mr. harkin? it is interesting what people have to say about this. let's see some legislation that can pass the senate. and we have the pieces necessary to come together and work out a compromise. there are some democrats in the house you want us to forget about the fact that we passed a bill and pass another bill. no. that is not make any sense. >> the whole student loan issue gets to the issue of affording college. the whole goal is to get more folks to go to college. in your state, you have talked about administrative bloat in the university of minnesota system. how much of this situation is on universities and needing to take a harder look in the mirror about how much they pay their own administrators in century to the cost of higher education? >> it is a great the question. you are getting at the issue, the cost of going to school. do you have too much faculty every institution needs to look at its operation cost and determine how competitive they want to be. we're getting to the point where the cost in tuition and fees and books and all of thos

i respectfully suggest this amendment to amend the harkin bill. >> mr.hairman, i want to speak in favor of the alexander amendment for a second and i want to relay a couple of personal experiences to talk about how enthusiastic i am about this. no child left behind has been trashed by others for not doing a lot of good things, but it did some good things. it also did some things that those of us that wrote it, so i'm raising my right hand and confessing, realize over time a.y.p. would be a problem because schools get better and better and better and it became harder and hardtory meet it. this aggregation was a very important step forward and we have preserved that. the chairman's preserved it. we preserved it in the alexander substitute. but one of the difficulties with high-stakes testing which is pretty much prescribed by no child left behind in reading and math, some unintended consequences took place and one of them happened in atlanta, georgia, because of a teacher evaluation. i know the chairman and the ranking member are aware we had a major scand

i respectfully suggest this amendment to amend the harkin bill. >> mr. chairman, i want to speak in favor of the alexander amendment for a second and i want to relay a couple of personal experiences to talk about how enthusiastic i am about this. no child left behind has been trashed by others for not doing a lot of good things, but it did some good things. it also did some things that those of us that wrote it, so i'm raising my right hand and confessing, realize over time a.y.p. would be a problem because schools get better and better and better and it became harder and hardtory meet it. this aggregation was a very important step forward and we have preserved that. the chairman's preserved it. we preserved it in the alexander substitute. but one of the difficulties with high-stakes testing which is pretty much prescribed by no child left behind in reading and math, some unintended consequences took place and one of them happened in atlanta, georgia, because of a teacher evaluation. i know the chairman and the ranking member are aware we had a major sca

. >> it harkins back to previous testimony today with mr.ink, was describing the actual fight. so if the fight went down the way that witness said it did, now you've got george zimmerman being pummeled from somebody up above mma style. i don't think you have -- are you thinking, stop, or i'll shoot? or are you thinking i'm just going to shoot? >> do we have that john goode sound? all right. when that's ready, let me know. that's a great point. he did say mma style. but he said i couldn't tell whether or not he was landing blows or whether it was just a movement of an arm. you know, that, john goode was very careful to characterize only what he felt comfortable -- >> you had also made the point, martha, if he was on top of him mma style, you know, theoretically at least the argument is he was paralyzed in his movement. how did he reach for the gun? >> although i've had people tweeting saying, well, they're saying, you know, that his hips, you know, are locked down in that position. but that his arms very well may not have been. >> might have

mr. gardner, for their hard work on this piece of legislation. it's no small feat to move legislation to the president's desk in such an efficient manner. i'd like to thank senators harkin and senator alexander for their leadership. mr. speaker, i support this bill and encourage my colleagues to do the same and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. waxman: mr. speaker, i rise in support of h.r. 1407, the animal drug user fee amendments of 2013. f.d.a.'s animal drug user fee programs have been successful at speeding both brand and generic drugs to the market. however, i regret we have not taken this opportunity to provide f.d.a. with new tools to address a glaring public health crisis, the problem of antibiotic resistance. antibiotics are truly a lifesaving gift. unfortunately the more they are used the less they work. untold numbers of americans die are infected each year by antibiotic resistance. we know most antibiotic use occurs on the farm, and much of this issue is not to treat sick animals but most of the use is for disease prevention or growth promotion. if it's f

mr. president, it seems to me that this is an issue we have got to deal with, and the second amendment that i will be filing today is with senators grassley and harkin, and that would -- that amendment would prohibit companies that have announced mass layoffs over the past year from hiring guest workers unless these companies can prove that their overall employment will not be reduced as a result of these mass layoffs. in other words what we are seeing is a very clear trend. large corporations are throwing american workers out on the street and they're bringing in foreign workers to do those very same jobs. and many of these very same companies have moved parts of their corporate world away from the united states into third world countries. so this continues the attack on american workers and we must stop it. let me just give you a few examples, as i conclude my remarks. in 2012, packard announced it was laying off 30,000 workers at the same time it hired more than 660 h-1b guest workers. in 2010, cisco laid off 1,300 employees at this time it hired workers. yahoo hired more than 185 h-1b guest workers at the same time it amountainsed it was laying

mr. harkin: this is the worst possible approach. you shouldn't reduce the deficit on the backs of students -- the presiding officer: the senator's time has expired. mr. alexander: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: i urge a "yes" vote because this is a permanent solution for 100% of the student loans. it reduces rates for every single students' new loan. it has no profit on the student. it fixes the rate for the time of the loan. and it is the same idea as already passed by the house. it is the same idea as supported by the president's budget. there are only minor differences between the president, the house, and this proposal. and if we can't agree on this, we can't agree on anything. this is a manufactured crisis. their proposal is a short-term political fix for 40% of the loans. this proposal is a permanent solution for 100% of the loans that would lower rates to below 5%. the same idea as in the president's budget, the same idea passed by the house. i urge a "yes" vote. the presiding