but the bottom line is even if they pick up more enrollees they're far short of what they projected. but there is good news we have to point out. you mentioned numbers of the people enrolling, in january there was a 65% increase from december in terms of the percentage of young adults signing up. those young people are obviously very important to the math here but there are a lot of details they're leaving out. for example, how many p

mcconnell: mr. president, the state of the union speech last week president obama promised america a year of action. he says he wants to use his pen and his phone to make it happen. well, here's what i say. use that pen and that phone of yours today for the keystone x.l. pipeline. the jobs that will be created almost immediately. here's something both parties can agree on. i see my colleague from north dakota here. nobody's been more aggressively advocating the keystone pipeline than he has. this is an important shovel-ready project for america. here's the president's chance to work with republicans on a bipartisan plan to create thousands, literally thousands of private-sector jobs almost immediately. here's your chance to show you're not captive to the ideological extremists on the left. here's your chance for action on a policy the american people actually want. here's your chance, mr. president, on friday the state department released yet another report concluding what the president and everyone

mr. mcconnell and fact checkers were quick to point out the problems, many of the media outlets pushed the story. obamacare beats a january enrollment projection. and enrollment in obamacare rises, more young adults sign up. well, more than what? they have way more than they wanted. more from ed henry, and joe trippi. >> megyn, the bottom line is the big picture is pretty bad for the president because the original projection of 7 million people enrolling even under the best case scenario they talked about tonight, 3.3 million people enrolling as of now. they have until now to get them enrolled. they believe the website set them back so badly at the beginning. but the bottom line is even if they pick up more enrollees they're far short of what they projected. but there is good news we have to point out. you mentioned numbers of the people enrolling, in january there was a 65% increase from december in terms of the percentage of young adults signing up. those young people are obviously very important to the math here but there are a lot of details they're leaving out. for example, how many p

mr. mcconnell. >> it's not that they're not voting, but the republicans refused to allow their votes to be said out loud because they didn't want anybody to know how they were voting on the debt ceiling. they asked harry reid's permission to do it this way and said out of deference and respect to his republican friends, he would let them do it. really weird. nobody has done this in congress in years. c-span was furious. all the reporters who cover this stuff from the senate gallery were furious. this was essentially a way to obscure what the vote was. they couldn't tell what the votes were because they weren't said into the microphone. a reporter from roll call was so annoyed in trying to figure out which republicans actually voted for this thing because some of them clearly did that he went town to the senate clerk and asked to see the actual scrap of paper on which the clerk marks the votes by hand. as people vote in order to figure out who done it. and it's amazing, look, roll call's now posted it online. the actual sheet. see the senator's name in the center column there and the clerk

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? i spent the morning over at the supreme court. i was there to support the plaintiffs in a very important case against overreach by the environmental protection agency. and here's what i say this -- why i say this case is important. not only for kentucky but for the entire country. first of all, it involves the all-important question of whether elections actually still matter in our country. i say that because four years ago, president obama tried to push far-reaching energy regulating legislation through a congress that was actually at the time completely dominated by his own party. he had a 40-seat majority in the house, he had 60 votes in the senate. the cap and trade bill passed the house but did not pass the senate. but even with then-speaker nancy pelosi and a democratic majority leader in the senate, just couldn't get the votes to enact the cap and trade bill. a democratic-controlled congress beat back the president's plan to radically upend energy regulation in our country. they stopped the national energy tax. just a few m

mcconnell, murase, ms. wynns, fewer, ms. weigh and mr. logan. please join me in the pledge of allegiance. >> pledge of allegiance. >> approval of board minutes. we are voting on the regular meeting minutes of january 4, 2014. roll call vote. ms. weigh, logan, murase, mcdonnell, ms. wynns and miss fewer. thank you. >> item b. presentations total to the board of education. superintendant. >> good evening. our superintendant sends his regrets. he's out of state given some weather changes he is unable to make it here this evening or trying to make his way to san francisco. today nearly 150 sf students partook in a health care assimilation in the way that science and technology and principles apply. each team participated in exploring and research and spent time with educators and other assimilations. they were able to gain insight to career opportunities and talent to improve health care stimulation. students of stark elementary are taking to the streets to promote peace in the world as of martin luther king jr. junior day as they prepare to march a

mcconnell took every opportunity to mention mr. paul. >> please to be here with colleague senator paul under senator paul's bill which i'm proud to be a co-sponsor of. we have senator paul's very creative idea. senator paul's freedom zone's act. >> i'm getting the feeling that rand paul was there. you may recall when rand paul ran for office four years ago, it was only after paul won that primary that mcconnell threw his support behind him. paul has endorsed mcconnell even though paul may be more attuned to mcconnell's tea party views. >> you know, things are complicated with regard to endorsements but i would say, one, because he asked me and, two, he asked me when he did not have an opponent and, three, i'm also somebody who believes in bringing people together. >> things are complicated, rand paul says. it's complicated. perhaps more fitting for a facebook relationship status update than an endorsement. joining me now is joe arnold, political editor at our affiliate has in kentucky. does mcconnell need rand paul to vouch for his

national hotels union and right through that rift to meet with mitch mcconnell republican leader in the senate. prior to that meeting, mr. taylor already said he was bitterly disappointed with obama care and before that another union leader that leads the labor union he said to harry reid, look we have concerns about obama care and we want changes and you are not listening to us. there is a public splins and th obama care. >> we'll go to the issues as to why? issue number one. the unions want the president to keep his pledge. pledge on what? >> the pledge from the president if you like your plan you can keep it. the unions want to president to keep that pledge. a lot of union guys will be switched off their plan and they are insisting that the president live up to his promise. if you like the plan keep it. >> second issue you believe it undermines the unions themselves and they themselves are reaching the conclusion? >> yes obama care undermines the reasons to join a union in the first place. union officers have good health care plans and they are genous. and they will taxed and some of those plans may with withdrawn. i

mish mcconnell is saying this, mr. president, no more stalling. no more excuses.w jersey governor chris christie knew about lane closures on the george washington bridge. this whole thing being dubbed bridgegate. this according to a letter from the a port authority official who oversaw the closing. christie has denied knowing anything about the closings until after it happened. but an attorney says evidence exists. no word on what that evidence is. >>> a 6-year-old girl kidnapped outside her houston home is rescued after asking for help inside a store bathroom. he snatched the girl while the mother was unloading groceries. ramos then stopped at a nearby target and told the little girl to use the restroom. that's when she asked a woman for help. ramos left the store before police arrived, but was later caught at a hospital where his wife had just given birth. >> i'm happy they captured him. i hope he get what he deserves. >> the little girl was not harmed in the kidnapping. >>> this is probably the cutest thing you're going to see all day. this baby girl watching h

. >> senator mcconnell is less popular than president obama in kentucky and that's a low bar since mr. obama lost by 23 points last election. mcconnell is in constant odds with the president, a third of kentucky's republican voters says he compromises with the white house too often. mat bevin is challenging him from the right. >> the people of kentucky have had enough of you fighting desperately to keep your job while doing nothing to help keep jobs in kentucky. >> it's not just a tea party republican attacking him. mcconnell's democratic challenger, allison grymes is playing up his inside erstad at us. >> there is a degree of dysfunction in washington, d.c. and after 30 years, senator mcconnell is at the center of it. >> for three decades, mitch mcconnell has represented kentucky in washington, weathering battles and rising to become the senators top republican leader. with his next election nine months away, a poll shows the democratic grymes four points ahead. career journal washington correspondent jim carrol said this virtual dead heat has the gop concerned and democrats smelling

mr. reid reid: reid: madam pres? reid i have nine unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have my approval and senator mcconnell. i ask unanimous consent these requests be agreed to and printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: madam president, chairman leahy has told me that he has no need for a roll call vote on this. i would hope that others would also agree. mr. grassley: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, james donato of california to be united states district judge for the northern district of california. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the yeas and phas nays are orde. under the previous order, all postcloture time is yielded back and there will be two minutes of debate equally divided between the two leaders or their designees. order, please. mr. grassley: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: for the benefit of the people of this country that have been listening to the c

mr. chairman. mammoth thank you, senator mccain. -- >> thank you, senator mccain. senator mcconnell he. >> as we look at this challenge thatn light of our belief these should be grandfathered in and we look at this $6 billion , are there things you can sit with other folks at the pentagon with the joint chiefs and say are there areas where over a year's period, we can try to find money? >> we have already accepted the need to do that with the piece of this that is already inside the dod budget where we pay into the accrual fund. passed, legislation was our can't -- our accounts were credited that $500 million in we started to plan to use it. we're going to have to backtrack on that if this proposal is repealed. we are prepared to make the difficult decisions. if we are asked to account for the money that is outside the dod budget, the $6 billion that spending, thaty is a difficult column 4 -- difficult problem for us. >> would you like to -- to find theepared 500 million dollars year. we think grandfather is the right thing to do for the people. we are prepared to address that chall

mr. obama didn't work with republicans. that's his charge. they didn't play ball with them under no plan. the real tragedy mitch mcconnells saying here is none of this was necessary. republicans have always been willing to work with the president on reforms that would have been broad bipartisan support. and we believe a far better impact on the lives and livelihoods of ordinary americans, things like paring back regulations, tapping into vast energy source through projects like the keystone pipeline and putting the nation's finances on a more solid footing. he is basically saying if the president would sign up for the republican party, become a tax paying duce member paying of the republican party somewhere in chicago, he would be okay. >> right. even by the low standards for honesty in washington, that op-ed by mcconnell was extraordinary. >> i remember. when the president was trying to do a bipartisan health care bill. >> yeah. >> and they were struggling to keep mike enzi on the team and orrin hatch and baucus was doing his best, trying to make this bipartisan. one by one they jumped because they were afraid what was

mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the at a time to be determined by me with the concurrence of senator mcconnell, the senate proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 561, that there be 20 minutes for debate equally divided in the usual form, that upon the use or yield being bacf that time, the senate proceed to vote on the nomination, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate, that no further motions be in order, any related statements be printed in the record and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action and the senate then resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to calendar number 248. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 248, s. 1254, a bill to amend the harmful algo blooms and hypoxia research and control act of 199 1k3-1998and for other purposes. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. reid reidmr. reid:: mr. reid: mr. reid: i as

mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by me with the concurrence of senator mcconnell, the senate proceed to the consideration of calendar number 251. if the cloture is filed on the bill, there be two hours of debate on s. 1752 and s. 1917 equally divided between the two leaderred or their designees. upon the use or yielding back of that time, the senate proceed to vote on the motion to invoke cloture. if cloture is invoked, all postcloture time be yielded back, and the senate immediately proceed to a vote on passage of the bill. that no amendments, points of order, or motions in order to the bill prior to the vote on passage. if the motion to invoke cloture on s. 1752 is not agreed to, the bill be returned to the dash. upon the conclusion or the consideration of s. 1752, the senate proceed to the consideration of calendar number 293, s. 1917. if a cloture motion is filed on the 3weu8, the senate proceed to vote on the motion to invoke cloture. if cloture is invoked, all postcloture time be yielded back, the senate thef then voten passage of the bill. that no amendment

threshold was reached after mcconnell and cornyn and ten others voted to let the final debt-ceiling vote proceed. all 12 then opposed the increase on final passage. but thanks to mrcruz they had to walk the plank with democrats on a procedural vote. we are all for holding politicians accountable with votes on substantive issues but mr. cruz knew he couldn't stop a debt increase the house had already passed. he had no alternative strategy if the bill failed other than to shut down the government again and take public attention away from obamacare and make republicans even more unpopular. democrats beat the odds and retained their senate majority in 2010 and 2012 in part because they stuck together. if republicans fail again this november, a big reason will this their rump kamikaze caucus. joe? >> i think that was a lot more applicable four or five or six months ago when we were talking did -- why not now? >> because what we were talking about now is actually not just sending a signal out to the base, that we have completely surrendered overnight. there is a big difference as jon meacham said yesterday between nuclear war and abject surrender. there are gray areas.

mr. camp's tax reform legislation. he did not indicate that would be coming to the floor any time soon. leader forte, the the senate republican party mitch mcconnellindicated the same. the hill noted this headline from a year ago. boehner, tax reform to be hr number one. last year this time, the speaker said the tax reform was his priority,gislative not so yesterday. he is quoted as telling block, block, blonde this idea of pushing tax reform this year. blah -- this, idea pushing tax reform this year. and his overall tax reform agenda. we are getting your point -- opinions on infrastructure spending. good morning. connecticut has the second worst roads rated in the u.s. after kansas. --t is happening up there the state is so cheap on the roads. they are putting road treatment on so they do not have to pay overtime and use sand. it is corroding everyone's brake lines and cars underneath. i had to junk one vehicle because it was too expensive to fix the brake lines. it was $2000. my other vehicle, i had to spend $1100 fixing the brake lines. they have said the treatment is so bad that mechanics say when they go to work on cars in the winter, they ha