yourselves, but your families and that you are willing to take care of this city and my kudos to mr. casey and mr. dundey. and how important it is that we do find our way forward in agreements particularly significant agreements like this labor agreement between the hotel workers and the hotels themselves. this is an incredible part of our economy, but also an incredible part of who we are as a city. the hotel is really the first thing that a lot of visitors against -- get a sense of the warmth that they feel everyday. i have felt that going to hotels world class hotels. you find people working with a smile because they have confidence that they are taking care of themselves as well. congratulations, everybody. congratulations to the city of san francisco, too. >> we'll have the team members. i just like to say on behalf of the mayor and local team members, this deal is good for city of san francisco. it takes care of our team members, it takes care of our guest. but what's going on, the building, construction, the new companies coming to the city, our goal is to welcome them and if we hav

mr. casey: i would ask the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. casey: i rise to talk about a subject -- i should first ask for consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. casey: thank you very much. i rise to speak about the national labor relations board. this is a board and a set of issues we're going to be debating and have begun debate on just recently. it will be with us for awhile and it's an important debate that we're having. as the senate considers the national labor relations board member nominations, i think it's very instructive and i would even say essential to look back at the history of the board and the national labor relations a act, the legislation that created the board, to recall why this board and the act is so important to our economy, our workers and our businesses. the national labor relations act played a key role in making the united states the prosperous nation we are today and a properly

mr. chairman. >> senator bob casey is recognizer five minutes. >> mr. chairman, thank you. vice chair, thank you. chairman bernanke, we're grateful for your presence here and your testimony. and i have to say as well, the work you have done to do with a set of economic circumstances that we have rarely faced in american history, co brought not just a lot of focus but also a lot of passionate we appreciate it. we wanted to focus on one issue. i'm not sure it's been raised yet. it as i think it always bears even more examination. issue is tax reform. we have, if there's one area of real consensus in washington, and across the country, a lot of consensus, and here it happens to be bipartisan, that we've got assembled by the tax code, we've got to make it a much more workable tax system for individuals and for businesses, all kinds of ways to do that. the hard part is getting consensus in order to move forward. the good news here, i don't want to overstate this but it's important to assert it, is that we have had to chairmen, chairman baucus and the finance committee, the lasso

mr. casey: thank you, madam president. i'd ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. ceaz: madam president, i -- mr. casey: madam president, i rise today to speak about the bill we're considering but also to speak in particular about one aspect of the bill. we know that the legislation, the so-called wrda bill, the water resources development act, and i want to express strong support for the legislation. this bill is, in fact, bipartisan which is something we need more of around here. it provides for, among other things, flood protection, safe drinking water, wastewater infrastructure and protects the flow of commerce along our nation's rivers and waterways. i am grateful for chairman boxer's efforts, ranking member vitter and all the members and staff of the environment and public works committee for their dedication to writing a bill that addresses the challenges facing our country's water systems. i wanted to speak in particular about inland waterways. our nation has for many, many years now, many generations a system of

mr. casey's questioning, just briefly not only are we here to get bipartisan support for reform of our tax code hopefully -- connell: more coverage of ben bernanke on capitol hill as his testimony continues. the market likes it, that continues to be the case. nice gains on wall street. dagen: we will be right back, everybody. i want to make things more secure. [ whirring ] [ dog barks ] i want to treat mo dogs. ♪ our business needs more cases. [ male announcer ] where do you want to take your business? i need help selling art. [ male announcer from broaand to web hosting to mobile apps, small busins solutions from at&t have the security you need to get you there. call us. we can show you how at&t solutions can help you do what you do.. even better. ♪ diane: diane macedo with your fox business brief. rose in a put to the highest level since november of 2009. according to the national association of realtors sales rose 0.6% from march. your americans filed for mortgage applications as rates on the home loan, according to the markets filing 10% and the increase in mortgaae rates with the barg

mr. casey's question briefly. not only are we here to get bipartisan support, but i hope that we will have this for implementation of our tech. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> with regard keep this going with monetary and fiscal policy. you're going to continue to print money, interest rates down, that we should continue to borrow and spend on our end to help the economy. if you look at how much we have spent, we have spent $2.9 trillion. in 2009, during the course of the stimulus bill, we spent $3.5 trillion in so half of the trillion dollar jumped. the testimony today is that the cuts have been two significant and we need to actually spend more in conjunction with the printing. >> can you explain fiscal year 2008? >> i did not see spending. it includes tax increases and the elimination of the tax cut. it can be a drag on the economy. since the stimulant, the government has talked about it felt pretty interesting way. i am not advocating a major new sales program. but i am saying that the balancing between a somewh

mr. casey's questioning just briefly. not only are we here to hopefully get bipartisan support for reform of our tax code, hopefully we'll have bipartisan support for fair implementation of our tax code. but that's not this hearing. you testified with regard to the need to in essence keep the spigots going with regard to monetary and fiscal policy, that you're going to continue to print money, drive interest rates down, that we should continue to borrow and spend on our end in the short term to help grow the economy and work on our debt in the long term. i'm sure you are well aware of these numbers, but if you look at how much we've spent since 2008, the federal government in 2008 spent $2.9 trillion. in 2009 during the course of the stimulus bill, we spent $3.5 trillion. so stimulus bill, $3.5 trillion. half a trillion dollar jump. this year the c.b.o. projects us to spend $3.4 trillion. so we're almost spending this year the same amount we spent in the year of $800 billion stimulus bill. but your testimony today is that

mr. casey's questioning, i hope to get bipartisan support for reform of our tax code, hopefully we will have bipartisan report and fair implementation of our tax code. but that is not this hearing. thank you for coming, mr. chairman. you testified with regards to the need to keep the big it's going with regards to monetary spigots goingthe with regards to monetary and fiscal policy. that you are going to drive interest rates down, that we should continue to borrow and spend on our end in the short term to help grow the economy and work on our debt in the long term. i'm sure you are aware of these numbers, but if you look at how we've spent cents 2008, the federal government in 2008 spent $2.9 trillion. in 2009, during the course of the stimulus bill, we spent $3.5 trillion. so the year of the stimulus bill, $3.5 trillion. $.5 trillion jump. this year, 3.4 trillion dollars. so we are almost spending this year the same amount we spent in the year of the $800 billion stimulus bill. but your testimony today is that the cuts have been too significant, we need to actually spend more in conjunction

mr. chairman. >> senator murray, snyder isakson and senator casey, sanders scott and senator baldwin and senator rman. this is not a routine hearing by any stretch of the imagination. this is very much about the si fute of our country. it's about whether we believe the laws of our country to protect workers and employers alike should be enforced. it's about the future opportunities we have to have good jobs in our economy, protect or shrinking middle class and provide opportunities to prove conditions and smooth relations between workers and employers to make sure we have efficient operation of our economy. a person claim this is a better hearing. the nlrb in hearings protect all private sector workers regardless of whether they are in a union for exercising their rights of those rates have led to many significant improvements across our economy. higher pay and better benefits, safer working conditions, fewer injuries and death and the strongest economy in the world. it is no shock collective bargaining in the unionization rate and wages and economy has struggled many of these problems arose arou

mr. ails give her a jingle. casey in spokane. >> caller: hey.g about? they are like, it can't be more obvious? >> they just don't see it i guess? >> stephanie: right. yeah. exactly. >> caller: one thing that would be funny as heck is to listen to jim sing happy birthday in the marcus bachmann voice and i don't know to who, because it's not my birthday. >> stephanie: all right. it's probably somebody's birthday. sue in rockville. >> caller: hey, good morning. i have a question. >> stephanie: what is that? >> caller: if michelle is more like pinocchio does that make marcus the blue ferry. [♪ circus music ♪] >> stephanie: everybody get it out of your system. do we have her jingle to say good-bye? >> i just can't get it to now. >> caller: no problem. i love you all. >> stephanie: we're just easing the grief -- it's a letting go time -- ♪ am i blue aim blue ♪ >> stephanie: right. he's the blue ferry. all right. forty-five minutes after the hour. right back on the "stephanie miller show." >> what in the name of holy hell is going on here? >> announcer

mr. chair, the vacancy notice was posted on march 28, 2013, and it was my understanding that it was communicated to ms. casey. >> the notifications were quite a while, but that was only for seats 2 and 6. the first time that i saw it up was on april 9th and that's when i circulated it. i'm not opposing the candidate, but i'm just letting you know -- usually this item there are several people applying. but the committee specifically told people that the only seats that would be heard were seats 2 and 6. >> okay, thank you. here's my thoughts for the four people that spoke today. there's four openings and i feel comfortable with all four. so, it's a matter whether we want to accommodate them for a particular seat. i think what we have to do if we wanted to is to ask ms. raija freeman whether she'd be interested in seat 5. and [speaker not understood] and there is strong recommendations for seat 4 ~ tony faataui [speaker not understood]. and [speaker not understood] for seat 6. i'm throwing it out there for a discussion matter. >> clearly we've heard from candidates that were applying for seat number 2 and seat

klobuchar, reed of rhode island, mikulski, warner, whitehouse, brown, cardin, casey, harkin, sanders, franken and menendez. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: madam president, we're moving forward on this. this will be the sixth or seventh year that we have tried to fill vacancies on the d.c. circuit. there are four vacancies there. i hope that the president sends us some more names. i understand that will be the case maybe before the end of this week. it's really outrageous we have been stopped procedurally from doing the work of this country in filling these nominations in this very, very important court, but anyway, we're going to have a cloture vote on this on thursday, as we should do, and hopefully finish this thing by the end of the week. if we get cloture, we will finish by the end of the week if we have to stay over another day or so. i will ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. on wednesday, may 22. that following the prayer and pledge, t

mr. miller. can you respond please. >> i will. first, i'm sorry that senator casey is gone. i opened my statement with an apology, sir. i and i do apology. what happens on my watch, whether i did it or not, just like the commanding officer, i am responsible. >> good. thank you. i appreciate that. >> on this -- . >> i didn't -- go ahead. >> the issue we talked about today, and that is, you know, the regulation excerpted exclusively as primarily, that puts us to a difficult place of figuring of what is in or outside. i think it makes sense to take a look at if. i don't know we will be a better place after looking tat. we have to figure out what falls even with within exclusively the 0 10, 20, or 50%. it's clear that the world changed since 1958 or whatever it is when we did the regulation, and it does make sense to take a look. >> mr. schulman. >> i don't have anything to add to what i said before. i think it's incredibly difficult for the irs to administrator the current regulations on the book, and i think it's, you know, well within the per view of the committee and congres

mr. toomey: thank you. first i would like to begin by thanking my colleague senator browrntion for his leadership on this issue and senator casey my colleague from pennsylvania, who is supportive of this effort as well. mr. president, this isn't a complicated amendment and i don't think it is a controversial amendment either. the fact is, in southwestern pennsylvania we've got three iconic rivers. in northwestern pennsylvania we have access to and a coastline along a beautiful and important national treasure much it is lake erie. both of theerks the rivers and lake erie, the commerce and recreation that occurs on these waterways are potentially at risk to an invasion of the asian carp. this as we all know, is a very aggressive large nonindigenous species that could be very, very disruptive to the ecosystem of the rivers, to the ecosystem of lake erie. and what we discovered is that there is no single entity in the entire federal government that's responsible for coordinating our response a response that will help to minimize the risk that the asian carp would be able to invade the waterways and ultimately make their way into th

mr. galanter. but it happens very often especially when you have these large egoes at play and cameras watching. >> i know you know about cameras watching. i don't have to remind anyone, you were casey anthony's tomorrow. there is massive fascination on o.j. simpson, maybe not why he is serving or why he may get a few trial, for what he might say. he never took the stand in his criminal case. he didn't take the stand in his second criminal case, the one that brings us to today. does it matter, jose baez what he says today before a judge or is this really what the public wants to hear? >> well, one, it really doesn't matter what he says. i don't think that this is going to be a successful appeal. and that's because this is really your run of the mill, i had a bad lawyer appeal. however, if there is some type of support to what his testimony is, then i think he's got a shot. but right now, it doesn't appear that and right now, the most important one was, was that plea offer conveyed? unless there is something in writing, it's yale galanter's word against o.j.'s, the issue of him not testifying, there was a colloquy by the judge. the conflict of interest is kind of weak as well. becaus

mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to include in the record a piece by senator casey called time to act in syria. it wasn the huffington post, "washington post" editorial entitled repercussions of inaction, "wall street journal" article u.s. has warned planned syria arms sale, and finally a piece by leon wieseltier that i >> in a few moments, the first congressional hearing looking into the bombings of the boston marathon. air force officials make their budget request on capitol hill and face questions on a sexual abuse reports. on a that, a house debate bill that would set debt priorities requiring the and at arst, bobby jindal fundraiser. that is live. coverage continues on 8:00 when rand paul speaks at the lincoln day dinner. >> post on 11, a lot more people cared about nasa security -- national security issues than was the case before. all of a sudden there was market for former cia folks. even former national security

mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to include in the record a piece by senator casey called time to actin syria. it was in the huffington post, "washington post" editorial entitled repercussions of inaction, "wall street journal" article u.s. has warned planned syria arms sale, and finally a piece by leon wieseltier that is in "the new republic." the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mccain: i thank my colleagues. i yield. the presiding officer: morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of s. 601 which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 44, 601, a bill to provide for conservation and development of water and related resources and so forth and for other purposes. mrs. boxer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. boxer: mr. president, for the interest of all senators, i want to thank everyone for cooperating with us. we have handled a number of amendments, one quite controversial and nongermane but we dealt with it. it's not on this bill. i'm happy to say we're trying to keep this bil

mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to include in the record a piece by senator casey called time to actin syria. it was in the huffington post, "washington post" editorial entitled repercussions of inaction, "wall street journal" article u.s. has warned planned syria arms sale, and finally a syria arms sale, and finally a >> the situation in afghanistan and 78 and 79 was just how different it was from what we face today. many things are radically different. there are no radical leftist parties or secular parties at afghanistan today. that has all been pretty much wiped out but in the 1970s those were the powerful forces in afghanistan. the president from some of -- from much of the 70s was a secularist modernizer not unlike the shove iran. the calmness began trying to remodel society according to their own design in a quick they ran aground with that. the whole country rose up against them and that is what the soviets had to come in. what is amazing is the way that invasion and the almost on ending civil war that has followed compounded by the u.s. intervention in 2001 and after has com

blumenthal, brown, casey, cowen, franking, gillibrand, heinrich, lautenberg, leahy, manchin, stab now, tester, tom udall, senator warren and senatorwide everyone. and -- senator wyden. and, mrpresident, i would ask that senator cardin be added as a cosponsor to s. 316. i would ask permission -- >> without objection. >> mr. president, i am delighted that we are making progress on real postal reform not only here in the senate, but in the house as well, and i want to thank congressman peter defazio from oregon for his leadership efforts in cosponsoring the exact same bill in the house as we have in the senate, and that now has 139 cosponsors. so we have 24 cosponsors now in the senate, and in the house that bill has 139 cosponsors which tells me that the american people and their representatives here in washington understand how terribly important it is that we pass serious postal reform. and let me just very briefly talk about what is many that legislation -- in that legislation, what the legislation, if passed, would accomplish. that bill would reestablish strong overnight delivery standards to insure or the timely delivery of mail. when people put a letter or a package in

mr. obama wants to make sure the victims will receive the federal assistance they are looking for. >> live for us in moore, oklahoma as the community there tries to move forward. casey> >> reporter: mike, good morning to you. president obama touches down at tinker air force base and then it will be a quarter after 12 when he gets here to moore. he will be meeting with some storm survivors and getting an up close and personal look at the damage. and the damage is not hard to find. when you come here into moore, oklahoma. and 10 miles or so south of oklahoma city. >> neighborhood after neighborhood. and basically erased and blown into millions of pieces when the powerful ef-5 tornado went through at 3:00 in the afternoon. >> now, we are a week away and still, it is utter devastation where you look. they have been able to make some kind of progress. >> trying to restore power as quickly as they can. >> we have seen out i willity poles going up and -- utility poles going up and you are see seeing aerial pictures, and they have to be bull dozed. >> that other powerful ef-5 went through killing more than 40 people. they have rebuilt. this is a community that has a tremend

mr. roker. >> hey guys, thanks so much, forest knowles elementary school in silver springs, and it's time for the morning announcement. we've got john macklin, the principal, and assistant vice principal. what's your name? >> sidney. >> caseyoff the announcements with lunch which makes me excited. good morning, everybody. here we go, here's your lunch menu. cheese or pepperoni pizza, chicken nuggets with mashed potatoes, baby carrots, cucumber slices, assorted fresh fruit, 1% or fat free milk. how did i do? >> great. >> there you have it. you guys continue to make the announcements and while i do the weather. did i do okay? >> you did great. >> thank you very much, i kind of screwed up fat there but as far as your weather is concerned, our pick city of today just happens to be winston salem wxii, late day storm, temperature of 85 degrees. we're looking for strong storms, risk of strong storms now down in the gulf coast, stretching all the way on up into the upper midwest. another beautiful day in the pacific northwest, seattle sees a high of 78 degrees, risk of strong storms in the ohio river valley, wet weather in between, beautiful in the southwest, look for 93 in phoenix, 73 in los angeles, a hit or miss showers and thu