mr. levin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. levin: mr. president, i support the provisions in this bill relating to the guantanamo detention facility or gitmo and oppose the amendment to strike those provisions and reinstate existing restrictions on the transfer of gitmo detainees. gitmo is expense expensive, inefficient, damaging to the u.s. international standing, harmful to our allies' ability to cooperate with us and serves as a recruiting tool for extremists. it is not needed to secure people who should be detained and tried. there are other places for detention and trial in front of a military tribunal. we don't need gitmo to stay open at huge expense in order to do that. the bill before us makes long-overdue fixes to our ability to transfer detainees out of gitmo to provide our military with needed flexibility to determine how long we need to detain individuals now held at the guantanamo facility and where we should hold them. for a number of years now congress has enacted legislation anymore lating that flexibility and requiring t

mr. levin: i ask unanimous consent that that be allowed. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. inhofe: everything that my chairman has said i agree with. he's making my speech for me. it's critical that we get the bill. all i'm saying is i made the statement yesterday, that republicans are entitled to some amendments, i'm asking now, we're able to get it down to 25 amendments, just to be considered, and will the majority consider these 25 amendments which can be done -- it could be done in half day. would he car that -- consider that? mr. levin: there are no democratic amendments on his list -- mr. inhofe: i said 25 for -- this is your list, you come up with your list. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. levin: we cannot agree to a list of amendments, many of which are not agreed to on this side, many which would be filibustered on this side which would result in just making it impossible for us to get to a defense authorization bill conclusion. i would ask unanimous c

mr. levin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. levin: first i would ask unanimous consent that after my remarks, the senator from alabama be recognized. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. levin: mr. president, in the past, a few senate majorities, frustrated by their inability to get certain bills and nominations to a vote, have threatened to ignore the rules and to change them by fiat and to change rules to a majority vote change. rule 22 of the senate requires two-thirds of the senate to amend our rules. a new precedent has thousand been set, which is that a majority -- a new precedent has now been set, which is that a majority can now change the rules. because that step will change the rule into a legislative body that the majority, whenever it wishes, can change the rules, it has been dubbed the nuclear option. arguments about the nuclear option are not new. senator arthur vandenberg, confronting the same question in 1949, senator vandenberg, who was a giant of the senate, one of my predecessors from michigan, said t

mr. levin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. levin: first i would ask unanimous consent that after my remarks, the senator from alabama be recognized. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. levin: mr. president, in the past, a few senate majorities, frustrated by their inability to get certain bills and nominations to a vote, have threatened to ignore the rules and to change them by fiat and to change rules to a majority vote change. rule 22 of the senate requires two-thirds of the senate to amend our rules. a new precedent has thousand been set, which is that a majority -- a new precedent has now been set, which is that a majority can now change the rules. because that step will change the rule into a legislative body that the majority, whenever it wishes, can change the rules, it has been dubbed the nuclear option. arguments about the nuclear option are not new. senator arthur vandenberg, confronting the same question in 1949, senator vandenberg, who was a giant of the senate, one of my predecessors from michigan, said t

mr. levin: is that a unanimous consent request? mr. reid: yes, it was. mr. levin: of course, while reserving the right to object, i will not. but i will say this -- i can't tell everybody in this body how disappointing it would be if we do not finish this bill tomorrow night or friday because the issue is this -- we all ought to face it. there is only one week left where both the house and the senate are going to be in session. if we don't finish this bill this week, there cannot be a conference report, and then for the first time in 52 years there will not be a defense authorization bill in the absence of some miracle. i would plead with our colleagues to let us vote on this amendment. the alternative was a list of 13 amendments which we were willing to then move to. that wasn't satisfactory. i mean, we have got to do this a step at a time. we have done it that way before. we can't even get cleared amendments agreed to where both sides have cleared them into a manager's package. now, if senators want to vote tomorrow or friday against the cloture petition be

mr. levin: i ask unanimous consent that the time until 4:00 p.m. be for debate only with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. levin: madam president, i would hope members would now come down and debate particularly if we can start off again with the legislation on guantanamo, there will be two amendments here, one will be an amendment by senator ayotte, and the other one would be an amendment by myself with senator mccain, the levin-mccain amendment. i would hope that those who are bed interested in this subject particularly would come down between now and then and that we could perhaps even reach a vote on guantanamo, the two amendments side by side later this afternoon. that's the goal, it's not part of the unanimous consent proposal but that would be a goal, and i know my friend from oklahoma and i are able to work things out most often and we'll try to figure out some way hopefully to get to votes o

am i -- mr. levin: i ask unanimous consent that that be allowed. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. inhofe: everything that my chairman has said i agree with. he's making my speech for me. it's critical that we get the bill. all i'm

will be and this is the objective of the next discussions between depi five plus one and iran ok mr levin if we can just pause for a second the british foreign secretary william hague had something to say today about how he perceives the israeli position is just listening to that for a second this by thirty seconds will come straight back. of course we would discourage anybody in the world including israel from taking any steps that would undermine this agreement and we will make that very clear to all concerned it's also very important to explain to them to ask them what the alternative to this agreement would be because the alternatives would involve iran getting two nuclear weapons try show capability or having a nuclear weapon or a conflict with iran or all of those do you not at all see or agree with his thread to the argument there. well kevin to be candid i find this statement as a little bit harsh even harsh a statement and it is inappropriate probably while he is directing his words to work a country israel who has genuine concern and exile i think that we should be more comprehe

mr. levin: mr. president, i have a very brief statement that i will nominate, and i thank the senators from maryland and maine for allowing me to do this. i would ask the very brief statement that i will be making not count against morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. levin: mr. president, later this morning, the senate is going to resume consideration of senate bill 1197, the national defense authorization act for fiscal year 2014. i will have a full statement to make on this legislation later today. however, i'd like to take just a moment to talk to my colleagues about where we are on the bill and how we would like to proceed. last night, the majority leader asked for unanimous consent to bring up side-by-side amendments on subjects that we know we need to debate and vote on -- military detention at guantanamo and sexual assault and misconduct in the military. each amendment and side by side is to be subject to a 60-vote threshold. unfortunately, there was an objection t

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mr. levin: mr. speaker, the republicans are on a mission of destruction. nothing will satisfy them except that very mission. the upton bill is another weapon in that mission. what the republicans fear most of all is that the health care reform will eventually work. the upton bill is a bill to make sure that it does not work. the president has taken a step to help people keep their policies. the upton bill opens the door to anyone at all, to make sure that health care reform is not workable and that the private market cannot work. so back to the time of 50 million uninsured, so back to e time of cancellation for pre-existing conditions, so back to the time of no cap, so the alternative is bankruptcy. eight years ago the medicare drug program that republicans had passed got off to a rocky start. did we democrats pounce on it for political gain? no, we put the country first and helped make the program a success. the republicans are marching in the opposite direction. destroying really instead of making something work . let's work together to make it work rath

mr. mccain. senator levin. >> thank you -- >> senator levin and senator begich. >> thanks, very much, mr. chairman. first, let me thank you mr. johnson, for your answer to the call to public service again and answer being yes and your family. we thank them for the support which is so essential to all of you who have taken these jobs with such responsibility. you and i have talked in my office about a number of things and one of them i want to get into some detail on this morning has to do with the fact that we have about two million corporations that are created every year in in united states, by our 50 states. that is more than the rest of the world combined. the states approve these incorporations without ever asking who the real owners of the corporations are who are the beneficial owners of these corporations. some of these corporations get involved with medicare fraud tax evasion terrorism smuggling, drug trafficking and other wrongdoing. now just a few months ago, in june, at the g20 summit, 20 leaders i

mr. levin: i would just ask unanimous consent that after the senator from iowa is recognized -- and i believe he is going to be recognized -- that i then be recognized for up to 20 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: plap? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. grass dpras wmr. grassley: we da chance to debate the change in rules, and we should have had, so i'm going to speak now on some things that i think should have been said before we voted, not that it would have changed the outcome but because we ought know what we're doing before we vote rather than afterwards. so i'll spend a few minutes discussing what the majority leader called -- just did on the so-called nuclear option. unfortunately, this wasn't a new threat. over the last several years, every time the minority leader has chosen to exercise his rights under the senate rules, the majority has threatened to change the rules. in fact, this is the third time in just the last year or so that the major

mr. levin: mr. speaker, the republicans are on a mission of destruction. nothing will satisfy them except that very mission. the upton bill is another weapon in that mission. what the republicans fear most of all is that the health care reform will eventually work. the upton bill is a bill to make sure that it does not work. the president has taken a step to help people keep their policies. the upton bill opens the door to anyone at all, to make sure that health care reform is not workable and that the private market cannot work. so back to the time of 50 million uninsured, so back to e time of cancellation for pre-existing conditions, so back to the time of no cap, so the alternative is bankruptcy. eight years ago the medicare drug program that republicans had passed got off to a rocky start. did we democrats pounce on it for political gain? no, we put the country first and helped make the program a success. the republicans are marching in the opposite direction. destroying really instead of making something work . let's work together to make it work rath

levin, et al. and and. can you let me know in 15 minutes -- thank you, sir. mr. president before we get started, i really want to thank senator levin, read, mccaskill, a hot, fisher and others have been trying to carry the burden here to make sure that we are reforming the military justice system and the way the military operates, these are the sexual assault and misconduct, but at the same time make sure that we still at a military that can continue to be the most effective fighting force on the planet at a time when the absolute immediate. if you believe as i do our military is the best in the world, you have to ask yourself why. is it because of the equipment? we have great equipment. i would argue that the reason our military has become the most effective fighting force in the world is the way we are structured. if you're looking for democracy, don't look to the military. the military as a hierarchical and paternalistic organization that is focused on meeting the challenges of the nation. being able to project force at a moments notice to deter war, and, there

mr. donnelly: i ask unanimous consent the levin amendment which is at the desk be agreed to, the bill as amended be read three times and passed and the levin title amendment which is at the desk be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. donnelly: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 300, which was submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 300, to authorize the production of records by the per permanent subcommittee on investigations of the committee of homeland security and governmental affairsmenaffairs. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the senate will proceed to the measurement mr. donnelly: i ask unanimous is consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. donnelly: i understand that 17 3

levin. >> think you so much. looking about, i so admire the tenacity, especially the four of you. tenacity is an understatement. stabenow, adn mr haved mr. peterson, i often talked about how long this is taken. a rare this provides bipartisan opportunity. within our domain on helping the cotton and sugar we leave to your good judgment, as long as you maintain the necessary provisions we are obliged to under our international responsibilities. so if i might, i just want to take a minute to speak more personally. our family owns some agricultural acreage, just a little bit. there are some apple trees that are always filled with worms. [laughter] we had a raspberry patch that went bad. --picked a few asparagus speargrass. i'm not an expert, to put it mildly. i do want to say something personally about snap. in our suburban district, there rely on00 people who nutrition assistance. teachers,e talked to and these are in suburban school districts, in many cases, they classroomwer in their filled with food because .hildren come to school hungry one of the large food banks is in the district i were present -- i represent. 17% of the po

mr. worldwide himself. pit bull and a special tlc reunion performance you just can't miss. >> and "people" magazine announces its sexiest man alive is -- adam levine ♪ ♪ like jagger >> check out this yearboo >>> good evening. thank you for joining us. how far would you go for your faith. tonight over 100 churches stand in defiance of local laws banning the use of something shocking from their services. poisonous serpents. snakes on a pulpit. christians say they're true believers and vipers are as vital to the religion as the bible itself. the tradition dates back more than a century. law makers aren't so sure it should survive. i headed down south for our series "faith matters." >> reporter: what pastor jamie kutz is doing with the snake is either a christian ritual or criminal conduct depending on who you ask? ♪ ♪ >> he is a new preacher! >> reporter: in tiny churches in rural appalachia what began generations ago as an expression of faith is turning into a fight over religious freedom in america. they believe they are called by god to handle venomous serpents and comes from a passage straight from the bible which they take literally. they pick u

follows -- reid of nevada, levin, durbin, kaine, feinstein, hagan, mikulski, donnelly, udall of colorado, mccaskill, coons, shaheen, warner, reed of rhode island, murray, nelson, king. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask consent that we now proceed to a period of morning business, senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of s. res. 304, 305, 306, 307 and 308. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. the senate will proceed. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table and blocked with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i'm told that s. 1752 is due for its first reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bill for the first time. the clerk: s. 1752, a bill to reform procedures or determinations to proceed

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator inhofe. general? >> chairman levin, ranking member inhofe and members of this committee, thank you for the invitation to speak today. if you'll just indulge me for a few seconds i'd like to begin by recognizing the service of ike as the chairman of the house armed services committee he was an incredible leader, mentor and champion of our soldiers, civilians and their families. what was interesting though in his farewell address he made a comment that i think is appropriate for the conversation we're having today. when he remarked, i've always considered each young man and woman in uniform as a son or daughter. they are national treasures and their sacrifices cannot be taken for granted. they are not chess pieces to be moved upon a board. each and every one is irreplaceable. and i think those words are very important today as we talk about the readiness of our force and as we consider future budget cuts and their impact on our national defense. it is impairtive that ke keep foremost in our minds the impact that this has

mrs. obama and joe biden go there, versus rand paul, and marco rubio, and mark levin and this whole cast ofracters from the right wing of the republican party, i think people have a very clear sense of the kind of direction that both candidates want to lead in, and that's why terry mcauliffe is winning this race. >> connie, you made an interesting point the start of this segment. you said to the effect that terry mcauliffe isn't -- i don't want to put words in your mouth. say the perfect democrat. i guess you could say he's a centrist democrat. will the liberals in the state, and there are -- there is a liberal base in virginia, will they come out and supporter re mcauliffe? >> if they care about the issues we hold dear, they will. i was pleased to see that hillary clinton was there, because a lot of women, as you know, in this country, particularly progressive women, are watching hillary's every move right now. and i think this bodes well for terry mcauliffe that she showed up and i think it bodes well for her future candidacy, should she decide to run for president to have terry mcauliffe

mrs. johnson gave up. on c-span, looking ant mamie eisenhower. >> carl levin -- on foreignuncil relations, this is one hour >> it is an honor to be here with carl levin. he is of the senate arms services committee. he is back from a trip to afghanistan where he met with our commanders, and had a one- on-one meeting with president karzai. senator levin has remarks about his trip to afghanistan. >> i appreciate joining you this morning. i look forward to receive some of the ideas. we'll need them in this kind of world religion. as john mentioned, i recently returned from afghanistan where we spent a few days meeting with our commanders, our troops, president karzai. and the defense minister from brussels before he went to afghanistan. he feels that things have significantly improved and changed for the better during the last 10 years. i have been there perhaps 12 times or so. the staff later will tell me if it is really a 11 or 13. we've been there a lot. the changes are pretty striking especially in the last few years. that is not the impression the american people have. that, to me, is the obvious fact tha

senator levin, it's good to see you, you're recognized. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. director comey, let me start with you. law now does not allow detainees to be brought from guantanamo to the u.s. for detention and and trial. should this law be changed? >> [inaudible] >> be brought from guantanamo to the u.s. for detention and trial. can they be properly tried, can they be safely detained in. >> the policy question, i think, senator, is one better answered with by the department of justice. i know from my personal experience, though, terrorists can be safely detained and tried. i've been involved in cases myself in civilian courts in the u.s. so that part i can definitely answer, and the answer's yes. >> with what is that personal experience? more specifically, have we tried individuals for terrorism in federal courts? >>, many, many. we have. i was the united states attorney in manhattan after 9/11, and we had cases pending then. we are very good in the united states at safely detaining bad people with all kinds of threat. we are successful detaining them. the bure

mr. president. i want to, first of all, thank the chairman of the armed services committee and the ranking member, senator levin and senator inhofe, for the leadership they've provided to this body and to our nation in fashioning a bill, the national defense authorization act for fiscal year 2014, that truly serves our national security and preserves and enhances our national defense. and i want to thank my colleague, senator mccaskill, for the leadership that she has provided along with others like senator reed and senator gillibrand, all who have focused on the issues that are raised by the military justice improvement act, the need to reform and strengthen our system of prosecuting and providing justice to the survivors of sexual assault. i have joined with senator gillibrand in supporting the military justice improvement act because i think it embodies the kind of major reform that is necessary to provide enhanced confidence and trust in this system of military justice. major change that is needed to drive out the scourge of military sexual assault from our armed forces and provide the men and women of our

levine is people magazine's sexiest man alive. the issue comes out on friday and includes more than 100 other guys including our next guest mr.>> i do. i love touching you. >> not bad, huh? >> congratulations. >> well, people magazine have been so good to me over my 78 year career. every year they try to figure out a way to like sexiest guy that looks like he's wearing a wig but he's not really. but this year they said let's have a sense of humor about it and i said i'm in for that and as you can see we did sort of a -- >> you're telling them how you remaino sexy after the age of 50 which we'll talk about in a second. >> right. >> what are your secrets? >> my parents are great. >> you have good genes. >> i have good genes. i'm very lucky. >> you turn 50 in august. >> how old are you? >> 55. >> you look better than anybody. >> this isn't a mutual admiration society. i can't believe you're 50. i still think 33 or 34 years old. >> should we make out? that would be weird. >> halloween. that's all for halloween. seriously you have a very youthful appearance. did 50 bother you when you turned 50? >> not really. i was excited about

mr. levin: i have a unanimous consent request. i would ask unanimous consent that letters from secretary hagel, secretary kerry, attorney general and the -- and director clapper be put in the record at this point. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. under the previous order, the question occurs on the ayotte amendment number 2255. mr. levin: ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: the presiding officer: on this society, the yeas a 43, the nays are 55. under the previous order requiring 60 votes for the adoption of this amendment, the amendment is agreed -- is not agreed to. is not agreed to. under the previous order, there will be two minutes equally divided prior to a vote on the levin-mccain amendment 2175. the senate will be in order. the senate will be in order. the senator from michigan. mr. levin: madam president -- the presiding officer: the senator from michig

mr. levin: mr. president, would the majority leader yield? mr. reid: yes, of course. mr. levin: the majority leader has said we have to finish this bill this week. if we can't make progress on amendments where we agree should be called up, are important amendments, one from -- coming from basically from each side, even though they'll probably be votes from each side for these amendments and against. if we can't make progress on these amendments, where everyone seems to agree we ought to start moving, i am worried about the prospects of finishing this week. frankly, i'm worried anyway. i am very much worried about that. it has to happen. we've got to finish this week or else we can't get to conference. we have to get to conference and then come back. so i would hope that in the morning, perhaps, that the majority leader might renew that unanimous consent request, because the objection to it it is going to make it less likely that we can get our bill passed. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding offi