mr. cardin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: mr.president, i have listened very carefully to my friend from iowa, and i couldn't disagree with him more. i know he has very strong views about the nomination of tom perez. well, let me go through the record. i want to spend a little bit of time first talking about tom perez. i know him very well. before i start, mr. president, i have 13 unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have been approved by the majority and minority leaders. i ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to and these requests be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: mr. president, i know tom perez. we have served together in government in maryland. he served on the county council of montgomery county. first latino to serve on the county council of montgomery county. montgomery county which is very close to here is larger than some of our states. it's a large government and has very complex problems. he served with

mr. cardin: mr. president, i have not been on the floor during the entire remarks of my friend from virginia, but i did hear part of it and i first want to thank you for your extraordinary leadership on behalf of the people of virginia and on behalf of a sensible way to resolve our budget problems. you have been a leader in building bridges and recognize how devastating sequestration is, not just to the federal workers who live in your state, not just to the people that live in your state, but to our entire country. this is dangerous sequestration, and you really have been a leader in pointing that out. you have also made it very clear that sequestration is mindless across-the-board cuts that we have a responsibility to make priority decisions, and when we use sequestration we're on automatic pilot, but on automatic pilot, they can't carry out its current mission. they can't safely navigate the air. that's where we are. and i really applaud you for taking on this issue of saying to our friends on bot

mr. cardin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: mr. president, i would ask consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: mr. president, my good friend, congressman sten just hoyer, -- steny hoyer, promotes america by using the phrase make it in america. it talks about the pride of our country, the ingenuity, the spirit of american workers, and the fact that we can compete against any country in the world on a level playing field. we can make it in america. i rise today to share with my fellow senators news of my recent visit to maryland businesses who are contributing to our local and national economy through manufacturing innovation. as part of what i call made in maryland tour, i visited the volvo group north america's manufacturing facility in hagerstown, maryland, and the flying dog brewery in frederick, maryland. just a few weeks ago, i toured the p

mr. cardin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: mr. president, i take this time to speak on the floor of the united states senate to express my disappointment in last week's district court decision on the cardin-lugar provision of the -- on the s.e.c. rule. an amendment offered by senator lugar and i on the dodd-frank legislation imposed certain transparencies on extractive industries. it was a pretty simple provision. it said that those companies that are registered on the s.e.c. that are involved in extractive -- extraction of minerals would be required to disclose on a project-by-project basis the details of those contracts. we did that for many reasons. we did it because we thought transparency is right. we did it in order to deal with energy security so that we know the type of contracts that are being entered into. we did it so investors would have information in order to decide whether they wanted to invest in the stock. the united states has been on the forefront of transparency, and this decision will delay implementation of a

mr. cardin, proposes amendment numbered 1760. mrs. murray: i ask that further reading be dispensed with. officer without objection. with. the presiding officer: without objection. f. mrs. murray: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: ms. mikulski: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from maimpletd. ms. mikulski: i ask that the call of the quorum be vacated. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. mikulski: madam president, as the chair of the full committee on appropriations, i rise today to comment on this bill but also to thank and acknowledge the really important role that senators murray and collins have played. really, it has been the way the senate should operate. they've held extensive hearings at the subcommittee on america's needs on transportation, an ever-piling-up backlog that we need to address, and it would accomplish several good, agreed-upon public policy goals. number one, safety -- because when we're talking about roads, bridges, and

mr. cardin: i ask consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. the question is on the cordray nomination. the yeas and nays. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote: the presiding officer: anyone wishing to tkhaepbg their -- to change their vote? if not, on this vote the yeas are 66. the nays are 34. the nomination is confirmed. mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: under the previous order the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid on the table. the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the senate resume legislative session and proceed to a period of morning business with senators allowed to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from ohio. mr. brown: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that senator stabenow be recognized for up to 3 minutes and that i be recognized for up to 5. the presiding officer: without objec

mr. cardin. i am an american by choice. my husband spent 41 years between the national guard and the regular military. 65.as now hit tri-care is going to be dropped, which he was told when he joined the military you have everything for life. don't worry about it. you can go to vietnam, you can go to desert storm, you can go to iraq, we will look after you. now he's got to go on medicare. what is happening? we are now having to pay almost $3000 a year for our healthcare. i'm sorry. there's something very, very wrong. with the way you treat your military. and then you turn around and say, these guys are great. well, you know, it is not so great when you have a bullet put through your head. and you don't do anything -- guest: first, let me say, people who served in our military, they are our heroes. they are the ones protecting our freedom. in recent years, it has been a tremendous sacrifice with multiple deployments in iraq and now in afghanistan. sacrificedve really for the nation. we made commitments to our military at we w

mr. cardin: mr.sident, on july 1, interest rates on subsidized stafford loans rose from 3.4% to 6.8%. this means for students across the country, the annual costs of their student loans will go up by as much as a thousand dollars a year. mr. president, this makes no sense. the cost to the government is not 6.8%. in other words, the government will be making money on the student loans. that was never our intent, and that makes absolutely no sense. i hear many of my colleagues talk about how we don't want to increase tax burdens on american families. now we're taking our most vulnerable students who need affordable higher education and telling them that they are going to have to pay more money for their student loans, and by the way, the government is going to make money off of that. mr. president, we have got to do something about that. let me talk about the size of student loans today. total student debt passed the $1 trillion mark last year. there's more debt in student loans than there is in credit

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator cardin. mr. miller, feel free to join in on any answers you want.on't hesitate to jump in. senator flake. >> thank you, and i apologize for not being here, and i apologize if this has been asked and answered three times by now, with regard to the decision that has been introduced, assuming that legislation were in place and implemented, would it have affected the outcome in and got doublyin benghazi because it was on intimacy or a consulate? would it have made a difference there in your opinion? mr.ta? >> benghazi was that a threat level that we should have three of prioritized. thank the chairman for introducing this legislation. in the long term, it will help us on a of different fronts, but i will not tell you that the tragedy in benghazi would have been avoided had we had this legislation. i think that was a question that we did not understand the situation that we were in, and perhaps we should've had more resources or we should have made a decision to evacuate that post earlier. much appreciate this legislation. it will help us in many, many w

>> let me play you something senator ben cardin said at a news conference with mr. conyers today.ten to this. >> in trayvon martin's case, the jury has sproeken to the criminal liability but there is no question that but for racial profiling trayvon martin would be alive today. he was identified solely because of what he looked like rather than any facts related to an individual crime. >> how do you convince people that racial profiling is wrong when some people have no qualms about going on television and spouting the worst most ludicrous claims about black people in this nation? >> well, i mean, i think it's absolutely right. let me just congratulate you for even being willing to have this issue raised in such a frank and direct manner. because you know, in our society, we are so uncomfortable when race comes up, we don't even like to talk about it at all. there's a large part of society is that just dismisses it. but to say that this is a problem has gone away. all you have to do is look at the response after the verdict to see how polarized our society is. >> andthon issue of

mr. popular at go stanford honestly becomes main one for the cardinal. case of oranges because syracuse nickname is the ovrjt tl. >> certainly not from december, january on. >> even trade. >> if that's this edition of 7 news here on tv 20 for mike and spencer all of us here. i'm dan ashley thanks for watching. appreciate your time. reporting continues on at reporting continues on at twittete (school bell rings) charlie: here comes my main man, matty. time for a haircut, matty, though. don't make me give it to you. you the man, professor. you're the man if you stay in school, jj.

gillibrand, leahy, klobuchar, udall of new mexico, whitehouse, wyden, cardin, blumenthal, coons, brown, casey, warren, franken, durbin, stabenow. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum required under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. boxer: mr. president, as i understand it, the majority leader has just filed cloture on a bill that would keep us at a 3.4% student loan rate for the stafford loans, which impacts about 7 million americans, for a year. am i correct on that? the presiding officer: the cloture motion is on the motion to proceed. mrs. boxer: well, that he is a very important cloture motion. and i would hope that in a bipartisan way we will move forward on this bill because, mr. president, as of now, student loan rates have doubled on stafford loans. in my state of california, 550,000 californians are facing a doubling of their student loan from 3.4% to 6. 8%. and i have asked my students to contact me and talk to me about their real-world stories. and what it means to them to see a doubling

the cross was a tribute to one of the cardinal players who died earlier this year. the number 6 was also etched into the dirt. mruspiciously like the jesus pitch. the team manage 789 began to agree and after consulting they ordered the grounds keepers to stop tagging the mound. something about the constitutional separation of church and the big league. world famous evangelist billy sunday a major league baseball player played for the chicago white stockings and philadelphia phillies. ironically sunday night was christian night at busch stadium. it's okay to exploit christians for financial games lonas long you don't get too churchy. if they were that serious about keeping things secular i am surprised they don't have a change in the name of the town. >> you are starting the peanut gallery over there no telling what will happen after the story. >> what about people offended who took it away. >> they are out of luck because it's all about the one person>> let us know what you think on twitter or facebook. >> quarter to the top of the hour. let's span the globe to see what stories are making headlines overseas. fir

reid, boxer, cardin, coons, leahy, carper, wyden, murray, udall of new mexico, heinrich, are sanders, whitehouse, baucus, durbin, gillibrand, merkley and schatz. mr. reid: i ask the mond tri quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. complonl: madam president, i have a consent --. mr. mcconnell: i have a consent that would set up these votes in a much more expeditious way than the way the majority leader is proceeding but first let me just say these are a dark days in the history of the senate. i hate that we have come to this point. we've witnessed the majority leader break his word to the united states senate and now our request for a joint meeting of all the senators has been set for monday night, a time when attendance around here is frequently quite spotty is, in an obvious effort to keep as many a