mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. 75 years ago, president roosevelt signed the fair labor standards act written in part by senator hugo black of alabama who actually used -- sat at this desk as he was writing the minimum wage law and some of the fair labor standards act legislation in the 1930's. this legislation ensured that american workers would receive a minimum wage and work reasonable hours. we know what that's done for families in this country. we also know that the minimum wage hasn't even been close to keeping up with the cost of living, with inflation. we also know a number of other things, mr. president, about the minimum wage. minimum wage is now $7.25 an hour. many of -- many of minimum-wage workers working -- making $7.25 or $8 or $9 an hour -- less than we want to raise the minimum wage, too, so all would get

mr. president? the presiding officerthe preside senator from wisconsin. mr. johnson: mr. president, last night i read a number of e-mails we received -- of the hundreds we've received from constituents in wisconsin specifically talking about the problems they've had in losing their coverage and -- and certainly finding this law not being affordable. they used words like "scared," "begging for help," feeling they were just collateral damage in this scheme that simply is not protecting patients or offering affordable care. they just can't fathom that this is actually happening to them because they knew it wasn't supposed to. well, today i rise to read an e-mail received from steve walrath from beloit. steve writes, "i'm 54 years old, in good health and no prior conditions. i just received my health insurance renewal bill. i used to have affordable and user-friendly health care that cost about $290 a month with no co-pay. according to my renewal letter from dean health care, my choices are now $854 a month with a 10% co-pay up to $1,315 a month with a zero percent co-pay. let

mr. president? the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. coburn: i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. sanders: well, i'm disappointed that there is objection to a bill that came out of the committee without objection, that was done in a bipartisan manner, that is paid for and that has the support of virtually every veterans' committee. i would hope, mr. president, if there is objection to unanimous consent, that there would not be objection to a roll call vote on this bill. mr. coburn: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. coburn: there will be an objection to a roll call vote because if opportunity to amend this bill has not been made available to members of the senate. i have two specific concerns with the bill. i'm writing my whole letter right now on this bill. and until they're addressed, i'm going to hold this bill until i have an opportunity to amend the bill. i yield the floor. mr. sanders: well, i understand the senator's objection. i am disappointed. it takes forever to get anything done in this bod

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from mississippi. mr. wicker: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. mr. wicker: thank you, mr. president. it is my understanding that at 10:00 a.m. the senate will proceed to a cloture vote on the proposed budget. it's already been passed by the house of representatives. the cloture vote will take 60 senators. if those 60 vote in favor we would then move to a period of debate, pro forma debate, actually, because the question would already have been decided. if members do not favor this budget, the time to register that opposition is this morning, and at 10:00 a.m. is the last chance to say no to this proposal and simply to send it back to the negotiators and ask them to do a better job. i rise this morning to reiterate my strong opposition to the thousands-passed budget, to the murray-ryan budget, and i do so for one specific reason. i would first interject there are many aspects of the

mr. president, with that i yield the floor. before i yield the floor i ask unanimous consent trenton white of my staff be granted floor privileges for the duration of today's proceedings. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from georgia. mr. isakson: i see the distinguished senator from washington on the floor who i suppose would like to speak. could i be recognized for five minutes and yield to the distinguished senator from washington. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. isakson: last friday i left this chamber with a folder containing most of the information from the ryan-murray comprehensive agreement on our budget. i left with the ringing suggestions if my ear from colleagues on the floor that it wasn't enough, it didn't do enough and that we didn't need to pass it. but inside me i had that little voice all of us get from time to time with a conscience that the time was right to do what was right. so on the airplane back to atlanta i read the entire agreement and then when i spent the weekend at

mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection, and under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask the chair lay before the senate a message from the house with respect to h.j. res. 59. the presiding officer: the chair lays before the senate the following message. the clerk: resolved, that the house proceed from its amendment to the amendment of the senate for the resolution h.j. res. 59, entitled a joint resolution making continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2014, and for other purposes, and concur with the house amendment to a senate amendment. mr. reid: mr. president, i move to concur in the house amendment to the senate amendment h.j. res. 59. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to concur. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, moves to concur in the house amendment to senate amendment to h.j. res. 59. mr. reid: mr. president, i have a cloture mot

mr. president. the majority leader has been using the cloture rule more effectively than in the past -- or should i say more obnoxiously in the past to prevent filibusters of president obama's nominations while telling us about unprecedented obstruction. the truth is exactly the opposite of what he has claimed and other democrats on the other side of the aisle have claimed. perhaps the most astounding fact of all is that nearly 90% of obama nominees to the executive or the judicial branch on whom cloture motions were filed have been confirmed. the majority told us that this was about obstruction, about how the minority was using the filibuster to prevent president obama from appointing people. it's no wonder that the majority leader did not show us the list of the nominations he claims have been filibustered. the claims are a fraud. the majority created this crisis and damaged this institution by claiming that ending debate is really a filibuster and that confirming nominations is really obstructing

mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: mr. president, first i want to ask unanimous consent that miss krishna patell, a detailee of the banking staff, be granted floor privileges for the duration of today's session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. menendez: mr. president, i come to the floor to call attention to a critical provision in the tax extenders act which i wish would have received consent because it's important for creating prosperity and economic opportunity in our country and to give certainty to businesses in order to achieve that goal. that extenders act provides our nation's most innovative businesses some certainty as they plan their investments for next year. every year, the congress extends a very popular law that provides a tax credit to businesses for certain research expenses. this credit is important for a number of reasons. it creates jobs, it encourages more research and it bolsters u.s. competitiveness. unfortunately, des

mr. president. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i now move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. all opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. reid: i now move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 445. the presiding officer: question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. all opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: department of vat state, sarah sewell of massachusetts to be an undersecretary of state. scried i ask that the cloture motion desk be reported. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of sarah sewell of massachusetts to be under secretary of state, civilian security, democracy, and

mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. coburn: i came to the floor to talk about several other things, but after hearing the majority leader and my colleague from delaware, i think the revisionist history needs to stop. you know, this place ran till 1917 under a process where any one senator could stop anything. and that was changed by a two-thirds majority of those present voting to a number less than that. and then through a period of time. the point i'm getting to is we're in this process because the rules weren't good enough to 0 accomplish what the majority wanted to accomplish. and the majority leader wanted to accomplish. the majority leader byrd didn't have any trouble when he had the same vote, number. majority leader daschle didn't have any trouble. frist, dole, none of them had any trouble. as a matter of fact, we've seen what has happened is the lack of effective leadership in building bipartisanship. the senate wasn't designed to be the house, as you all hav

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. 75 years ago, president roosevelt signed the fair labor standards act written in part by senator hugo black of alabama who actually used -- sat at this desk as he was writing the minimum wage law and some of the fair labor standards act legislation in the 1930's. this legislation ensured that american workers would receive a minimum wage and work reasonable hours. we know what that's done for families in this country. we also know that the minimum wage hasn't even been close to keeping up with the cost of living, with inflation. we also know a number of other things, mr. president, about the minimum wage. minimum wage is now $7.25 an hour. many of -- many of minimum-wage workers working -- making $7.25 or $8 or $9 an hour -- less than we want to raise the minimum wage, too, so all would get a raise -- we know that many of those workers work in the fast-food industry. the c.e.o. of a fast-food corporation makes, we figure, about $8.7 million a year. while his average employee

mr. president. i want to commend -- the presiding officer: the senate is in a quarks. mr. blumenthal: i apologize, mr. president. i ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: thank you. thank you, mr. president. i ask my colleague from rhode island to stay on the floor for just a couple of minutes because i wanted to thank him for the very erudite and eloquent explanation that he has just given for why our focus should be so aggressively and unrelentingly on the tremendous opportunities for saving health care costs and raising health care quality at the same time. and i'm very proud to have joined him and others of our colleagues in a task force or group that is seeking commonsense solutions to lower the costs of health care and at the same time increase its efficiency and quality. the two go together. the phenomenon that he just discussed of reducing readmissions to hospitals once patients are discharged also means that the quality of those discharg

mr. president? the presiding officer: the assistant majority leader. mr. durbin: i ask consent the senate proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. durbin: i move to proceed to calendar number 265, s. 1845. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 265, s. 1845, a bill to provide for the extension of certain unemployment benefits and for other purposes. mr. durbin: mr. president, i have a cloture motion at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion, we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate hereby move to bring to a close a debate on the motion to proceed to calendar number 265, s. 1845, a bill to provide for the extension of certain unemployment benefits and for other purposes signed by 17 senators as follows: reed of rhode island, durbin, heinrich, carper, schumer, feinstein, murray, sanders, king, franken, harkin, murray,

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. portman: i rise along with my other senator, senator shaheen, to talk about the industrial competitiveness act. this is good for the country. it's bipartisan. it's part of an energy plan for america that can help bring the jobs back, help fix our trade deficit, help make our manufacturers more competitive, help save taxpayers money and actually to clean the environment. that all sounds pretty good, doesn't it? and it does so without a single mandate. it does so without any new spending. it's fully offset. in fact, i would make the strong argument it's going to save taxpayers a lot of money. why? because by putting energy efficiency in base in the federal government, the biggest user of energy in the world, we're going to see a lot of savings to all of us as taxpayers. over the past several months, we have been working to clear a few last hurdles that stand in the way of pas

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: mr. president, you know, there really are some good things that are going on. i want to talk about that. i first want to ask unanimous consent that the senate be in a period of morning business until 6:15, with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. nelson: mr. president, some tough times around here, but you know i usually look for the good news. we find good news suddenly. would you have believed six months ago that most of the chemical weapons in syria would be dismantled at this point? in our wildest expectations, we could not have expected that, and but for the technicalities and the specifics of the inspections, that clearly appears to have occurred or be well on the way of occurring. or take, for example, we're now 43 straight months in the economy of private sector job growth after plunges of the economy, after bear stearns went down and then lehman brothers went down, and of course we were in a financial death

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mr. schumer: well, thank you, mr. president. and i rise to speak about a particular incident that occurred in webster, new york, a beautiful town near the city of rochester. on christmas eve 2012, nearly one year ago today, the 125-member west webster volunteer fireman's association, a volunteer fire department east of rochester, new york, faced an unimaginable tragedy when four of their brave members were wounded, two fatally, when they responded to a fire but instead faced an ambush of unspeakable proportions. while many families across our nation were waking up last christmas eve morning to finish preparing for christmas dinner, shopping, wrapping presents, picking up the family from the airport, four webster families were instead confronting a heartwrenching tragedy. the call of a house on fire came in to the west webster fire did not at 5:30 a.m. on december 2 24th. and although it was a cold, snowy morning, still dark before the sun rose, everyday heroes from the west webster fire department courageously did what

mr. president? no, not too often. let me conclude, and the last point i want to make is we had the president of the world bank here just yesterday talking about global warming. as i think most people know, the entire -- well, virtually the entire scientific community, people who study the issue of global warming, understand that the planet is warming significantly, that it is already causing devastating problems, that the issue is man-made, and that if we do not address this crisis by cutting greenhouse gas emissions, moving away from fossil fuel, the habitability of this planet for our kids and our grandchildren is very, very much in question. that's what the scientific community says. have you heard, mr. president, any debate on this floor about how we're going to aggressively transform our energy system? we don't do it. mr. president, let me simply conclude by saying this. there is a reason why the united states congress has a favorability rating of about 10%. and that is that the american people are hurting and we

mr. president. it's -- this came in a couple of days ago. "dear mr. barrasso" -- the people of wyoming know me as dr. barrasso. i still attend the fairs, go to a lot of small communities, visit with people, they come in and we actually did a poll there about why people go to the health fairs. the number-two reason they go is for their and the number-one reason is to see people. i'm sure, mr. president, you've seen similar things in your home staivment but this istate. but this is a gentleman who knows my activities in the health field. "just got a quote from my insurance agent on obamacare insurance. from $860 i currently spend for my family of four, he said to $2,400 month. from $860 to $2,400 a month. then he says, all with the low deductible of $10,000 per person per year." that's the other issue, this higher co-pay and deductibles. this is a big part of what's happening with this health care law. i mean, it's -- it's interesti interesting. "the wall street journal" -- monday's "wall street journa

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. mrs. warren: i ask the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. warren: mr. president, i rise today to honor one of the great leaders in the history of boston. it might seem odd to describe a man who is still with us today, alive and well, as a figure in history. but in the almost 400 years since boston was founded, a history that is filled with names known across this country -- winthrop, lowell, adams, lodge -- in its 400-year history, few have done more for boston that our mayor, tom menino. looking back at his 20 years in office, it is clear how much tom menino has done for our city. mayor menino revitalized boston, from the waterfront and the own ovation district -- innovation district to dudley square and rocksbury, he expanded our neighborhoods, livable parks and creative spaces, and created a city whose potential is unlimited. mayor menino worked for boston with confirm convictions, he cautioned against predatory lenders starting the "don't borrow troubl

mr. president. supervisor avalos? avalos present. supervisor breed? >> here. >> breed present. supervisor campos? >> present. >> campos present. president chiu? >> he present. >> president chiu present. supervisor cohen? cohen present. supervisor farrell? farrell present. supervisor kim? kim present. supervisor mar? mar present. supervisor tang? tang present. supervisor wiener? wiener present. supervisor yee? yee present. mr. president, all members are present. >> thank you. ladies and gentlemen, could you please join us in the pledge of allegiance? i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands; one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> colleagues, we have our october 29th and november 5th, 2013 board meeting minutes. could i have a motion to approve those minutes? motion by supervisor campos, seconded by supervisor breed. without objection, those meeting minutes are approved. [gavel] >> madam clerk, any communi

mr. president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: i ask unanimous consent to address the senate as if in morning business. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. mccain: i thank you, mr. president. today i am introducing the empowering patients first act, companion legislation to h.r. 2300 introduced in the house of representatives by congressman tom price. i would like to thank congressman price for all the hard work that he did on this legislation, and i am very grateful for all of that, and i believe that this legislation would give patients' families, the doctors power to make medical decisions and not washington. specifically, this legislation would enable everyone to purchase health insurance through deductions, credits or advancible credits. equalized tax treatment of employer-sponsored plans and plans purchased by individuals by letting individuals buy health insurance with pretax dollars, let's small business owners band together across state lines through association health plans known as a

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. mr. franken: i would ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. if the senator will hold for one moment. the senate will be in order. the senate will be in order. please take your conversations outside the chamber. the senator from minnesota. mr. franken: thank you, mr. president. i ask to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. franken: mr. president, i rise today to speak about some of the important things we can be doing to help strengthen our economic recovery and to get more minnesotans and more americans across the country into jobs. during the government shutdown in october, i came to the floor to talk about how the shutdown was preventing us from doing the work that people sent us here to do. every day we spent on the shutdown was a day we weren't working together to create jobs and to rebuild the middle class. well, the budget deal we passed this week is far from perfect but it is my hope that it will enab

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. sessions: mr. president, skilled thiiwould ask that the l be dispensed with. the presiding officer: we are not in a quorum call. the senator is recognized. mr. sessions: mr. president, we're definitely proceeding in an unusual manner at this point in time in the history of the united states senate. we're moving under regular order. nominations are being processed in regular order. votes are being held. a debate is being shut off by the appropriate procedures, but it's unusual from what we've been doing all yeerd and wha --n doing all yeerd and what we've been doing historic clism the question is how did we get to this point? what has happened in the senate that's caused the difficulties we now have? and i believe it's becoming clear to our colleagues that actions that have been taking place in recent days have altered the very nature of the senate, have eroded the collegiality that make this body work on daily base circumstance the kind of actions in which people unanimously agreed to allow things h

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: i would ask consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: i ask unanimous consent the floor privileges be granted to elise medical mellinger for the dwraition of senate consideration of h.r. 3304, the national defense authorization act. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: let me first comment about the national defense authorization act. it is an important bill for us to pass and i thank senator levin and senator inhofe for the manner on which they worked on this legislation, bringing it together, in the committee it was a bipartisan bill, as it came to the floor it maintained that focus on helping our troops and helping preserve our national security. and as we are starting to consider amendments, i think that same cooperation was there there. powerful we lost track -- unfortunately we lost course, but the bill before us represents a bipartisan effort to make sure we provide the men and women who are def

mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: on behalf of the majority, i yield back 57 1/2 minutes. the presiding officer: pursuant to the provisions of senate resolution 15 of the 113th congress, there will now be up to two hours of postcloture consideration of the nomination equally divided in the usual form. mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mr. schumer: as if in legislative, i ask unanimous consent that if the senate receives h.r. 3548 from the house of representatives the bill is identical as introduced, the bill will be considered as having been read three times pafpbd the motion to reconsider be -- and passed and the motion to reconsider be laid on the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. the senator from new york. mr. schumer: mr. president, thank you. i want to thank my colleagues in the christmas spirit, despite these contentions times, for letting this bill move forward. let me just briefly explain. o

the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: earlier this morning, the senate voted to advance advance the ryan-murray budget agreement that passed the house last week. the legislation's been a topic of much discussion over the past several days and there are sincere arguments on both sides. while i appreciate the challenges that house and senate negotiators faced in crafting these budgetary guidelines, i voted against this legislation because, in my view, congress should continue to adhere to the fiscal restraints that both parties agreed to under the budget control act. i was the principal republican negotiator of that agreement. i've been particularly invested in its success and was very proud of it. as a result of the budget control act, government spending has declined for two years, two years in a row, for the first time since the korean war. this was hard-won progress on the ro

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: mr. president, as if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of s. 1797, which was submitted earlier today. that the bill be read three times and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? the senator from north dakota. mr. hoeven: mr. president, i want to reserve the right to object. i'm certainly willing to let the good senator make comments. but at this point i want to reserve the right to object. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. hoeven: object. yes, i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. reed: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: first of all, i -- i think it's appropriate to make some comments and i appreciate certainly the senator from north dakota being here and making the point. but we are at a juncture that within two weeks, 1.3 million

leahy, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. r. reid: i now move to proceed to calendar number 243. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: motion to proceed to the consideration of calendar number 243, s. 1356, a bill to amend the work force investment act of 1998 to strengthen the united states work force development system, and so forth and for other purposes. mr. reid: following my remarks, mr. president, those of the republican leader of the senate will resume consideration of the nomination of nina pillard to be united states circuit judge for the d.c. circuit. mr. president, i am told s. 1797 is due for a second reading. is that valid? the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bill for the second time. the clerk: s. 1797, a bill to provide for the extension of certain unemployment benefits, and for other purposes. mr. reid: i would object, mr. president, to any further proceedings with this bill at this time. the presiding officer: objection's heard. the bill will be placed on

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from kentucky. mr. paul: i ask consent that the mandatory quorum be waived. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, under the previous order the mandatory quorum has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that -- the senate will come to order. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of anne w. patterson of virginia, a career member of the senior foreign service classic career ambassador to be assistant secretary of state near eastern affairs, shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll.

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: mr. president, for the past few years here in congress we have lurched from within budget crisis to another, from one fiscal cliff to the next. when one clockdown clock stopped it wasn't long before the next got started, the constant crisis cost us billions of dollars in lost growth and jobs. and the continued across-the-board cuts from sequestration were hurting our families and our communities and cutting off critical investments in economic growth and national security programs. mr. president, after the completely unnecessary government shutdown and debt limit crisis just two months ago, the american people were more disgusted than ever at the gridlock and the dysfunction. they were sick of partisanship, sick of showboating and saber rattling. they were tired of turning on their televisions at night and seeing elected officials saying it is my way or the highway. and they had no more patience for politicians holding the economy and the federal government hostage to extract concessions o

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. rubio: mr. president, i intend to be here for the next -- a little bit under an hour. i look forward to sharing this time here on the floor with you to discuss some of the issues that are before us, particularly the pending issue before us of nominations and the concern we have about that. i know people back home across the country are kind of watching the news tonight or perhaps over the last few weeks have watched the news about all of these things, and so they are wondering what this debate is about, so i want to use this opportunity here tonight to address the nomination of cornelia pillard for the d.c. circuit because it's a good example of the government overreach that has reached -- that has impacted all sorts of issues in our lives, and i want to begin with this whole nomination issue, right. so let's lay the land work here so people back home understand what's happening. so last week or the week before last, the senate majority by a simple majority vote, they changed the practice of the

mr. president. despite all the data points you cited in your opening statement, when you look back this year, very little of the domestic agenda you outlined in your inaugural address has been achieved. health-care rollout obviously had problems, and your ratings with the public are near historic lows for you. has this been the worst year of your presidency? >> i have to tell you, julie, that is not how i think about it. i have now been in office close to five years. i was running for president for two years before that. for those of you who covered me during that time, we have had ups and downs. i think this room has probably reported at least 15 near death experiences. and what i have been focused on each and every day is, are we moving the ball in helping the american people, families, have more opportunity, have more security to feel as if, if they work hard, they can get ahead? and if i look at this past year, there are areas where there have obviously been frustrations, where i wish congress h

mr. president. what was the message you were trying to send with not only your decision not to extend the gains but also with the people that you named to the delegation to represent the united states. >> well, first of all i haven't attended olympics in the past and i suspect that me attending olympics particularly at a time when we have other stuff that people have been talking about is going to be tough, although i would love to do it i will be going to a lot of the olympic games post presidency. i think its delegation speaks for self. you have outstanding american, outstanding athletes, people who will represent us extraordinarily well. and you know, the fact that we've got folks like billy jean king or brian boytano themselve was have been world-class athletes that everybody acknowledges for their excellence and character and members of the lgbt community, they should take that for what it is worth, that when it comes to the olympics and athletic performance, we don't make distinctions on the b

and then we went to help the president. mrs. kennedy had a hold of him and i said, please let us help the president. no response. i knew pretty much how she thought and i realized the problem was that she didn't want anyone to see the condition that he was in because it was horrible. so i took off my suit coat and covered his head and upper back and as soon as i do that, she let go. and we put him on the gurney and raced him to the emergency room. and many of the doctors reacted immediately, trying to do everything they could to resuscitate the president. >> you are inside. outside the press has gathered. most of the press was in a vehicle several cars behind. they knew that something had gone terribly wrong. they are trying to gather information. meanwhile, you are inside. you are told that he you decided he needed to contact the white house immediately and let them know what is happening. was that phone call i? >> welcome i had a semi-supervisor the situation and i was in the process of talking when the operator cut in and said

mr. president. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from south carolina. mr. scott: thank you, mr. president. to change the rules our friends on the left had to break the rules. mr. president, we're here tonight because the obama administration and our friends on the left needed a distraction. by invoking the nuclear option, leading up to tonight's vote on nina pillard to the d.c. circuit, they are attempting to quiet a disaster of their own making. please note that this is a court that will hear the a.c.a. disputes. it was easy enough for them to paint a rosy picture of life after obamacare and for three years, they did it and they did their best to do so. but words can only go so far and no speech will help the failed implementation of the monster they have created. health care premiums for the average american family have already gone up by $2,500 since obamacare has become law. let's say that one more time. the average premium that an american family will have to face and then pay is $2,500. as costs continue to rise for middle-class americans, the median

mr. president. despite all the data points you cited in your opening statement, when you look back this year, very little of the domestic agenda you outlined in your inaugural address has been achieved. health-care rollout obviously had problems, and your ratings with the public are near historic lows for you. has this been the worst year of your presidency? >> i have to tell you, julie, that is not how i think about it. i have now been in office close to five years. i was running for president for two years before that. for those of you who covered me during that time, we have had ups and downs. i think this room has probably reported at least 15 near death experiences. and what i have been focused on each and every day is, are we moving the ball in helping the american people, families, have more opportunity, have more security to feel as if, if they work hard, they can get ahead? and if i look at this past year, there are areas where there have obviously been frustrations, where i wish congress h

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. toomey: mr. president, i rise as we consider the nomination of deborah lee -- deborah lee james as secretary of the air force but i want to touch on some of the points that were made by the gentleman, the senator from alabama and i want to state how much i appreciate his leadership, especially as the ranking member of the budget committee, his consistent leadership in fighting for fiscal discipline and putting our country back on a sustainable fiscal path, his commitment to an open amendment process, the opportunity to have vigorous debate in the senate so that this body can work its will and, of course, his work on the armed services committee, i appreciate all that and appreciate him being here tonight. i do think it's important that we have a discussion about how we got here, mr. president. a discussion about the circumstances that have led to this completely unprecedented moment in the entire history of the republic. we have never found ourselves in a circumstance where a majority party has de

mr. president. members of the bore, my name is christopher ball, i live at 1011 howard street, i wanted to bring your attention to -- i thought somebody would get that. the bicycle coalition has offered for your perusal on the website and i want to -- please note that 50 feet is the probable elevation of the whole impact of greenland melting. we can fix this, we know how much coal, oil and gas is burnt and so how much c02 we put into the atmosphere. we know how much c02 plants can pull down from the atmosphere and sequester. all we need to do is supply sufficient fresh water to enough empty desert to grow new plants so pull down all that carbon that we spew out. we don't have to make anybody drive funny little cars or anything. technological innovation has given us a taolt, carbon nano fill to cheaply filter from fresh water and find energy-free d free for the capture in hydrothermal venting, police cal intervention will enable california to have developments in all its economic ability, will warran

mr. president. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the minority whip. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i know we are going to be voting on the budget that was negotiated by senator murray and paul ryan, and 67 senators have voted for cloture on that, so we will have a vote on passage this afternoon, i think about 4:30. but i wanted to raise an issue that has been raised previously yesterday, and that is with the process by which the senate is operating where no amendments are being allowed either on the budget or on the defense authorization bill, which is the next bill that we will turn to by the decision of the majority leader. i have congratulated senator murray and i congratulate congressman ryan for their negotiation, but i do think there is an error that has been identified that needs to be corrected in the bill and which could easily be corrected if the majority leader would reconsider his decision not to allow any amendments. and this specifically has to do with the discriminatory way in which active duty military pensions are being penalized in a unique way and not e

mr. president. so, i'm glad this got resolved. i think, you know, there's been no concern about the placement of meters, especially in areas that would arguably be residential areas and i know it's caused concern with folks who are impacted by that, understanding that there are times when meters do make sense and in my district, there was one particular merchant's association that asked for a meter expansion because they thought there was a portion of their commercial district that was not covered appropriately by meters and meters do turn over in vehicle parking and mta rejected that request, so it's a more nuance issue than i think people sometimes perceive, but this discussion is focused so much on the possibility and the concern about expansion but i think what's gotten lost in the shuffle is how positive this contract is in terms of what it's going to deliver to the city. my question is really -- i don't know, this took a long time to get here and i'm glad that we're here and we're going to act

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senior senator from florida is recognized. mr. nelson: mr. president, before the senator from new york departs, i want to say, this is a real-life example. in panellas county, florida, current flood insurance premium of a homeowner, $4,000. new flood insurance premium, 10 times -- $44,000. now, do you think that that homeowner can afford that, and do you think that that homeowner can now sell their house since that is the flood insurance premium that is facing a potential buyer and, of course, the real estate market dries up? and so it's a question of affordability. and i would merely underscore what the senator has already said and what the great senator from louisiana is going to talk about. and that is, you have a pause. you get fema to do an affordability study, and then you phase this thing in over time. now, it just so happens that 40% of these policies are in my state of florida. we have more coastline than any other state, ca state, save for, and they're not afflicted by the same things that we are and they don't have a population of 2

mr. president. and so that was the last thing that we heard the president say to young -- in john's presence, that he would be back and that he wanted agent foster to look after him until he got back. then the president boarded air force one, and we flew on down to san antonio, texas. we arrived down there. there was a large crowd at the airport. thousands of people had lined the airport, including on top of the terminal, inside the glass terminal. they were everywhere they could be in order to see the president and mrs. kennedy. fortunately, on this particular occasion the president avoided going into the crowd. he got right into the car, and we began a motorcade from san antonio international airport out to the new medical space center, medical laboratory. >> so the president's in an open-top car. the weather is great, and everything is going wonderful. what are we seeing in this photograph? >> very typical situation, the president decided to stop the motorcade to allow people to come shake his ha

mr. president, boise smith, journalist from israel daily newspaper. mr. ident, i covered the negotiations iran, nuclear negotiations, geneva, 2009, istanbul, 2010, and came back from geneva again where you could see big change was not only on the iran side but on the b 5 plus one side, meaning they're eager to reach an agreement. coming back from geneva, we learned, some of us long before, secret talks america had with iran and we know the concern you have on the israeli security, we're very grateful, but how does it thank you. >> you know, the truth is, is that without going into details there weren't a lot of secret negotiations. essentially what happened, and we were very clear and tra transparent about this is that from the time i took office i said we would reach out to iran and we will let them know we're prepared to open up a diplomatic channel. after an iranian was elected there was some acceleration leading up to the u.n. general assembly. you recall that he was engaging in what was termed charm offensive. he was going around talking to folks. and

mr. president, israeli journalist from isreal hayom daily newspaper. mr. president, i covered the negotiations with iran, nuclear negotiations -- geneva 2009, istanbul 2010. and i came back now from geneva again, where you could see the big change was not only on iran's side, but also on the p5- plus-1 side, meaning they were very eager to reach an agreement. coming back from geneva, we learned, and some of us had known before, the secret talks america had with iran. and we know the concern you have on the israeli security -- e're very grateful. -- we're very grateful. but how does it coincide with your secret negotiations washington had with tehran? thank you. >> the truth is, is that, without going into the details, there weren't a lot of secret negotiations. essentially what happened -- and we were very clear and transparent about this -- is that from the time i took office, i said we would reach out to iran and we would let them know we're prepared to open up a diplomatic channel. after rouhani was elected, there was some acceleration leading up to the