mr. coburn, proposes an amendment numbered 1750. mr. coburn: i ask unanimous consent that the amendment be considered as read. i'd also ask that amendment number 1751 be called up with the pending amendments being set aside. the presiding officer: without objection. is there objection? without objection, the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: the senator from oklahoma, mr. coburn, proposes amendment numbered 1751. at -- mr. coburn: i ask that the amendment be considered read and it be set aside. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. coburn: and amendment number 1754 be called up. the presiding officer: without objection the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: the senator from oklahoma, mr. coburn, proposes an amendment numbered 1754. mr. coburn: thank you. i ask that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. coburn: i just -- i want to spend just a moment talking about amendment 1750. this bill has a prohibition in it which i think is long overdue and very good.

mr. coburn: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. coburn: mr. president, reserving the right to object and i don't intend to object. i'd like to modify his unanimous consent request that i follow for 15 minutes after his colloquy. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lee: mr. president, today i rise in support of parents, families, students, employees, taxpayers and other hardworking americans who, as of january 1, 2014, will find themselves unfairly impacted by obama care. bio obamacare. an ill-conceived, poorly crafted and economically damag damaginge of legislation. we've known for some time now that obamacare would create a dangerous set of circumstances that would make health care unaffordable. it's unaffordable from several stand points. number one, for the country, for the united states government. the congressional budget office , a nonpartisan -- the congressional budget office, a nonpartisan entity, recently reported that this law is going to cost the united states government about $1.8 trillion over the next ten years, signif

mr. chairman. >> senator coburn. >> mr. r questions from senator coburn. with the dow hanging into a very narrow range as he's been speaking, wavering fewer than 20 points i'd say. let's get to steve liesman. has the latest on this back from hq. steve, your general thoughts, he's answering both sides with similar answers, and he's not taking the bait saying this will, in fact, be his last humphrey hawkins. >> i'm waiting for a senator to bring out the gold watch and present him with a plaque. i think he's going to practically retire right here if it keeps going this way. somebody i think needs to do something to correct the record here as to whether or not he is definitively retiring because the way these senators are talking it sounds a lot like a done deal. you're right though, carl, it sounds like the republicans are asking is there a danger of too much qe? democrats are saying is there a danger of too little qe and bernanke is saying yes to both. what the fed has concluded is there's last -- it feels less cause than ther

mr. chairman, senator coburn, members of the committee, i look forward to answering any questions. >> thank you. thank you very, very much for that testimony. mr. schwartz. >> good morning. on behalf of governor patrick i thank you for this opportunity to share thoughts on the public safety response to the boston marathon bombings and the ensuing manhunt that together resulted in the deaths of four people and injuries to hundreds more. the response to the marathon bombings once again demonstrates the value of our investments in local, state and federal homeland security. within seconds of the bomb blast, an array of personnel, resources and capabilities, many funded with federal homeland security grant dollars, were mobilized and deployed. first responders, aided by the public, swiftly provided onscene emergency medical care to the injured and the e.m.s. providers followed established plans to triage and transport the wounded to area trauma centers. our trauma centers were prepared and followed depifting -- existing mass casualty plans to swiftly and effectively treat the wounded. indeed, a

mr. chairman, dr. coburn director jarvis on reforming the elk wcl so this can be a tool that the national park service and other land management agencies can use to fund deferred maintenance before we buy additional lands to add to the growing burden. i appreciate that there are at times some sensitive, time-sensitive acquisitions that need to be made. i want to make sure we have a process to include those but i think there is room for compromise and i look forward to discussion on that topic this morning. the next thing i would like to bring up is the potential for increased funding and involvement from outside imprints groups. one of the major complaints that i hear from friends groups are these bureaucratic obstacles that many of these groups face when they are trying to donate to the national park service for specific projects. we need to be looking at this and pick out a way to streamline the process and encourage folks to contribute their resources and dollars. just yesterday we got a press release from

mr. chairman, dr. coburn, director jarvis on really reforming the lw cf so this can be a tool that the national park service and other land management agencies can use to fund deferred maintenance before we buy additional lands to add to the federal -- i appreciate that there are at times some sensitive, time-sensitive acquisitions that need to be made. i would want to make sure we have a process to include those but as a general matter i think there is room here for compromise and i look forward to a discussion on that topic this morning. the next hearing that i would ring up is the potential for increased funding and involvement from outside groups and their friends groups. one of the major complaints i hear from friends groups are these bureaucratic obstacles that many of these groups face when they are trying to donate to the national park service for a specific project. we need to be looking at this and we need to figure out away to streamline the process and encourage folks to contribute to their resour

mr. thompson is probably the ceo of the national opinion research center at the university of chicago. senator tom coburn chairs the hearing of the senate homeland to be a government affairs committee. >> committee come to order. welcome, mr. thompson, to you. these two handsome young men who are with you and all of our guests, we welcome you this morning. iran into dick durbin earlier today and i think he is going to come to introduce you. and he is, as soon as he joins us we will working in. i will yield to him and ask him to just, just that. today, dr. coburn and i, senator johnson, are pleased and will probably be joined by others on our committee, but pleased to consider the nomination, presidents nomination john thompson, the director of the u.s. census bureau. and i think we all realize the role of the senses is to serve as a leading source of quality data by the nations people and our economy. the. does this by conducting as we know numerous surveys, sometimes we think it's every 10 years but it's actually every year. those surveys in turn provide lawmakers like us, citizens, businesses with a fe

. >> senator coburn. >> mr. bernanke, i appreciate the service that you have given our country. tohave nobody to compare it because we have never been in the situation we are in before. you have done significant work, and i appreciate it. i have a couple of questions in terms of your balance with your mandate both in terms of inflation and employment and growth. one of the things that concerns me is since 1980, we have change the way we measure inflation 20 times. if you use the same measure of inflation that we had in 1980, our inflation rate would be over 8% right now. and the other thing that concerns me is median family income in real dollars at the same as it was in 1989. so if i had a criticism of anything you have done in the last few years, it would really go along -- in line more with senator corker's thoughts, we have let you down. the kindergarten of congress has let you down by not doing these things to create the confidence, to create the certainty in the business community that would allow the significant capital sitting on the sidelines to be invested, which would

mr. perez at some length. senator tom coburn and i did. and i came away uneasy about it. i had a feeling that his ideological political agenda was so strong and his legal commitment was not strong enough and he would use this position in the department of justice to advance an agenda rather than enforce the law. and i'm afraid that's what's happened. many of my colleagues will recall that on election day in 2008, three members of the new black panther party stood at the entrance to a polling station in philadelphia brandishing night sticks and threatening voters what more intimidation can you have than that at a polling plate. they wore military uniforms, boots, military-style insignia and used racial slurs and insults to scare away would-be voters. one of the men was jerry jackson, a member of philadelphia's 14th ward democratic committee and a credentialed poll watcher for the democratic party on election day. now, this is not acceptable. this is clearly voter intimidation. dramatic voter intimidation. a video of the incident was widely distributed on the internet, made

oklahoma senator tom coburn said in a state, quote, are we to avoid asking questions regarding allegations which carry serious implications for mr. mayorkas' prose fessional conduct? nbc news correspondent michael is issakof joins me. take us through the connection between hillary clinton's brother, terry mcauliffe, and this fellow at homeland security department, and what it could mean for all three of them. >> well, clearly, first of all, luke, there's a lot of politics here on all sides. but here's the situation as we understand it. mayorkas is the nominee to be the deputy homeland security secretary. which means he'll be filling in when janet napolitano leaves if he gets confirmed. the problem is on monday night the inspector general's office from homeland security sent a bombshell e-mail to senate lawmakers on the committee saying, we have mayorkas under investigation now for improper -- for allegations that he improperly intervened in the applications -- in applications for this investor visa program submitted by a company called gulf coast, which happens to be run by anthony rodham, hillary clinton's brother, and which ha

mr. amoeba brain. >> 10,000 amoebas inside my brain. >> stephanie: tom coburn said the strategy is a good way for republicansstephanie: shut down the government. >> glug, glug, glug. >> stephanie: mike lee did not return our request for comment on the congressional report on how his idea will not work. except to give the house back to democrats. okay. that was karl rove's crossroads gps poll. found that shutting down the government is part of a gambit aimed at defunding the implementation of all -- it would be a p.r. disaster for the g.o.p. they have no joke reverted to suggesting it's skewed. karl rove's polls are skewed. >> because they don't like the poll. they're saying it's skewed. >> stephanie: 64% of voters in the karl rove poll think that shutting down the government over obamacare would be a bad idea. only 24% believe such a maneuver is justified. the bad news is -- you know, it does show some negative attitudes about obamacare. they've done their job on that much. but as always, they tend to overstep and then that would blow up in their face. [ explosion ] you gotta go all the way! >> all in. >> st

mr. grassley: during the debate on the budget, dr. coburn and i offered an amendment that would create an a separate and independent inspector genuine the consumer finance protection bureau. we introduced this amendment because thanks to a quirk in dodd-frank, the consumer finance protection bureau is the only major federal agency without its own inspector general. and i think people know i tend to rely a great deal on inspector general, within the bureaucracy to be an independent check to make sure that laws are followed and to make sure that money is spent according to the law. now, dodd-frank created the consumer finance protection board, but it did not create a protection board specific inspector general. instead, because dodd-frank is funded -- or funded the protection bureau through the federal reserve, this consumer finance protection bureau ended up sharing an inspector general with the federal reserve. this has created a problem. right now, the consumer finance protection board's inspector general has a split role. he serves as both

mr. davis. her kellermann. >> chairman carper ranking member coburn and distinguished merit of the committee thank you for inviting me here today. i am mark kellermann and emergency physician and i'm not from boston. we have all heard the adage -- the. >> how about south boston? >> yes yes sir. we have all heard the adage is better to be lucky than good. austin's responders were both lucky and good. that is why so many victims survived. several chance factors worked to that rescuers vapor most notably when where and how the attacks occurred. boston's response and were also very very good. bystanders spectators played a key role particularly in the first minutes after the attack. a few years prior to the attack boston ems fire and police personnel studied how london madrid mumbai and other cities have handled their terrorist attacks, what they did well and what didn't go well and they adjusted their plans to respond to lessons learned in those cities and incorporated it into their plan. boston's hospitals did a great job because they were prepared to do a great job. they reacted with speed imprecision because every

mr. chairman. >> there is a lot left on the table in terms of issues to explore. coburn hold ar. foring on the timeline boston. there is a huge amount to be learned. the center for best practices is a clearing house for good ideas. find out what was working in massachusetts or oklahoma and see if we can export it. there are a lot of good lessons learned. we're just scratching the surface. plenty ofu have opportunity to explore. for joining us. >> thank you for being here and for your testimony. your public for service, the men and women you have the gratitude of all wisconsinites and in particular those present in boston to participate in the marathon. i would like to direct my question to the deputy administrator serino. it is obvious federal support has played a critical role helping state and local fromnment, as we can see the boston experience, prepare for these catastrophic events. one of the key lessons learned has been the importance of building relationships between the various levels of government and conducting joint exercises. i want to focus on my home state of wiscon

mr. president, to thank the cosponsors of this bill, senator alexander, senator coburn, senator carper, senator king, senator manchin. without this bipartisan approach, we wouldn't be here today. and it has not been lost on me that four of the six cosponsors were former governors. they recognize the importance of education, they recognize the importance of students having access to that education, and i think all of them are stalwarts, as it relates to good education. and i think they recognize, like senator coburn and i, that this was a good -- this was a good bill. it was good policy -- manchin, burr, king, carper, alexander bill. let me remind my colleagues where we are today. senator king just did it. under current law, we're at 6.8% for all undergraduate students, higher for graduate, higher for plus, and just a month ago we had a bifurcated system where some undergraduates paid 6.8% and other undergraduates who were considered subsidized paid 3.4%. i would suggest that that's morally wrong. and i think collectively what we did is we said, how can we come up with a system that shows the eq

mrs. murray: i ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside and the follow amendments be called up. coburn number 1756, mccain 1803, boozman 1785, and udall of colorado number 1789, that the amendments be agreed to en bloc and the motion to reconsider be made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mrs. murray: thank you, madam president. madam president, it is my understanding that we have a republican senator who is coming to the floor shortly to are make a motion to recommit. and i will just for the information of all members at some point to be agreed upon we will dispense with that amendment this afternoon. we're hoping to do -- a number of members have asked timing on that and i will work with the senator and our staffs to try and do that as soon as possible. i know many members are waiting for that. with that, i will ask -- suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. baucus: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. baucus: madam president, i ask that

mr. mayorkas was director of the of citizenship and immigration services is under investigation for allegedly helping secure a special visa for a chinese executive. ranking member sender tom coburn requested a delay in considering the nomination until the investigation is complete. but the chairman, senator tom carper, declined. this is a little more than an hour and a half. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> good morning, everyone. welcome to the ceiling. welcome -- to this hearing. welcome secretary mallorca's, bienvenidos. welcome to senator feinstein and certainly welcome to colleagues in between, especially senator landrieu who is agreed to say a few words about you before we get started. senator feinstein and senator landrieu our lives of the appropriations committee. they -- very grateful for your willingness to come your and introduce secretary mayorkas. i'm going to you directly to you for whatever you'd like to see. we are grateful you could come. thank you. thank you very much, mr. chairman, and i appreciate the courtesy, so thank you. >> it is a pleasure for me to introduce president obama's nominee for deputy secretary of the department of homela

mr. wilkins in front of your committee. myave many geriatrics in practice, and they are worried about the affordable care act. the democrats say the republicans never came up with an alternative. senator tom coburn had terrific some ideas watched that senator harkin had. all of the democrats, one senator tom coburn proposed it, the democrats were looking at it. there are some ideas out there. i wish you good luck on the irs, and i hope you do not let it fall off. of tranquility wants to know this -- what impact does it have on groups if you delay 501 status? could it affect in photo voters were delay elections? guest: absolutely. the major question is why do we not find out about this a year ago, and why was investigation delayed, because we are two so, yes, i do think the delaying of a small group rather than large group, that prevents them from taking any action. you think of a community group trying to raise money for a softball field in the health- and 5013c.m youcannot do that until have an irs letter stating you can be won. the longer it is delayed, the surer opportunity you have for delaying actions. likewise for the group that orted to educate voters educate individuals or tried to make

mr. chairman, dr. coburn, director jarvis, on reforming lwcf so that this can be a tool that agencies can use for deferred maintenance before we i additional -- we buy additional lands. are, atiate that there times, sometimes sensitive acquisitions that need to be time sensitive acquisitions that need to be made. i think there is room for compromise. i look forward to a discussion on that topic this morning. the next area i would like to bring up is the potential for increased funding and involvement from outside groups and the friends groups. one of the major complaints that i hear from friends groups are these bureaucratic obstacles that many of these groups face when they are trying to donate to the national parks of us for projects. -- parks service for projects. we need to streamline the process, encourage folks to contribute both the resources and dollars. just yesterday, we got a press release from the parks service out in saint elias. advertisement, a public advertisement, for a cleanup event on augus