mr. durbin: will the majority leader yield for a question? mr. reid: yes. mr. durbin: i would like to ask the majority leader through the chair for clarity, is the senate republican filibuster holding up unemployment benefits for 1.3 million americans? mr. reid: it's actually now up to about 1.5 million. mr. durbin: again, addressing the majority leader through the chair, so the refusal of the senate republicans to allow us to vote on the extension of unemployment benefits is denying, on averages about $300 a week to 1.4 million or 1 0e.5 million americans. is that a fact? mr. reid: that is triewvment. mr. durbin: is it not true that the initial complaint of the senate republicans it is what this payment of unemployment benefits was not paid for? mr. reid: that is true. mr. durbin: is it also true that the democrats came up with a pay-for that would have paid for the unemployment benefits, as the republicans requested? mr. reid: and i a pay-for that was originally discovered by paul ryan. mr. durbin: after the democrats came up with the pay-for, the first demand

mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the assistant majority leader. mr. durbin: mr. president, on the side supporting the pending motion, there's 15 minutes under the unanimous consent agreement. a similar amount of time on the other sievmentd if all time is used, notified members, our roll call vote will be at about 11:00. i ask unanimous consent that on our side supporting the motion that i be allotted five minutes, senator reed of rhode island, five minutes and senator klobuchar of minnesota five minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i listened carefully to the republican leader here. here's what he said. here's what he said. if we are going to give 1.3 million americans unemployment insurance that is now expired, if we're going to give it to them, we have to pay for it. and then he suggested how he would pay for it. he would pay for it by attacking obamacare. that's no surprise. but the provision that he would attack is the individual mandate, the mandate that people buy health insurance. well, wha

mr. durbin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 295, s. 1901. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 295, s. 1901, a bill to authorize the froze extend the term of the nuclear energy agreement with the republic of korea until march 19, 2016. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. durbin: i further ask the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of h. con. res. 75, which was received from the house and is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h. con. res. 75, providing for a joint session of congress to receive a message from the president. the presiding

mr. durbin: thank you. mr. president, pending before the congress now is debate on unemployment benefits. 1.3 million americans got a notice january 1st that they were not going to receive anymore unemployment benefit checks. these are people out of work through no fault of their own, who are required under law to be actively pursuing additional employment and regularly reporting to the government. and for that they receive unemployment benefits of -- average of about $300 a week. $300 a week is not a generous amount in this day and age. it's very difficult for any family to get by. they're going to have to dip into their savings to make rent payments, utility payments, put gas in the car to go look for a job, pay for that telephone, cell telephone that you need in order to go looking for work. so we are now debating as to whether or not we should extend those unemployment benefits that were cut off on january 1st. i think we should. historically we have. even with lower unemployment rates in the past, we have

mr. durbin: as we came up with a pay-for, that the senate republicans insisted on, did they stop their senate republican filibuster on unemployment benefits and allow us to move afford? mr. reid: no. mr. durbin: i'd like to ask the senate leader, it is my understanding that the republicans came up with a new demand that they be allowed to offer new amendments to the unemployment insurance package before they would drop their senate republican filibuster that was stopping unemployment benefits for 1 .4 million americans. mr. reid: that is true. and the biggest advocate we had for that on this side of the aisle was the whip, the senior senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i'd like to ask the majority leader this question: is it not true yesterday that in response to this republican demand, that you offered a unanimous consent request which would have given, in fact, up to 10 amendments on each side of the aisle, democrats and republicans, to this measure and that the democrats did not specify what the amendments would be, that it was really the decision of the republicans to offer those amendment

mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the assistant majority leader. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i have eight unanimous consent requests, they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders and i ask these requests be agreed to and printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. durbin: mr. president, i rise today to pay tribute to hida foanl, lost to, pendleton, lost one year ago today. she was 15 years old. she was gunned down while she was standing with friends in a park on chicago's south side. a talented, caring girl with a bright future, she was a sophomore at king college prep, she was an honors student, majorette in the school band. this is her photograph. those who knew her talk about her warm heart, her big smile, what a great friend she was to all those around her. a week before her death hidia was here in washington performing with her school ban

mr. president? the presidinmr. durbin: mr. pree senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i ask that the quorum call be suspendedment. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i never would have imagined that today the senate would be meeting without one of our tree here roarks the recipient of the congressional medal of honor, senator danny inouye of hawaii. he and senator ted stevens of alaska guided the subcommittee on defense of the senate appropriations committee for decades with a steady hand and commitment to working 0en a bipartisan basis. i've been fortunate in working 0en this appropriations bill to have as my rank member senator thad cochran of mississippi. he's carried on that legacy of bipartisanship. he is my friend. we trust one another, and that has made this job so much more complete and satisfying. we've conferenced a massive defense appropriations bill on an expedited schedule and we encourage our colleagues to vote for it in final passage. virtually 60% of all of the domestic discretionary spending of the united states of america is

mr. durbin: would the senator yield for a question? mr. reed: i will be happy to. mr. durbin: i would like to direct a question to the senator from rhode island through the chair. there's been debate on the floor here, and we've heard it off the floor, about whether or not we should pay for unemployment benefits. historically, if i'm not mistaken, most of the decisions to extend unemployment insurance benefits have been considered emergency measures and not paid for. and now there's a suggestion from many republicans that we need to cut spending in areas to compensate for these extension of unemployment benefits, which if i am nea not mistaken are ine area of $26 billion a year. one of the suggestions yesterday from the republican senate leader mitch mcconnell would address, is not surprisingly, the affordable care act, so-called obamacare, and would eliminate the basis for one of the basic protections in that law. what senator mcconnell proposed yesterday was to eliminate the responsibility of every individual who had health insurance that was put in the law so we coul

mr. durbin, mr. mcconnell, mr. cornyn, mr. blunt. >> the members of the escort committee will exit through the chamber doors through the lobby. >> acting dean of the diplomatic orps. >> mr. speaker, the chief justice and the associate justices of the supreme court.

mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, i grew up in east st. louis, illinois, on the banks of the mississippi river. and as a child, it was a dominant feature in my life, crossing that river, watching that river. and it didn't take long as i grew up to realize that that river has a mind of its own. last year, because of drought conditions in the midwest, the mississippi river was so low in january or february of 2013 that the army corps of engineers had to come out on an emergency basis and scour literally the bottom of the river of rock formations so navigation could continue. we were worried that we would have to shut down this major economic artery in the midwest because the river was so low. the army did a great job. navigation continued with only flight sleight delays and no major interruptions. within 60 or 90 days that same river was at flood stage. that is the kind of thing that those of

mr. durbin. the senator from new york, mr. schumer. the senator from washington, ms. murray. the senator from colorado, mr. bennett. the senator from michigan, ms. stabenow. the senator from alaska, mr. begich. the senator from kentucky, mr. mcconnell. the senator from texas, mr. cornyn. the senator from south dakota, mr. thune. the senator from missouri, mr. blunt. and the senator from wyoming, mr. barrasso. >> the members of the escort committee are exit through the chamber doors through the lobby. [inaudible conversations] .. brt [ inaudible conversation] >> the acting dean of the court. applause ] >> mr. speaker, the chief justice and the >> mr. speaker, the chief justice and the justice of the supreme court. [ applause ] [ applause ] [inaudible conversations taking place]

mr. durbin, how are you doing? good to see you. mr. bennett. we have all the senators coming in now.ow you know we're getting serious. supreme court justices, members of the senate. things are getting serious here. dana, i'm sorry, you were talking about one of the stars of "duck dynasty". >> i'm emphasizing this not because i think it's necessarily important but because i want to set the scene for what's happening. he is here, willie robertson, not just is he sitting in the gallery but i have seen a steady stream of congressmen make their way up the stairs up the gallery to come and greet him, to take pictures with him. you're sitting there with members of the supreme court, the majority leader, the vice president and a lot of members are just interested in coming and taking a picture with somebody who is a star of "duck dynasty." it is definitely something i have not seen in my many many years of covering state-of-the-union address. >> it's interesting. this year we have as we mentioned before special guests. hey, senator portman, how are you? good to see you. we've had special gue

mr. durbin: mr. president, i want to thank the majority leader for his comments and i'll be very brief because i know the senator from iowa has a statement that he wants to make. let me just say that the statement made on the floor earlier this afternoon by the republican leader never once addressed the issue pending before the senate. pending before the senate is an emergency unemployment insurance bill that will provide benefits to 1.3 million americans who are out of work and for eight days now have been receiving no assistance whatsoever. imagine the struggles they are facing. that's why we called this bill first when we returned from our hole holiday recess. we consider it a priority. we were heartened yesterday when six republicans joined us to move this bill forward. it really gave us hope that we were going to do something to get this done in a timely way to help a lot of deserving people all across the united states. and we hope today when the republican leader from kentucky -- hoped today w

senator durbin. >> mr. grassley's amendment is what brought us into this world in terms of bringing members of congress and their staff into the affordable care act which we are now under and it was not complete when it came to anti-kickback we will certainly make sure that it is. >> i didn't know that. [laughter] >> i think every staff member, every staff member in the congress ended up paying considerably more for their health care know that it is the grassley amendment that did it. >> mr. chairman if i could address the two questions related to the wheels of justice each year when you appear mr. attorney general i ask you the same question in you give me the same answer about racial profiling guidelines and you say really soon we are going to work on this. this year i would like to ask you, how quickly can we expect new racial profiling guidelines when it relates to the issues of religion, national origin and whether it applies to national security and border security cases? >> i don't want to repeat the

mr. chairman. >> thank you. and thank you for mentioning entencing, what senator durbin and lee and paul and ryan and others, whong together to try to get something that not only makes sense but can pass. the old one-size-fits-all, we realize, one, it doesn't make us safer, two, it doesn't deter crime. but, three, it means we're spending a huge amount of money on things that don't make us better and takes money away from good law enforcement that we need. last week the privacy and civil liberties oversight board issued a report that concluded the n.s.a.'s phone records program should end and i agree with that. for the recommendations, you and the director of national intelligence will develop in the coming months, but executive action is not enough. i think congress has to act to ensure that this legal theory, that's what i consider legal theory, is not used by any administration to spy on its zones. -- citizens. now, d.o.j.'s current interpretation of relevance in section 215 could allow the government to acquire virtually any database that might someday down the road for some reason, somehow, find useful. firs

nevada, reed of rhode island, klobuchar, warren, durbin, whitehouse, markey, baldwin, leahy, coons, mikulski, murray, warner, hirono, murphy, harkin and brown. mr. reid: note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. portman: madam president, i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: is there objection. without objection. mr. reid: madam president, i have the floor here. the presiding officer: the majority leader. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: i thank you, madam president, for recognizing me. i've been trying to be recognized before the majority leader decided to what we call around here fill the tree, which means taking away the opportunity for amendments to be offered, although there will be an attempt i believe in a moment to offer some. i'm disappointed in that because i thin

mr. durbin: madam president, i yield the floor. a senator: madam president -- the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate will proceed to consideration of h.j. res. 106, which the clerk will report. the clerk: h.j. res. 106, joint resolution making further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2014, and for other purposes. the presiding officer: under the previous order, there will be 15 minutes of debate equally divided. mr. nelson: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: madam president, i would like to speak on another matter that's pending in front of the senate, the flood insurance bill. the presiding officer: the senator is recognized. mr. nelson: to the chairman of appropriations, this will just take 30 seconds. i want to say that senator landrieu has been a real champion out here. we are still insisting that we are able to bring up the bipartisan bill to delay for several years the flood insurance hikes that in my state where 40% of the policies are, we have seen spi