mr. durbin: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. durbin: ask consent the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: madam president, the world health organization has deemed this week world immunization week. every year the w.h.o. designates a whole week to promote the world's most powerful tools in public health -- the use of vaccines to protect all -- people of all ages against disease. immunization is one of the most successful cost-effective health interventions ever introduced, preventing up to 3 million deaths a year from diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus, polio and measles. and thanks to decades of research, there are now 25 diseases that can be prevented by vaccines, including some forms of influenza, meningitis and even certain types of liver and cervical cancer. the theme is "are you up to date "? this year, 1-5 worldwide won't receive the vaccinations they need. some because their parents choose not to and others because it's just not available. through the global vaccination action

mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, i have listened as my friends -- and they are my friends -- and colleagues have come to the floor to talk about the keystone x.l. pipeline. it turns out that what america needs more than anything else -- more than an increase in the minimum wage, more than paycheck fairness so that men and women are paid fairly in the workplace -- more than anything else we need one more pipeline coming in from canada. if you listen to the other side, you would think the jobs that will be created by the keystone x.l. pipeline will finally turn this economy around. well, how many jobs are we talking about? 2,000? 2,000 construction jobs? that's at the high ends of estimateend ofestimates i've he. how many jobs at the refineries in texas to process this oil and ship it overseas? it's not for sale in the united states. i'm not sure. but it really is amazing to me that they continue to focus on keystone x.l. as if it is the only issue when it comes to the american economy. and here's what i fin

mr. durbin: mr. president, can you tell me the order of business we are now --. the presiding officer: we are now in executive session -- there are 40 seconds remaining on the current issue following which we will proceed to executive session. mr. durbin: i yield back that time. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination which the clerk will report. the clerk: export-import bank of the united states, wanda felton of new york to be first vice president. the presiding officer: the remaining time until 3:30 will be for debate on the felton nomination. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, a generation ago an aids diagnosis meant sure and agonizing death. it was 23 years ago when i was in the house of representatives and i was walking to the chamber for a vote when i saw a colleague and friend, tom mcmillan, congressman from maryland, coming my way. you wouldn't miss tom mcmillan. he played in the nba. he was tall. and as he passed on the sid

mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, i ask unanimoui askunanimous consent g deadline for first-degree amendment to h.r. 3979, which is the legislative vehicle for unemployment insurance extension, be:30 p.m. today april, 1. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, i rise to speak in morning business. i listened carefully to the statement just made by the republican senator leader, senator mcconnell of kentucky, in which he promised concrete ideas, real hope, change, job-related approaches, free enterprise -- giving free enterprise a chance, trying to deal with putting america back to work. and then he gave us three examples. and i might say to the senator that i'm familiar with all three because none of these are new. we have heard them over and over again from the republican side of the aisle. i won't go through each one of them. a couple of them relate to the affordable care act. it is interesting to me the house of representatives has voted i believe 45 times to repeal the afford

mr. durbin: madam president, i ask consent to speak for 10 minutes in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: thank you, madam president. let me start by commending my colleague from vermont. what happened across the street today at the u.s. supreme court will be lost on most americans. they can't understand why they should even care about it. because the supreme court was asked whether or not it was proper under the law to limit the number of federal campaigns and the total dollars that an individual can give to candidates. and to no one's surprise, the supreme court said there should be no limitation. people can give as much money as they want to, as many federal candidates as they want with no limitation. so most americans will say, "so what? you know, these politicians, they run against one another during the campaigns. both sides spend too much money. i'm sick and tired of their ads. i don't care how you pay for it. it's all bad." but i have to say, senator sanders put his finger t on it. what's at issue here is not just how we financ

mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent that following dispption of executive calendar 532, the senate proceed to vietnam on confirmation of executive calendar number 687 without intervening action or debate on the nomination, and with all other provisions of the previous order respecting in effect. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations, which the clerk will report. the clerk: department of state, deafen whittaker of virginia to be ambassador of the united states of america to the republic of colombia. department of labor, christopher p.lu of virginia to be deputy secretary. department of justice, john p. carlin of new york to be an assistant attorney general. the presiding officer: under the previous order, there will be 15 minutes of debate equally divided between the two leaders or their designees prior to a vote on the whittaker nomination. mr. reed: madam president, i would ask unanimous consent to speak as in legislative business. the presiding officer: wit

mr. durbin: mr. president, it's with a heavy heart i rise to speak about the tragic shooting last week at fort hood. it claimed the cliefs lives of three innocent people, one the son of illinois, 16 others wounded. i often begin subcommittee hearings by quoting chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general martin dempsey in a speech to the national press club two years ago, general dempsey spoke about the number of challenges facing the military from afghanistan to sequestration, and the need to take care of our troops when they transition to civilian status. general dempsey said no matter how well we address the other challenges, and i quote him, "if we don't get the people right, the rest of it doesn't matter." his words reflect a basic truth. more than weapons system or stockpiles of ammunition, the strength of our military and the security of america depends on the men and women who volunteer to risk their lives for us. investigators are still trying to understand what happened as an army special

durbin. >> thank you mr. chairman.i guess i want to follow my colleague and friend senator rubio and i sure don't quarrel with the premise whether it's china or cuba opening up information free exchange of information that is so fundamental to our country and so fundamental to what i consider to be basic alleys of democracy. so the critics of this effort mr. shah i think ought to come up with a better idea but the notion behind it, the premise i think sound. i may go a little further than my colleagues on the committee when i say after over 50 years of what has been made dubious foreign policy in cuba by the united states, i've been in favor of opening up as much as we can, cuba to the ideas and people of the world and the united states. that is how communism and the soviet union came to an end. they were overwhelmed by reality. i have been to cuba. they are isolated from reality. if we had more contacts at the social media level and beyond i don't think the current regime could survive as the communistic regimes did n

mr. chairman and senator reid and senator durbin are not members of the health committee so they are not with us here today that they have been working hard on student debt issues. so i would ask unanimous consent to submit their statements on the record about student debt. without objection, so ordered. thank you all very much. first let me introduce our first panelist mr. james runcie. mr. runcie serves at the department of education and the chief operating officer for student student aid a performance-based organization created to modernize the delivery of student financial systems. mr. runcie advises the secretary of education on matters in the departments operation of student financial assistance programs under title for three before turning to depart mr. runcie service company head of equity corporate finance of ubs investment bank held numerous executive positions of american securities corp. and the xerox corporation. mr. runcie is a graduate of the college of holy cross the bashur's degree in mathematics earned his masters in business of administration with distinction from harv

of nevada, leahy, tester, boxer, schumer, durbin, casey, coons, rockefeller, levin, cantwell, nelson, whitehouse, murphy, murray, udall of new mexico and king. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. without objection. mr. reid: might have to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in faye say aye. all -- all in favor say aye. opposed nay. the motion carries. mr. reid: i now move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 587. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. opposed nay. the ayes have it. the motion is agreed to and the the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: manish s. s. shah of illinois to be united states district judge. mr. reid: i send a cloture motion to the desk, mr. president. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion. we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of manish s. s. shahf illinois to be united states dis

mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, my wife and i are blessed with a son and daughter who are good people, hard workers, good values. we basically believe the following: if they did the same job, disherve the same pay. -- they deserve the same pay, my daughter and my son. most americans agree with that. people should be judged on what they do, their performance, their productivity, not on their gender. that is at the heart of the issue pending before the united states senate at this moment. tomorrow we'll take a vote. it is a procedural vote, so it takes 60 senators to vote to move forward on what's known at paycheck fairness act. we have 55 democrats. simple math tells you, unless five republican senators join us to move forward on this issue, that's the end of the story. it would be unfortunate if it's the end of the story. the paycheck fairness act amends the equal pay act to discourage discrimination based on gender and to help narrow the pay gap in america. the bill provides women the same remedies for s

mr. durbin: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: i ask consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, all postcloture time is considered expired. under the previous order, the clerk will read the title of the bill for a third time. the clerk: calendar number 333, h.r. 3979, an act to amend the internal revenue code of 1986, and so forth. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the question occurs on the passage of h.r. 3979 as amended. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote? if not, the ayes are 59, the nays are 38. the bill as amended is passed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations, which the clerk will report. the c

mr. durbin: would the senator yield for a question? i'm going to make a statement in the nature of a question since we discussed this this morning. we had a lengthy discussion in the foreign relations committee, about this twitter project, whatever it was and whether it was wise and i think the consensus was if it opens up the cuban people to other ideas and more information, it's a positive thing. and you and i discussed afterwards the fact that there are other things we can do, and i think you've just alluded specifically to them on the floor and i want to associate myself with your thinking on this and hope that after some 50 years plus, some fresh thinking on our foreign policy in terms of cuba may lead to what we ultimately want and that is giving the cuban people an opportunity to be part of a real democracy and have real freedoms. isn't that right? mr. flake: that is. i thank the gentleman and i yield back and would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding o

, merkley, leahy, booker, warren, reed of rhode island, durbin, cardin, carper, coons, nelson, franken, gillibrand, whitehouse, casey, sanders. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, following my remarks and those of the republican leader, if any, the senate will be in morning business until 5:30 today, the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or her designees. at 5:30 there will be up to four roll call votes. first, confirmation of the friedland nomination, the next a cloture vote on the weil nomination, stob administrator of the wage and hour division of the department of labor, and a confirmation vote on the weil nomination. finally, a vote onccompanying mr. regan, assistant secretary of housing and urban development. today as we convene, i call to the senate's attention today is the commemoration of the holocaust. the holocaust was the systematic genocide of 6 million jews and countless others carried out by adolf hitler and his minions. today is holocaust remembrance today, a reminder that