mr. levinill control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from washington. mr. reichert. mr. reichert: thank you, madam speaker. i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and and to heir remarks include extraneous material on h.r. 4453. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. reichert: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. reichert: madam speaker, i rise today to urge support for h.r. 4453, the s. corporation permanent tax relief act of 2014. since we started the tax reform process in january of 2011, one of the main themes coming up again and again is the need for certainty for individuals to plan and businesses to thrive. nowhere is this more true than for small businesses. pass-through businesses like s corporations account for more than half of all jobs in the united states. in my home state of washington, they are particularly important pro

mr. levin. mr. reichert: i'd like to reserve. i have another speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington reserves. the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. reichert: mr. speaker, i'd like to yield as much time as he may consume to mr. camp, the chairman of the committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. camp: i appreciate the gentleman for yielding. as the gentleman from maryland said, you know, we're probably going to do this again, and as the majority whip in the senate has said, when we do these policies -- to paraphrase him -- when we do these policies over and over again, we ought to have an honest debate about what should be permanent. and if we do accept the motion to recommit, which i understand is going to be offered, which will extend this one more time, that means we've extended this for a full budget window unpaid for. so i understand why there's some defensiveness about the voting record over there in terms of how m

mr. levin: madam president, is senator paul on the floor? i ask unanimous consent at a time determined by the majority leader in consultation with the republican leader that the senate proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 9, treaty document 112-1 that the treaty be considered as having advanced through the various parliamentary stages up to and including the presentation of the resolutions of ratification, that any committee declarations be agreed to as applicable and the resolution of ratification be agreed to. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. paul: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from kentucky. mr. paul: i object. the presiding officer: the senator from of michigan. objection is heard. mr. levin: i ask unanimous consent i be recognized immediately following the three voice votes that we expect are come up now. -- coming up now. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to consideration of t

mr. levin: mr. president, thank you. and i thank my friend from ohio. mr. president, first of all, what the resolution says, let me read the resolution. "congress should investigate the actions taken by president obama and his administration that led to the unlawful transfer of such detainees." so when my friend says it doesn't say, doesn't prejudge that it was unlawful, by its very terms it says "investigate the actions taken by president obama that led to the unlawful transfer of such detainees." that's what the resolution says. secondly, the point that the resolution makes no reference to article 2. my friend says that, and he's accurate in that regard. that's the problem. what's missing is what the president was advised he could do, act under his article 2 powers, and what the president said he would do when he signed this bill. third, the fact that we were notified of bin laden's capture, i don't know how many of us were notified, but it sure wasn't 30 days before he was captured if it was at all. that's the issue here. not whether or not the president

thank you, mr. levin. >> regular order. regular order. >> what would you do if an employee came to you and said my hard drive -- i've destroyed my hard drive. >> if i found con temperature prainyouse information that he worked hard to restore his hard drive and got the best experts available to reconstitute the email and that had failed, i would believe them. >> the other six hard drives, they destroyed, too? >> we are still investigating. >> one of the ones on monday turned out to have a failure. the other hard drive is not to have caused. we don't know the information. we will get it to you. >> time has expired. >> now mr. thompson. >> mr. commissioner, thanks very much for being here, i want to thank you for your public service and distinct issued career and i don't want to apologize to the i.r.s., but i do want to apologize to you as a professional in the way you have been treated today. if you could cut through a lot of the political theater that we see taking place here today, i think there are some things that we can

have any clear evidence because we haven't completed the -- >> brown: a brief last word from you, mr. levin. >> they say there's no evidence then make charges. they talk about a culture of coverup, a white house enemy's list. there's been zero, zero proof of that, and they continue this desperate effort to connect this to the white house, and they should stop. this should not be an inquisition. >> brown: sander levin and john mica, thank you both very much. >> woodruff: in a ceremony on capitol hill today, congressional leaders commemorated the 50th anniversary of the civil rights act by bestowing the congressional medal of honor posthumously on dr. martin luther king, jr, and his wife, coretta scott king. now, we remember another pivotal moment in the struggle for civil rights in the united states. the events that took place that summer that changed not only the place where activists converged, but the entire country. gwen has our look back. >> ifill: for ten weeks in the summer of 1964, well over 1,000 college students, black and white, from around the country volunteered to go to deeply

mr. levin, i will recognize you for an opening statement. >> thank you. 2013, theer 11, internal revenue service with onethis committee ofthe 770,000 pages documents it has turned over since ways and means undertook its investigation into the irs in may 2013. 250 irs, more than employees have spent over 120,000 hours working to produce documents at a cost of at least $16 million to taxpayers. , received last september, last september, included an e-mail from lois lerner to other irs personnel dated june 14, 2011. it began, my computer crashed yesterday. we now know the full extent of that equipment failure. despite an exhaustive effort by forensic i.t. professionals at the irs, they were unable to save her hard drive and her e-mails between january 1, 2009 and april 2011. although her e-mails from june 1, 2009, to april 2011 are unrecoverable from her hard drive, the rs will produce-- the 67,000l produce e-mails related to lois lerner. they recovered these e-mails from other irs employees. that

mr. levin: if the senator would yield. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. levin: i want to thank senator grassley for his patience also. but let me just say that senator inhofe and his staff have worked extraordinarily well with us on this side of the aisle. it's a bipartisan bill. it's a bipartisan committee. and senator inhofe has helped in a very, very way to maintain this bipartisan tradition of our committee. i thank him for his remarks and i thank him and his staff and hope our colleagues to listen to what we are both are urging them to do. let us take a look at the amendments now instead of waiting and waiting and waiting, because if we look at amendments now, we increase our chances of getting this bill to the floor earlier rather than later. i thank the presiding officer and i yield the floor. mr. inhofe: i yield the floor. mr. grassley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i come to the floor to address two issues, a shorter issue on immigration and a longer issue on the student loan program, particularly refer

mr. levin: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. evin: madam president, first let me thank my dear friend from arizona for not only his remarks, but also the thoughtfulness of the remarks on the u.s.-india relationship. i listened to them carefully. i'm glad he's going to india. and i look forward to his report. we have had an historic relationship with india as the two preeminent democracies, and we have a great opportunity to build on those, on this relationship. and i know that my friend from arizona is going to contribute mightily to that effort. madam president, recent events in iraq have created great concern. the territory gains by isil are not just a threat to iraq's security but a security challenge to the entire region and indeed to the united states. by its words and deeds, isil has made clear that it is deeply hostile to american interests and to the universal values of freedom and human rights. that hostility can easily translate into plans and threats against us. faced by these developments, president obama's decision t

regular order mr. levin in the annals of white hot moments on capitol hill, this irs hearing ranks high. >> this is a pattern of abuse, a pattern of behavior that is not giving us any confidence that this agency is being impartial. i don't believe you. this is incredible. >> i have a long career. that's the first time anybody has said they do not believe me. >> i don't believe you. >> former republican vp candidate paul ryan is usually more policy wonk than attack dog but not here. >> you asked taxpayers to hang on to seven years of their personal tax information in case they're ever audited and you can't keep six montz worth of employee e-mails? >> republicans pushed john koskie nan on new claims that two years of e-mails from irs official lois lerner varnished because her hard drive crashed. e-mails from the same time frame the irs targeted tea party and other groups, >> the actual hard drive after it was determined it was dysfunctional and no e-mails could be retrieved was recycled and destroyed in the no

mr. levine, he still wants a dialogue, but this definitely will put a damper on it.osition, and this is key, and this is some stuff we reported late friday, and this is what gives carl a lot of confidence that he can advocate for the changes he wants, namely what he really would like is a merger between dollar general and family dollar to create synergies. he believes that'll create a lot of shareholder value. both companies are up bigtime on fox business' exclusive report that carl was pushing for a merger of those two. that's how much shareholder value was created since those two companies since fox broke the news. but here's what makes carl excited and confident about this deal. 25% of the ownership of family dollar is hedge funds. that's an asset class that wants to make some money. they know that carl, that a deal is necessary for this company to sort of -- liz: they will then support it -- >> now, if you think about it with carl's 10%, that's 35% of the shareholders are likely right at the top to agree to this, to some sort of activist plan such as a merger bet

mr. levin: mr. president, and i do intine t intefn to do intes resolution. it prejudges the very conclusion that the resolution says and wants an investigation to determine, calls for an investigation but then it already concludes that the president violated the law. that is not what i call an impartial investigation. that's a resolution which reaches a conclusion which is prejudging the very investigation that it calls for. now, there's other problems here as well. my good friend from ohio has said that the president violated the law because he didn't give 30 days notice to the congress. indeed, the national defense authorization act provides for 30 days notice. but it also as a matter of fact the president said when he signed the national defense authorization act that if there were necessary circumstances where there were negotiations going on with foreign countries or foreign people in terms of preserving or saving an american life, that he's not going to be bound by 30 days' notice. he said that at the signing ceremony. now, you can't change law of a si

mr. howard levine over at family dollar stores. ork with family dollar on the loss of shareholders value. in this letter carl icahn says, "to mr. howard levine, although we appreciate the cordial nature of our discussion it was apparent we have a strong difference of opinions. family dollar has consistently underperformed its fears. perhaps more importantly we believe that for a number of reasons we discussed last night, it is imperative that family dollar be put up for sale immediately. carl icahn calling for family dollar to be put up for sale. they also believe an overwhelming majority of shareholders would be in favor of a possible sale and as they mentioned to you last night, we would like to work in a friendly and collaborative manner with you and in order to effectuate this we believe that three of our representatives should be added to the company's board of directors immediately. so carl icahn wants family dollar to be put up for sale immediately. he wants three of his directors to be added to the board and they think that

>> regular order, mr. levin. the gentleman from texas has the time. he is questioning a properly. so please no more interruptions the regular order allows a witness to answer a question. >> review order allows the witness to conduct his questioning as he sees fit. this committee has given broad latitude to members of both parties to do that. >> chairman, parliamentary procedure spent the gentleman will state his parliamentary inquiry. >> under the rules of the house, every member has five minutes to ask compos question to the witness and the witnesses given opportunity and right to respond to is the chairman singh the witness does not have a right to respond to a question? >> the gentleman has had plenty of time to respond. that is not a parliamentary inquiry. spent my question is, does the witness have a right to respond? >> the gentleman has not started a parliamentary inquiry. the gentleman from texas. >> start again with a question. >> you knew in march withheld information, and in may you assure this committee that all of ms. lerner's e-mails would be provided to us, yet you

mr. levin is recognized. you have five minutes. >> you know, i think witnesses deserve some respect. i think it's in the tradition of the committee to give witnesses respect. this is not a committee of decades ago led by people who disrespected witnesses. mr. koskinen, you had a long career. what have you done in the years of your career briefly? >> i'm sorry? >> what would your career have been like? >> it's been 20 years in the private sector turning around large troubled organizations. i started my career as the chief of staff for the senator for four years in the united states senate and i served on a presidential commission as a staff member of the commission and late 1960s. i represented new york city for a year and a half. i was the deputy director for management at the omb for three years. i was the chair of the president's counsel in the year 2,000 for two years guiding the country through the year 2000 20 admission and was asked when the government took over those enterprises to come to the irs, whi

mr. levin is recognized for five minutes. >> that was congressman camp and the irs commissioner from earlier today. we will be showing more tonight at 8:00 eastern time on our companion network c-span. you can share your thoughts on the missing irs e-mails with other viewers, go to c-span facebook page or share your thoughts via twitter using #cspanchat. earlier this week the ceo of general motors testified on capitol hill appearing before a house subcommittee to testify on the company's recall of cars with faulty ignition switches. she said she vows to make changes. you can hear that testimony sunday morning at 10:30 eastern on c-span. >> the thesis of the book is that there's a whole group of people in america, a big swath of america that is being ignored, left behind, not included in the discussion i think for either party. particularly though i would argue the republican party, and i call them blue-collar conservatives. the folks out there that are working people, most of them don't have co

mr. brennan? >> thank you chairman levin, ranking member mccain and members of the committee. my name is joe brennan. at vanguard, i'm responsible for overseeing the management of our equity index mutual funds. vanguard serves more than 20 million investors who entrust us with $2.6 trillion of their retirement and education savings. vanguard's core mission is simple. to take a stand for all investors, to treat them fairly, and to give them the best chance for investment success. before getting into specific comments on potential improvements, i would like to make two fundamental points. first, the markets are not rigged. we have a high degree of confidence in the markets as a safe place for investors to place their assets. second, all investors have benefited from improvements to our equity market structure. through regulatory initiatives over the past two decades, most notably regulation nms, our equity markets have evolved to a competitive marketplace that is connected through highly advanced technology. over time, this structure has led to lower transaction costs for all ma

mr. chairman. a very interesting. both german levinnd senator mccain mentioned the word complex, and there is no doubt about what is happening with trading is highly complex. from my standpoint having been an individual investor the primary solution is an increased transparency so we understand what is happening. because it is complex it is difficult to fully understand. i am hoping there will lay out the situation and an individual investor who has bought stock for decades, the competition has increased in the marketplace. i used to have to pay hundreds of dollars to buy 100 shares of stock. i hope that this hearing conveys exactly what is happening, what benefits have come to consumers over the years, what dangers may be of there, but the bottom line is this hearing should be about restoring confidence. the best way to ensure confidence, the best way to ensure best price is through competition and transparency. i am hoping that is what this hearing reveals. i want to thank all of the witnesses and am looking for to testimony. >> than

mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that during the adjournment or recess of the senate from thursday, june 26, through monday, july 7, senators levin and carper be authorized to sign duly enrolled bills or joint resolutions. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn and convene pro forma -- for pro forma sessions only with no business conducted on the following dates -- mr. reid: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn and convene for pro forma sessions only with no business conducted on the following dates and times, and that following each pro forma session, the senate adjourn until the next pro forma session -- monday, june 30 at noon, thursday, july 3 at 1:30 p.m., and the senate adjourn on thursday, july 3, until 2:00 p.m. on monday, july 7, 2014. that following the prayer and pledge, the morning business be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day. following any leader remarks

mr. jared miller then pinned a note to officer soldo that basically stated this is the beginning of the revolution. brian levin is the director for the center for study of hate and extremism and dylan scott with talking points. brian, tell me about this couple, what we know about their politics if you want to call it that. >> look, they had a presence on social media. and they were allegedly at the bundy ranch. these were folks who posted a manifesto talking about a war and liberty and tyranny. i'm not trying to demonize conservatives but on his facebook page he had a lot of likes for mainstream political organizations. and i think that is a message that we need to be responsible. for instance the nra who once called government agents jackbooted thugs gets a like on his facebook page. in addition he had a picture with a conspiritist named richard mack who has been known within the antigovernment militia world for many years spouting conspiracy theories. >> i was thinking of somebody else in nevada talking about second amendment remedies, this lingo out there, it's a gun. that is when you shoot somebody if you

mr. chairman. i also want to thank you for holding this hearing. very interesting getting prepared for it. both senator levin and makin' offered complex. there's no doubt what's happening in terms of trading is highly complex. from my standpoint having been an individual investor, i think the primary solution is in increases competition and transparency so we really understand what's happening. because it is complex it's difficult to fully understand. i'm hoping this hearing will really lay out the reality of the situation. as an individual investor who has bought stocks i used to have to pay hundreds of dollars to buy 100 shares of stocks. now i pay about $10. so i real dlo hope that this hearing conveys what exactly is going on in the marketplace. what benefits have come to consumers over the years. what dangers may be out there but the bottom line is that this hearing should be about restoring confidence. it doesn't create it if we are trying to create a sense of fear. the best way to ensure confidence, the best way to ensure best price is through maximum competition and transparency of the marketplace. i

mr. chairman. i also want to thank you for holding the hearing. senator levin and mccain mention the word complex. there is no doubt what is happening with trading is highly complex. i think the primary solution is in increase competition and transparency and we understand what is happening but because it is complex it is difficult to fully understand. i happen hoping this hearing will lay out the retality of the situation and as an individual investor who bought stocks for decades the competition increased in the market place. i used to have to pay $100 for stocks and now i pay $20. so i hope it goes over what is happening and the bottom line is restoring confidence and i don't think we will get that through a state of fear and the boogie man out there trying to gain the system. the best way to ensure confidence and best price is maximum competition and transparency in the market place and i am hoping that is what this hearing reveals. thank you for the witnesses as i am looking forward to your testimony. >> thank you, senator johnson. we will call the first p

mr. establishment, what have you done? >> take a breath. >> when we returned you to the house -- >> we got the point. i want to move to the next thing. conservative radio mark levine interviewed mcdaniel and this is what he had to say. >> could you have imagined how corrupt the prubl establishment is and the race baiting and nasty tactics used against you? did you accept that? >> these are people that talk about party unity and party cohesion. how we are supposed to stick together. they did the most despicable things to me and those around me that i have seen. >> joe scarborough of "morning joe" had a different take. >> these people were my children, i would be laughing at them calling them the biggest whiners. >> they cheated. >> no. they didn't. they followed the rules. they followed the law. you lost. they were smarter than mcdaniel. as laura ingram said, mcdaniel ran a tea party race in an open primary. that's stupid. if you are too stupid to win an election don't whine and say the other side cheated. >> i want to get back to the point about the future for the tea party movement in mississippi and a candidate like mcdaniel. you are saying you would rather have

mrs. caretta scott king. they were my friends, my rother and sister. >> ladies and gentlemen, the united states editor for michigan. arl levin. >> thank you.ood afternoon. the congressional gold medal resolution that we are implementing today commemorates the ability of an inspiring couple, armed only with the righteousness of their cause. we all commemorate today the ability of elected officials led by president johnson. armed only with the desire for justice, to overcome the divisions of party, in order to help overcome the divisions of ace. in october, 1960, martin luther king jr. road to his beloved coretta from a georgia prison 230 miles away, where he had been hauled away in the night. this is what he said. i have the faith to believe this excessive suffering will in some little way make america better country. if the reverend and mrs. king could speak to us now, if our predecessors who passed the civil rights act could speak to us now, with a not challenge us to come together, across lines of party and geography, in a great cause, with a not encourage us, for example, to pass legislation restoring the protections of the voting ights

mr. chairman. i also want to thank you for holding this hearing. very interesting getting prepared for it. both chairman levin and senator mccain mentioned the word complex. there's no doubt about what's happening in terms of trading is highly complex. from my standpoint having been an individual investor, i think the primary solution is in increases competition and transparency so we really understand what's happening. because it is complex it's difficult to fully understand. i'm hoping this hearing will really lay out the reality of the situation. again as an individual investor who's bought stocks for literally decades, the competition has increased in the marketplace. i used to have pay hundreds of dollars to buy 100 shares of stock. now i pay about $10. so i really do hope that this hearing conveys exactly what is happening in the marketplace, what benefits have come to consumers over the years, what dangers may be out there. but the bottom line is this hearing should be about restoring confidence. i don't think it restores confidence if you try and create a state of fear. and set up strawman in terms of

mr. brat stood for a lot of constitutional principles the people feel washington drifted from. >> mark levinrite to win the general come november. you are sounding off. >> that's right. on facebook, e-mail and twitter pouring in. this is bill from florida in an e-mail. kudos to the virginia 7th district. i have long said the only way we will fix this country is to oust the incumbents. let us see the start of the people taking the country back. >> steve from florida says his loss was not an upset, but that's what happens. too -- more incumbents didn't lose. >> one from virginia, it's not just the republican base fed up. it's the american people as a whole who are frustrated with washington and antics. eric cantor wasn't listening to his we want, so he was voted -- constituents, so he was voted out. from a senior boehner aide regarding the upset, they say that they are absolutely stunned this morning. who will be the number two? >> they also ask if cantor should step down and an aide said, quote, we'll get the feel prosecute our members today, but added the last thing we need is a leadership s

mr. vice chairman. senator udall -- i will just read the list, udall, king, widen, mikulski, rockefeller, coats, collins, heinrich, risch, and levin. >> thank you, madam chair. let me begin by asking unanimous content to enter into the government published by the reform government surveillance coalition. >> without objection. thank you. >> madam chairman, the reform government surveillance coalition is made up of leading american companies aol, linkedin, drop box, facebook, yahoo!, and twitter. and i think the important sentence in their letter is in the next few weeks the senate has the opportunity to demonstrate leadership and pass a version of the usa freedom act that woot help restore the confidence of internet users here and around the world while keeping citizens safe. the coalition goes on to express real concerns with the house bill and urges us in the senate to make some significant changes to the house bill. in that spirit i want to make an initial set of comments and then, of course, i have questions for the panel. on january 17th the president ordered a transition away from the bulk collection of phone records. i share

mr. levin: mr. president, before the memorial day recess, the armed services committee voted 25-1 to favorably report s. 2410, the national defense authorization act for fiscal year 2015. the bill is on the calendar. both it and the committee report have been filed and are available online and in print. as the chairman and ranking member of the armed services committee, senator inhofe, and i hope to bring the bill to the senate floor as soon as the senate schedule allows. i have talked to the majority leader about it. he says he is going to do his best, that there is a number of things that we can do to be helpful in this effort. now, neither of us want to be in the position that we were in last year. senators were unable to take up the bill and vote on any amendments to this important legislation because of how close it was to the end of the session when it was brought up. we urged senators both on the floor today are urging senators who are considering amendments to our bill to file them before th

mr. levin, can you speak about states that have eliminated or reduced mandatory penalties, and their effect on the prime rate as the guilty plea right, the cooperation rate? >> yes. thank you very much. in fact, one of the examples in michigan which are probably familiar with, in 2000, eliminated their mandatory minimums including retroactively and then and the subsequent decade, property crime fell 24%, violent crime 13%. south carolina is another example in 2010 rolled back of their drug mandatory minimums. they saw crime dropped 14%. georgia recently -- drug court is one of the solutions that have a rollback drug sentencing laws about a year ago, the penalties on low-level drug possession and they seem crimes continue to decline in georgia. texas, we say we're tough and smart. for our drug possession cases just as an example if you one to four grams of drugs, your sins could be to 10 years, probation or prison. i think what we need to do is a heroin epidemic was mentioned, that is a scorched

mr. levin: on this vote, i have a pair with the senator from new jersey, mr. booker. if he were voting, he would vote aye. i would vote nay. i therefore withhold my vote. vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, on this confirmation, the vote is 48 ayes, 46 nays. the nomination is confirmed. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: we, the asinine undersigned, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the nomination of mark g.mastroianni of massachusetts to be united states district judge for the district of massachusetts, signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: there are now two minutes of debate equally divided prior to the vote. who yields time? is there objection? without objection, all time is yielded back. by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of mark g. mastroianni of massachusetts to be uni