mr. bingaman: in that opinion piece, mr. scaggs points out that there is no legal or logical basis to support the republican leader's argument. the disclose act is an important step in the direction of requiring transparency. the legislation would require certain organizations that make more than $10,000 in campaign-related expenditures to file a disclosure report with the federal election commission and to report the names of any donors who contributed over $10,000. about 93% of the money raised by super pacs in 2010 through 2011 came from donors giving over $10,000, and this legislation would shed some light on where this money is coming from. the disclosure requirements apply to corporations, to labor unions, to 501-c-3 nonprofit organizations and to 527 election advocacy organizations, but they would not apply to 503-c-3 charitable organizations. the legislation also includes mechanisms to protect legitimate nonpolitical donations from disclosure and prevents funding sources from being hidden by laundering funds through

mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that interns in senator bingaman's office be granted floor privileges during today's session. sara rasmussen, edmond reyes, emily schwab. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i also ask, mr. president, unanimous consent that staff of the finance committee be allowed today to have floor privileges. jeffrey arnold, amanda chapman, salina christman, arun dogo, farrah friesz, pete markinson, christopher tosovicz, daniel herring. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, my republican colleagues made a good talk on taxes, but democrats' record of cutting taxes for small businesses speaks louder than republicans' rhetoric. since president obama took office, taxes have been cut for small businesses 18 times. today he will advance a plan to cut taxes for small firms for the 19th time in just three and a half years. small businesses jobs and tax relief act would put money back in the coffers of true job creators. under our plan, business owners will hire new workers or give raises to current employees who get a 10% tax cre

mr. reid: madam president, in one committee, the energy and water committee led by senator bingaman, that committee alone has had hundreds of piece of legislation held up, can't get out of the committee. what -- you know, i'm sorry that it's an usual thing to have ornstein and mann referred to as liberals but whatever they are, working for the conservative american enterprise institute, one of them at least, it's very clear that they view this body as being in deep trouble because the republicans being dysfunctional themselves. and i think it's very clear that we have a situation here, i understand there's a presidential election going on. i clearly understand that. and i know there are efforts to protect their nominee and we do what we can to protect the president of the united states but that should not prevent us from legislating. and for my friend, who has been on the appropriations committee as long as i have, to talk about not -- why aren't we doing the appropriation bills, it's obvious. 12 or 13 appropriation bills, we have simply not been able to get to the appropriation bills bec

mr. reid: madam president, in one committee, the energy and water committee led by senator bingaman, that committee alone has had hundreds of piece of legislation held up, can't get out of the committee. what -- you know, i'm sorry that it's an usual thing to have ornstein and mann referred to as liberals but whatever they are, working for the conservative american enterprise institute, one of them at least, it's very clear that they view this body as being in deep trouble because the republicans being dysfunctional themselves. and i think it's very clear that we have a situation here, i understand there's a presidential election going on. i clearly understand that. and i know there are efforts to protect their nominee and we do what we can to protect the president of the united states but that should not prevent us from legislating. and for my friend, who has been on the appropriations committee as long as i have, to talk about not -- why aren't we doing the appropriation bills, it's obvious. 12 or 13 appropriation bills, we have simply not been able to get to the appropriation bills bec

mr. reid: madam president, in one committee, the energy and water committee led by senator bingaman, thatcommittee alone has had hundreds of piece of legislation held up, can't get out of the committee. what -- you know, i'm sorry that it's an usual thing to have ornstein and mann referred to as liberals but whatever they are, working for the conservative american enterprise institute, one of them at least, it's very clear that they view this body as being in deep trouble because the republicans being dysfunctional themselves. and i think it's very clear that we have a situation here, i understand there's a presidential election going on. i clearly understand that. and i know there are efforts to protect their nominee and we do what we can to protect the president of the united states but that should not prevent us from legislating. and for my friend, who has been on the appropriations committee as long as i have, to talk about not -- why aren't we doing the appropriation bills, it's obvious. 12 or 13 appropriation bills, we have simply not been able to get to the appropriation bills beca

mr. berman, john kline and george miller, chairman smith and ranking member conyers, chairman doc hastings and ranking member ed markey and certainly senator jeff bingaman and senator murkowski who serve as chairman and ranking member of the senate committee on energy and natural resources for all they have done on behalf of the insular areas. i cannot thank my colleagues enough for standing with me because i know that passage of this bill is only possible today due to their support. i thank the committee and staff leadership for their working in close association with my office which will benefited the associated states of micro neice yeah and the territory of american samoa. as my chairman alluded to about the section, it is very simple. this is located -- for the benefit of information to my colleagues, the area is located in the marshal islands. this is where we exploded 43 of our nuclear bombs out of the 67 nuclear bombs that we exploded in our testing program from 1943 to 1962. in the process, this is where we exploded our hydrogen bomb, which is only 700 times more powerful than the nuclear bomb we exploded over japan. only about a couple hundred