mr. franken: thank you, madam president.when my wife, fran ni, and i decided that i should run for senate, we were greatly influenced by the example set by senator paul wellstone and his wife, sheila. the wellstones' example served as a constant reminder of what public service is all about. it's about helping others. it's about giving a voice to those who otherwise might go unheard. it's about making the law more just and more fair, peurbl for those who -- especially for those who need its protections the most. frannie and i have a personal responsibility to carry on the wellstones legacy. we all do. and you know what? i think that paul and sheila would be proud of what we're doing here today. we are on the verge of reauthorizing the violence against women act. paul and sheila were extraordinary people, an unlikely couple. sheila was born in kentucky to southern baptist parents. paul was born here in washington, the son of russian jewish immigrants. but love and fate, they work in mysterious ways, and they brought paul and s

franken. senator sessions. >> thank you mr. chairman. your meteorite meteor at rice to the chairmanship is like senator franken's. >> mine was actually -- [laughter] that is neither here nor there. for the purposes of this hearing we have the secretary and i don't think we should squabble over that. >> we are glad to have both of you senators here. met them chairman, this is homeland security is a big operation. i guess it's the third-largest personnel operation are second in our government. >> i think it's the third largest, yes or. >> over 200,000 people. it's cobbled together and i've got to tell you i was uneasy about that bill. as i recall the democrats said we should consolidate and then he finally said yes and we passed it without a whole of consideration. so you have a lot of agents. you have got the coast guard, the secret service, tsa, all sorts of agencies with different histories, cultures and so i know the challenge is hard. i just really believe -- i don't think that it completely is together yet. do you agree that there are

franken. senator sessions? >> thank you, mr. chairman. your medioric rise to the chairmanship arises over senator franken's. >> mine was -- [ muted ] that's neither here nor there. we have the secretary and i don't think we should squabble over that. >> we're glad to have both of you fine senators here. madame chairman, this is homeland security, a big operation. i guess it's the third largest personnel operation or second in our government. >> i think it's the third largest, yes, sir. >> third. over 200,000 people. it's cobbled together. i've got to say, i was uneasy about that bill. as i recall, the democrats said we should consolidate. president bush said no, then he finally said yes and did it. we passed it without a whole lot of consideration, in my view. so you have a lot of agencies. you've got coast guard, secret service, tsa. all sorts of agencies with different histories, cultures and so i know the challenge is hard. i just truly believe -- i don't think that it's completely together yet. do you agree that there's still cultural

mr. franken: thank you, madam president. when my wife, fran ni, and i decided that i should run for senate, we were greatly influenced by the example set by senator paul wellstone and his wife, sheila. the wellstones' example served as a constant reminder of what public service is all about. it's about helping others. it's about giving a voice to those who otherwise might go unheard. it's about making the law more just and more fair, peurbl for those who -- especially for those who need its protections the most. frannie and i have a personal responsibility to carry on the wellstones legacy. we all do. and you know what? i think that paul and sheila would be proud of what we're doing here today. we are on the verge of reauthorizing the violence against women act. paul and sheila were extraordinary people, an unlikely couple. sheila was born in kentucky to southern baptist parents. paul was born here in washington, the son of russian jewish immigrants. but love and fate, they work in mysterious ways, and they brought paul and

franken? >> thank you, mr. chairman. madame secretary, this week the house of representatives is considering several cyber security proposals but this morning i want to talk about with you about the cyber security proposals that are here in the senate. because while there's ban lot of talk about privacy and civil liberties implications of the house proposals and, rightly so, fewer people are talking about the two bills here in the senate. the fact is that they are, as they are currently drafted, both of the cyber security proposals here in the senate present very serious threats to our privacy and civil liberties. both bills allow companies the near unfettered ability to monitor e-mails and files of their customers. both bills may allow companies to share that information directly with the military. both bills generally allow the federal government to freely share that information with law enforcement and both bills immunize companies against grossly negligent and knowing violations of the few privacy protections that ap

mr. secretary. i'll call on dr. roubideaux after i recognize senator franken. he'll be back on the floor and i'm going to ask him for any opening remarks he has. >> thank you, mr. chairman, i thank you for your courtesy. unfortunately, i have to preside in 15 minutes so i would like to say a couple of things. each year this committee holds hearings on the needs of the -- many issues of great importance for indian country, but only once a year do we examine overall funding levels for native programs. what we choose to fund sends a powerful message to tribes about our priorities. in these times of tight budgets, programs across the federal government are being forced to make painful cuts and do more with less. sadly native communities are far too accustomed to doing more with less. i hope that as we examine this year's budget we will all remember our trust responsibilities to try and think carefully about any cuts to tribal programs. the president's fiscal year 2013 budget has some good things. i'm very happy to see proposed increases for indian health service, tr

franken. senator sessions. >> thank you, mr. chairman. her meteoric rise to the chairmanship. senator franken. >> mine was actually -- [laughter] >> that's neither here nor there appeared for the purposes of the unit where the secretary and i don't think we should squabble over that. >> were glad to have both of you senators here. madam chairman, this is homeland security a big operation. as the third-largest in our government. >> is third-largest. over 200,000 people. i got to say it was uneasy about the bill. as i recall the democrats said we should consolidate and president bush said no and then he finally said yes and then we passed it without a whole lot of consideration in my view. we have a whole lot of agents. coast guard, secret service, tsa, ulcers of agencies with different histories, cultures and so forth. i know the challenge is hard. i just truly believe -- i don't think completely together. do you agree they're still cultural and not your craddick efficiencies that could be obtained if focused on today? >> senator, we operated under the caption one dhs then we co

mr. chairman, for giving me this opportunity and for your indulgence and for the ranking members indulgence as well. thank you. >> thank you very much, senator franken, for your statement. now before we go to dr. roubideaux, let me call on our vice-chairman to give his opening remarks. >> thank you very much mr. chairman, and i appreciate the patience of the members of our panel as we went through a series of roll call votes. i want to thank you for holding this important hearing. once again, congress is examining a budget request for all federal programs including indian programs. so from within the shadow of enormous growing spending deficit, we look at the issues facing our country. as we see on both sides of the aisle an agreement there is no avoiding the problem anymore. and most, if not all agencies and programs will be called on to participate in the solution. we all recognize that the federal government has important responsibilities in indian country. safety, education, health care. just to name a few as senator franken previously mentioned. we all know carrying out these responsibilities requires money. this year and into the foreseeable f

mr. mero, please proceed. >> good morning, senator durban and ranking member graham, senator franken, senator blumenthal. i'm delighted to testify before you today. we are a nonpartisan organization with over half a million members and hundreds of thousands of additional activists and supporters. in 53 state offices nationwide dedicated to the principles of a quality and justice set forth of the u.s. constitution and in our laws protecting individual rights. for decades, the aclu has been at the forefront against all forms of racial profiling. racial profiling is policing based on stereotypes instead of faxed evidence and good police work. racial profiling fuels fear and mistrust between law enforcement and the very communities they are supposed to protect. racial profiling is not only in effective, it is unconstitutional and violates basic norms of human rights, both at home and abroad. my testimony lays out how race, religion, national origin are used as proxies for suspicion in three key areas of national security, of routine law enforcement and immigration. in the context of national security, recent

mr. romero, what actions can fbi take to show it is serious about reforming its training programs? >> thank you for the question, senator franken. and, yes, what i would first point out is, of course, those memos and files and training manuals surprised us. when we used the freedom of information act we go asking for documents we continue to know exist. and so we used the freedom of information act as democracies x-ray. thousand get documents we need. that questions, hunches, based on conduct of what we've seen already when the fbi's been tracking young muslim men between the ages of 18 and 33 asking them to come in for voluntary fingerprinting, we had a hunch they had to have some training materials that were going to be troubling and problematic, and lamentably our hunches were borne out. i think frankly, one thing the fbi needs to, i would encourage, and director mueller is a man with whom we have great disagreements. we've sued him dozens of time, but for the record, he's a man of enormous credibility. he's probably the man in the justice department both under the bush and the obama team in whom i have the greatest personal

mr. romero, what actions can fbi take to show it is serious about reforming its training programs? >> thank you for the question, senator franken. and, yes, what i would first point out is, of course, those memos and files and training manuals surprised us. when we used the freedom of information act we go asking for documents we continue to know exist. and so we used the freedom of information act as democracies x-ray. thousand get documents we need. that questions, hunches, based on conduct of what we've seen already when the fbi's been tracking young muslim men between the ages of 18 and 33 asking them to come in for voluntary fingerprinting, we had a hunch they had to have some training materials that were going to be troubling and problematic, and lamentably our hunches were borne out. i think frankly, one thing the fbi needs to, i would encourage, and director mueller is a man with whom we have great disagreements. we've sued him dozens of time, but for the record, he's a man of enormous credibility. he's probably the man in the justice department both under the bush and the obama team in whom i have the greatest personal

mr. mero, please proceed. >> good morning, senator durban and ranking member graham, senator franken, senator blumenthal. i'm delighted to testify before you today. we are a nonpartisan organization with over half a million members and hundreds of thousands of additional activists and supporters. in 53 state offices nationwide dedicated to the principles of a quality and justice set forth of the u.s. constitution and in our laws protecting individual rights. for decades, the aclu has been at the forefront against all forms of racial profiling. racial profiling is policing based on stereotypes instead of faxed evidence and good police work. racial profiling fuels fear and mistrust between law enforcement and the very communities they are supposed to protect. racial profiling is not only in effective, it is unconstitutional and violates basic norms of human rights, both at home and abroad. my testimony lays out how race, religion, national origin are used as proxies for suspicion in three key areas of national security, of routine law enforcement and immigration. in the context of national security, recent

mr. mero, please proceed. >> good morning, senator durban and ranking member graham, senator franken, senator blumenthal. i'm delighted to testify before you today. we are a nonpartisan organization with over half a million members and hundreds of thousands of additional activists and supporters. in 53 state offices nationwide dedicated to the principles of a quality and justice set forth of the u.s. constitution and in our laws protecting individual rights. for decades, the aclu has been at the forefront against all forms of racial profiling. racial profiling is policing based on stereotypes instead of faxed evidence and good police work. racial profiling fuels fear and mistrust between law enforcement and the very communities they are supposed to protect. racial profiling is not only in effective, it is unconstitutional and violates basic norms of human rights, both at home and abroad. my testimony lays out how race, religion, national origin are used as proxies for suspicion in three key areas of national security, of routine law enforcement and immigration. in the context of national security, recent

rockefeller, franken, boxer, durbin and levin for cosponsor this measure, and i would ask unanimous consent to add senator lautenberg as an additional cosponsor. the presiding officer: without objection. mr whitehouse: the structure of the bill is pretty simple. if your total income, capital gains included, is over $2 million, you calculate your taxes under the regular system. and if your effective rate turns out to be greater than 30%, you pay that rate. if, on the other hand, your effective tax rate is below 30% 30% -- like the 11% tax rate warren buffett paid in 2010 -- then you'd pay the fair share tax of 30% instead. taxpayers earning less than $1 million -- which is more than 99.8% of americans -- would not be affected by the bill at all. for taxpayers earning between $1 million and $2 million, the fair share tax gets gradually phased in so that ultimately when you earn over $2 million, you're subject to the full 30% minimum rate. the one exception the bill makes to the 30% minimum is maintain the provision for charity giving. taxpayers are permitted to subtract the same amount of contributions allowed under the regular income tax from their tashingable income. the reason for this

rockefeller, franken, boxer, durbin and levin for cosponsor this measure, and i would ask unanimous consent to add senator lautenberg as an additional cosponsor. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: the structure of the bill is pretty simple. if your total income, capital gains included, is over $2 million, you calculate your taxes under the regular system. and if your effective rate turns out to be greater than 30%, you pay that rate. if, on the other hand, your effective tax rate is below 30% 30% -- like the 11% tax rate warren buffett paid in 2010 -- then you'd pay the fair share tax of 30% instead. taxpayers earning less than $1 million -- which is more than 99.8% of americans -- would not be affected by the bill at all. for taxpayers earning between $1 million and $2 million, the fair share tax gets gradually phased in so that ultimately when you earn over $2 million, you're subject to the full 30% minimum rate. the one exception the bill makes to the 30% minimum is maintain the provision for charity giving. taxpayers are permitted to subtract the same amount of contributions allowed under the regular income tax from their tashingable income. the reason for this

rockefeller, franken, boxer, durbin and levin for cosponsor this measure, and i would ask unanimous consent to add senator lautenberg as an additional cosponsor. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: the structure of the bill is pretty simple. if your total income, capital gains included, is over $2 million, you calculate your taxes under the regular system. and if your effective rate turns out to be greater than 30%, you pay that rate. if, on the other hand, your effective tax rate is below 30% 30% -- like the 11% tax rate warren buffett paid in 2010 -- then you'd pay the fair share tax of 30% instead. taxpayers earning less than $1 million -- which is more than 99.8% of americans -- would not be affected by the bill at all. for taxpayers earning between $1 million and $2 million, the fair share tax gets gradually phased in so that ultimately when you earn over $2 million, you're subject to the full 30% minimum rate. the one exception the bill makes to the 30% minimum is maintain the provision for charity giving. taxpayers are permitted to subtract the same amount of contributions allowed under the regular income tax from their tashingable income. the reason for this

mr. merrill, what action should the fbi tape to show it is serious about reform in its fbi programs click >> thank you for the question, senator franken yes, what at first we know this is my muslim files and training manual surprised us. when we used the information act, we go asking for documents that we don't know exist. and so we use the freedom of information i does democracy. how to get documents they need, questions, hunches. based on conduct of what we've seen already when the fbi has been tracking young muslim men between the ages of eight tenet 33 and asking them to come in for voluntary fingerprinting and photographing, mapping out mosques. we had a hunch they had to have some training materials that were going to be traveling and problematic in our hunches were borne out. i think frankly one thing via vi needs to do, which i encourage and director mueller is a man with whom we have great disagreements be a brief sudan dozens of times. hope he is a man of enormous credibility. he's both under the bush and the obama team and whom i have the greatest personal regard and respect. and with all of that, i would encourage you to e

mr. rahall, and i will vote for this 18-month extension, but i got to tell you the republican leadership has turned the house floor into a franken stein lab -- frankenstein laboratory. instead of bringing a transportation bill that could get the support from both sides, they brought a bill to the floor that couldn't get support from either side. now after they couldn't convince the tea party members that transportation is actually very important to our economy, they are taking parts from different bills and creating the monster of -- that they call transportation. it's a very sad time for transportation in the house of representatives. the republican leadership has ruined a process that used to be bipartisan, from a committee that used to be bipartisan. this is not the way to run the u.s. house of representatives, and it is clearly not the way the american people want it to be run. i've been on the transportation committee for 20 years, and it's always been partisan. never been partisan. we were the people that moved goods and services and put millions of people to work. now we gut funding, and the republican leadership has had

mr. president, i rise to discuss my amendment, 2034, regarding federal workers' compensation, which is cosponsored by nine senators, including senators inouye, harkin, murray, franken, leahy, shaheen, kerry, lautenberg, and brown of ohio. i have serious concerns with the provisions of the proposal reform bill that would make changes to the federal workers' compensation program known as feca, not just within the postal service but across the entire government. these provisions would cut benefits to elderly disabled employees and eliminate a supplement for dependents, many who are already injured have their benefits cut retro actively. this is particularly unfair because most employees affected by these far-reaching cuts are not even postal employees. many are defense and state department employees injured supporting missions overseas, federal law enforcement officers and firefighters injured saving lives, or prison guards attacked by inmates. the sponsors of this bill argue that changes to workers' compensation must be included in this legislation to place the postal service on a sound financial footing. however, the fact is that the changes would have very little e

mr. franken: mr. president, i ask permission to ^spaoebg o.a.s. if in morning business for about 20 minutes. the presiding officer: senate is under a quorum call. mr. franken: i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. frapping frank and i ask that -- mr. franken: and i ask that -- permission to speak as if in move tmorning business for 20 m. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. franken: thank you. i rise today to talk about the importance of the postal service to minnesota and to urge my colleagues to make thoughtful changes to strengthen s. 1789, the postal service has proposed a cost-cutting plan that would close or consolidate nearly 3,700 mostly rural post offices. this plan would eliminate thousands of jobs in communities across the country and leave many residents and businesses without direct access to postal services, and of course that includes oregon, the presiding officer's state. in minnesota, the 117 post offices are on the closure list that includes the post office in calumet, mi

mr. franken: thank you, madam president. when my wife, fran ni, and i decided that i should run for senate, we were greatly influenced by the example set by senator paul wellstone and his wife, sheila. the wellstones' example served as a constant reminder of what public service is all about. it's about helping others. it's about giving a voice to those who otherwise might go unheard. it's about making the law more just and more fair, peurbl for those who -- especially for those who need its protections the most. frannie and i have a personal responsibility to carry on the wellstones legacy. we all do. and you know what? i think that paul and sheila would be proud of what we're doing here today. we are on the verge of reauthorizing the violence against women act. paul and sheila were extraordinary people, an unlikely couple. sheila was born in kentucky to southern baptist parents. paul was born here in washington, the son of russian jewish immigrants. but love and fate, they work in mysterious ways, and they brought paul and