mr. mcconnell: mr. president, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i rise to pay tribute to a woman who is a dear friend of mine, now sadly departed, who was deeply committed to serving her community in northern kentucky and who left everything she touched a little better off than it was before she found it. i'm speaking of mary middleton of fort mitchell, kentucky, who tragically died in an accident on november 22, 2011. mary was 83 years old. i know northern kentucky would not be the same if not for the timeless dedication of mary and her family over more than five decades. a community leader, philanthropist, lifelong adventurer and supporter of public service, mary middleton's loss is a great loss for the people of kenton county and the entire commonwealth of kentucky. mary actually grew up in wisconsin, although there is no doubt that after more than 50 years, kentucky was her home. as a young woman, she was keen on travel

mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes, we are. mr. mcconnell: i ask that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. this morning, the senate will vote on whether the consumer financial protection bureau should be able to put a director in place before concerns about its accountability to the american people are addressed. let me just stress at the outset that that's all today's vote is about. all today's vote is about is accountability and transparency. it's a debate about whether we think americans need more oversight over washington or less. republicans made our position clear more than seven months ago when 44 of us signed a letter saying we won't support a nominee for this bureau no matter who the president is until three commonsense conditions are met that would bring some transparency and accountability to the cfpb. that letter now has 45 signators. the president knew about these concerns months ago and he chose to dismiss them, and now

mr. mcconnell: madam president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. d, today is the 70th anniversary of the japanese attack on pearl harbor. i think several of us -- i have certainly had the opportunity and many members of the senate may have as well, of visiting world war ii-era veterans when they come to washington on what are called the honor flights which the veterans' groups raise the funds to get these world war ii vets up here to see the world war ii memorial, and it is a great inspiration to see these members of the greatest generation who indeed saved america during world war ii, and i remember in particular talking to an elderly -- obviously elderly -- they are all elderly at this point -- elderly gentleman who was at pearl harbor that day, and his describing the horror of the experience. and so whether these world war ii veterans served at pearl harbor or in europe or in the pacific later, we certainly remember their extraordinary contribution to saving this country and today in particular. you know, for our parents' generation they always r

mr. boehner sat in senator mcconnell's office and senator senator mcconnell will have his proxy. they are promising to live by whatever agreement he said it reached. i am committed to bringing the house back, and we can do it within 24 hours. it is from mcconnell unprepared by my staff in order for me to know -- a chronolog prepared by staff in order for me to know what is going on. on cnn, 12-18 in the washington post 12-17, the speaker reacted to reports that we may have to settle on a two-month extension. in january of 2009, house republicans will likely reject a two-month extension, citing a desire to avoid striking a short-term deal and what impact of such a deal would have. just under two years ago, house republicans including some of the more conservative members were arguing that a two-month payroll tax would effectively stimulate the economy and he offered the measure in response to that. captured in this video leaving the caucus giving a high 5 to the senator from wyoming. later, senator mcconnell says that he obviously keep the speaker informed as to what i am doing. h

mr. mcconnell oppose it but they cannot say that directly. so what they're could go is loading up, what they're doing is loading up the bill to get their side to vote for something other than the tax cut in effect with the hopes that they'll kill it all together. that's the question. >> president obama is threatening to veto the bill because of the provision approving this controversial pipeline. are you, sir, comfortable with that, the risk of letting the pay roll tax holiday expire over this pipeline issue? >> well, the answer to that is, yes. i am. i think, here's why. >> you would be happy for that to happen in order to prevent the key stone pipeline from going forward? >> no, i would not be happy at all. but what is loaded on the bill is not just the key stone pipeline. it is other extraneous things like cutting back on unemployment benefits. it is making medicare beneficiaries pay more for the medicare benefits. it is putting in controversial and really kind of silly thing like cannot use your food stamps in a strip club. so this bill h

mr. mcconnell becoming majority leader are declining.nk the tea party house has really hurt more than helped the republican party? >> gregg, i was born in washington. i've seen the politicians come and go. liberals, republicans, they all come in here, all bright eyed and bushy tailed. we're going to change the way washington works. listen, nobody changes the way washington works. washington changes you. either for the better or for the worse. but these tea party republican freshmen, 87 much them, should have looked back to 1995 when the republicans won their house majority for the first time in 40 years. they tried to do too much, too fast. you can't do that in this town. it's been compared to a big ship. it takes time to turn it around. you've got to earn your right to change things. i think they've learned a valuable lesson, at least i hope they have. >> gregg: you know what, doug, i interviewed one of the tea party freshmen yesterday, jeff landry. he claims he would have opposed the deal, struck yesterday. but he had flown home so he

mr. mcconnell becoming majority leader in 2013 are declining." ow, ow, ow. blaming that all on the tea party house. this is a really conservative paper. it was sort of impossible to come across a major news outlet today without finding one republican devouring another republican over this fiasco they created for themselves in d.c. this is just from cnn today. "multiple senate gop sources say that frustration with their counterparts in the house is mounting." "the house republicans have painted themselves into a corner. they from on their own," a senate gop leadership staffer said. that staffer continued, "this is a lose/lose situation for us. they've let the democrats get the messaging advantage and more specifically turned one of our key issues on its head. it's inexcusable." a second senior republican senate staffer telling cnn, "the house republicans pulled defeat from the jaws of victory." more than anybody else, the republicans interparty fire is now being trained on the top republican in washington. house speaker john boehner. "roll call" newspaper rep

mr. mcconnell feels about it.now that steve first reviews the came out was john boehner had said to harry reid, and you guys work it out and i will accept what you give me. will understand there are a lot of people in your caucus. we think that is what the problem is. >> if it is going to be a two month extension. >> yes, i know that. let me tell you, that gives us two months for the rest of the year. i would rather have the extension of that have expired. in addition to the work. we know what you're doing. we are not going to play. >> you are not supportive of what we outlined? >> we are not. hoping for a conference is like waiting for the dow -- godot. we have been trying to, worrying about this people. this is the year -- a time of year of tiny tim and scrooge. there is no concern that people are losing their houses or unable to feed their children. get at they're going to tax increase. i cannot believe six impossible things before breakfast. everything in my mind rebelled. you know what is happening here. we k

mr. mcconnell: could i ask the senator from nebraska a further question? it strikes -- it strikes me -- correct me if i'm wrong -- that america not going forward doesn't prevent this from happening. this is in another country. and a good option for the canadians might well be to ship this product to china, would it not? mr. johanns: well, and in response to the leader's question, the canadian government has already indicated that, look, if the united states isn't a reliable purchaser and transporter of this commodity, that they will have to look to other parts of the world -- for example, china -- to sell this product. this will not stop the development in that area. in fact, it will push the development to a part of the world where the refinery process might take place with less environmental standards and, therefore, cause more environmental problems if we build this pipeline and solve it. that's why i've said from the very beginning, look, i'm not opposed to the tar sands development. i'm not even opposed to the -- the pipeline in our state. now that we

mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: yesterday, our republicans led by senator heller introduced what we believe is a much smarter approach to extending the temporary payroll tax cut than the one proposed by democrats involving permanent tax hikes on job creators. like democrats, we think struggling american workers should continue to get this temporary relief for another year. there is no reason folks should suffer even more than they already are from the president's failure to turn this jobs crisis around, but there is also no reason we should pay for that relief by raising taxes on the very employers we're counting on to help jolt this economy back to life. we wouldn't be helping anybody by making it less likely that small businesses actually start hiring people again. so senator heller's proposal would achieve the same result, the same relief without a gratuitous hit on job creators. even better, our plan protects social security and reduces the federal deficit by more than $111 billion. how do we do it? we

mr. mcconnell: mr. president, i rise to make some observations about the keystone pipeline.president obama has said his first priority is jobs. well, here's an opportunity for the president to show it. a pipeline provision that, according to some estimates, would create thousands of jobs right away. in fact, those are all the estimates i've seen, that this is a project that is ready to go. here's an opportunity for the president to say he's not going to let a few radical environmentalists stand in the way of a project that will create thousands of jobs and make america more secure at the same time. the labor unions support the pipeline, the chamber of commerce supports the pipeline, out-of-work americans support it, and a growing number of democrats are expressing their support as well. here are a few of the comments we've heard from democrats just this very week: senator kent conrad of north dakota said -- quote -- "i personally think the pipeline is absolutely in the national interest. it'll help us reduce our dependence on foreign energy, at least foreign sources that are

mr. mcconnell: madam president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. nnell: yesterday, my friend, the majority leader, unveiled what he rather misleadingly referred to as a compromise on the payroll tax. i say it was mislead because we had to find out about it from reporters. this was not a compromise. this was nothing more than another bill designed to fail, so democrats can have another week of fun and games on the senate floor while tens of billions of working americans go another week wondering whether they are going to see a smaller paycheck at the end of the year. now, i have said i support this extension. i don't think americans should have to suffer any more than they already are for the president's failure to turn this jobs crisis around. unfortunately, the majority leader has yet to introduce legislation that can actually pass the senate or the house. you would think that this is in the president's top priorities and the democratic leader of the senate would put together a proposal that is designed to actually pass, but we haven't seen it yet.

mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: today the house of representatives will vote on a bill that extends the temporary payroll tax cut as well as unemployment insurance and which won't add a dime to the federal deficit. in other words, the house bill would do both of the things the president and senate democrats have described as their top legislative priorities before the close of this year. so it was surprising, to say the least, to read this morning that president obama and my friend, the majority leader, are now plotting to block this very legislation. even to the point of forcing a government shutdown over the inclusion of a job-creating measure that the president thinks will complicate his reelection chances next year. that's what's happening in washington this week. and the american people need to know about it. so let me repeat what's unfolding right now here in the capitol. yesterday the members of the senate appropriations committee, democrats and republicans alike, agreed to a spending bill that woul

mr. reid: i would ask consent that his remarks not appear interrupted and that he resume the floor when senator mcconnell and i finish. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, senator mcconnell and i have just finished a meeting. we're making really good progress on being able to handle the issues that everyone knows are outstanding. we're not there yet, but we're very, very close. there will be votes tomorrow. there could be votes this afternoon also. i would also say, because this is a question that people will ask, the house is going to pass their bill around 3:00. that is the omnibus. around 3:00. the time is not always exact. there's a ruling from this white house, its predecessors that if one house passes a spending bill as we are doing here, and there's a presumption it will pass in the other body, the time is extended for 24 hours. so everyone doesn't have to worry about the government closing tonight. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, let me echo the remarks of the majority leader. as he's indicated, the administration takes the view that if the final appropriations bills

mr. mcconnell becoming majority leader are declining.iven the politics of this thing, wasn't your vote damaging? >> i don't believe that because you know, our vote was the right vote. when is this going to end? again, this is good politics, sure. i will admit that but good politics has gotten into the condition we're in country. at end of the day i didn't come to washington to worry about elections. i came out here to worry about generations right. >> i mean when is this madness going to stop. we have to take a stand at some point. gregg: i took time to watch your remarks on the floor of the house of representatives. you were demanding a one-year extension to provide, in your words, certainty. you kept using that word over and over again, certainty and certainty. how does 10 more months provide any greater certainty? >> well, 10 more months at least, why? because normally people develop their budgets based on 12 months. and so at least they know going into the new year, that for the next 12 months their paychecks are not going to shrink.

mr. mcconnell: ,mr. president, i might just echo the remarks of the majority leader. we've been in useful discussions about how to wrap the session up. he has covered the two major issues that remain. we hope to be able to pass a combination of appropriation bills and we are working hard to resolve the remaining differences on the payroll tax extension and the related issues that are important to both sides and we're confident and optimistic we'll be able to resolve both on a bipartisan basis. mr. reid: would the chair announce the business of the day. the presiding officer: under the previous order the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order the senate will be in a period of morning business for one hour with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees with the republicans controlling the first half and the majority controlling the final half. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming is recognized. mr. barrasso: th

mr. mcconnell becoming majority leader are declining.sman, are you guys to blame for all that? >> no. what's too blame is people that have not lived up to their promises. you've got a lot of republicans a lot of tea party folks, and by the way, we're told that maybe 53% of all the taxes will be, i'm sorry, all the taxes will be paid by 53% of the americans and most of those are tea party folks. they're tired of paying most of the taxes. all of the taxes at 53%. and what we need is some people who keep their words. gregg, we have just now finished a year in which we got the majority by promising we would would cut more than 100 billion, with a "b" and we may have not even cut 100 to 300 million last year. gregg: yeah. >> i mean --. gregg: congressman explain this to me. >> this is disappointing. gregg: i've known you since you were on the bench. a terrific judge. >> back in '94. gregg: you're one of the smartest twice i know in congress. explain this to me. you guys defeated the millionaires tax on the payroll tax cut extension and you wo

mr. mcconnell: madam president, i move to proceed to s. 1931. mr. reid: madam president. the majority floor leader. the majority leader. mr. reid: this will be the last vote this week. we'll have a couple votes monday night. i will announce before we are out today as much of the schedule as i am able to do. right now, i can't do that, but i will before the day is out. the presiding officer: under the previous order, there will be two minutes of debate equally divided. the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: madam president, thank you very much. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. mr. casey: madam president, thank you very much. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. mr. casey is about -- is. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. please take your conversations out of the well. mr. casey: madam president, what is about to happen is we are taking a vote on a measure that got 20 votes last week. the same vote, and i don't know what the vote will be, obviously, but this is an exercise in futility to vote on this again. what we shoul

mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. president, later this week ?ons senators will have an opportunity to do three big things with a single vote. by voting for the act that will soon come from the house senators will be able to extend the tax relief americans continue continue to need, prevent job losses by blocking a new regulation on u.s. manufacturers, and facilitate the creation of tens of thousands of new jobs through the construction of the keystone x.l. pipeline. one vote, three accomplishments. and that's to say nothing of the other things the bill would do like the doc fix and unemployment insurance. so my suggestion is once this legislation comes over from the house, that we pass it without delay. based on nerts of the bill --, merits of the bill, it should be a strong bipartisan vote. nothing could be more bipartisan right now than preventing job loss or facilitating the creation of new private sector jobs. the president has said that job creation is his top priority, here's a bill that helps him achieve it. w

mr. boehner and mcconnell want to prevenlt president obama from winning a second term, but are they preparedsubject 160 million americans to higher taxes in order to realize their goal? >> they were prepared not to extend unemployment compensation unless the president relented to their protection of the rich. they were prepared not to give him permission to hold our country to the international community in fiscal turmoil. how far they are willing to go, i don't know. i do know one thing. it makes no economic sense, no political sense for the republican party to insist that a pipeline gets into a bill that the president said he will veto if they do the right thing. i can tell you this, martin. this is note just because of the pipeline. this is what we call putting a poison pill into a good package. they did not want to extend unemployment compensation. this is this causes people not to go for work. they did not want to extend the tax holiday. they said this would not work out because of the social security program. even when we talk about the tax break for the middle class and the working cl

mr. mcconnell in the senate. they've all been different bodies.eek but it seems like the president was the one having a difficult time communicating with the senate because the president called for a one-year extension and then the senate passed a two-month extension and then the president claims victory. so i guess he's opposed himself in just a short period of time. if he wants to claim victory for just a two-month payroll tax change, then let's give him that victory. that's a pretty mild and meek victory if that's what he's looking for. as i said before, if you had as bad a term as president as mr. obama's had with the rising unemployment -- >> brent, let's move it back to how the republicans are working together. let's not necessarily focus on this two versus one year, which is sort of a moot point. but moving forward, mcconnell as well as boehner working together, that's going to be an important ingredient to get things passed. >> i don't think it's a moot point. that's the reason we're going to be bringing this back up. they've worked very,

mr. being mcconnell what is immediately before the united states senate and help us extend the payroll taxcans. martha: no doubt, that is popular thing. that a lot of people will not want to see the money disappear from their paycheck. the big question whether or not the underlying issue actually improving the economy, creating new businesses in the environment, not just doing something that patchworks and gives people 1,000 extra dollars every years nice obviously to have but are we fixing underlying economy and b, doing what we can to become energy independent and wane ourselves from energy dependence on countries that don't like us as we heard a lot about. you personally, are you against this idea of going forward with this project personally? >> well, i want to get the answers to the question that the president has asked for with respect to domestic oil production, you're absolutely right, we should increase oil production. in fact if you look at the domestic oil production today, it is way up under this administration. so i want to do all those things. excuse me. i want to make sure t

mr. mcconnell said quote, leader reid should appoint conferees on the long-term bill and the house should pass an extension that locks in the thousands of keystone xl pipeline jobs, prevents any disruption in the payroll tax holiday, or other expire provisions and allow congress to work on a solution for the longer extensions. you can see that statement on on our website, c-span.org. president obama will be speaking this afternoon about the payroll tax stalemate in congress. you can see his remarks live on a companion network c-span at 1 p.m. eastern, about 20 minutes from the. again, on c-span. >> we want to know how you feel about all this. we're taking your calls throughout the day on c-span, and we also have a poll on her facebook page, should speaker boehner allow a house vote on on a two-month payroll tax cut from the senate? go to facebook.com/cspan to cast your vote and see how the response is turn. that is facebook.com/cspan. >> attorney general eric holder announced a $335 million settlement with bank of america. that agreement resolves, bank of america bought in 2008 discrimina

mr. boehner came on thursday when senate republican leader mitch mcconnell called on the house to just passs two month extension. normally the two leaders are fiercely loyal to one another, but in this case, senate republicans were starting to worry that house republicans were hurting the party's image. nancy, cbs news, capitol hill. >> u.s. military admits that it made a big mistake. when american war planes attacked a border post killing 26 pakistani troops. u.s. forces blame the november air strike on inaccurate maps and a misunderstanding of the true location of the pakistani military units. the pentagon says both forces contributed to that mistake. the air strike and the us reluctance to admit the mistake earlier has sent strained pakistani relations to a new low. >>> we all heard, crime doesn't pay, but today a handful of local law enforcement agencies received a generous gift from a criminal benefactor. the federal government handed out checks ranging from $95,000 to just under half a million. the money is coming from shawn, a convicted drug dealer. he was arrested for running a mult

mr. boehner came today when senate republican leader mitch mcconnell issued a statement calling on republicans to just pass this two-month extension. normally the leaders are fiercely loyal to one another, but in this case, scott, senate republicans were starting to get very worried that house republicans were hurting the party's brand as the party of lower taxes. >> pelley: nancy, they say they have a deal, but the house still has to vote, right? >> reporter: that's right. and house speaker john boehner would like to be able to have the house pass this by something called unanimous consent which would allow the members not to have to all come back to washington. but every single one of them would have to sign off on it. that's a tall order, because there are many house republicans this evening who as you can imagine are very angry, who feel they cave too quickly. if any one of them objects they'll have to come back and vote next week. >> pelley: more on this tomorrow, nancy, thanks very much. the average family is saving about a thousand dollars a year with this tax cut. late today, the presi

mr. boehner came today when senate republican leader mitch mcconnell issued a statement calling on republicans to just pass this two-month extension. normally the leaders are fiercely loyal to one another, but in this case, scott, senate republicans were starting to get very worried that house republicans were hurting the party's brand as the party of lower taxes. >> pelley: nancy, they say they have a deal, but the house still has to vote, right? >> reporter: that's right. and house speaker john boehner would like to be able to have the house pass this by something called unanimous consent which would allow the members not to have to all come back to washington. but every single one of them would have to sign off on it. that's a tall order, because there are many house republicans this evening who as you can imagine are very angry, who feel they cave too quickly. if any one of them objects they'll have to come back and vote next week. >> pelley: more on this tomorrow, nancy, thanks very much. the average family is saving about a thousand dollars a year with this tax cut. late today, the presi

public support for the pipeline and mcconnell and house speaker john boehner expressed hope the canadian prime minister would change the president's mind today but it and mridn't try. >> i would not comment on the domestic politics of this issue or any other issue here in the united states. >> reporter: republicans say one of the consequences of delay may be giving china access to canadian oil. >>> coming up, a scare for the maryland terps men's basketball team actually near upset. >>> alec semin returned to the caps. >>> 50% of a one, three or six month membership to the argonica farm club. they go in search of locally grown meats and poultry and deliver to your door. we are back after this. >>> alex ovechkin finally announced his presence for the washington caps last night. take a listen. >> lowers his shoulders are skates it to the point, slams on the brakes, winds up, fires, scores! ovechkin finally. >> it is about time. ovechkin scored one of three straight goals by the caps in the third period as they beat the ottawa senators 5-3. it is ovechkin's ninth of the soap but just his second in 13 games. >>> to college hoops now. the maryland terps began a

back on his leash you know by by mr cantor and we know from what senator schumer said on saturday that they did have a deal that better you know came to the table the mcconnell had requested kind of a pre-built conference with the house and senate republican leadership they had an agreement so the house because it really yes he's either he's lying and anybody doesn't realize he's line assumes he's incompetent we know exactly that and look at the big fear in the house as i understand it is you look at that you look at those numbers in the senate bill eighty nine. it's ten i can't remember a vote that was eighty nine to ten such a bipartisan success story in this congress that's like you know he is apple pie and mother a good thing you know yeah and i think they're real fear in this is what's really strange is that they don't want to put this bill to a full to a vote in the house because they knew that they lose that they would add that that bill to to do the two month you know extension of the payroll tax increase. you know would actually pass the house and we would actually have you know tapper wouldn't have a tax increase for one hundred sixty million ameri

mcconnell and house speaker john boehner expressed hope the canadian prime minister would change the president's mind today but it appeared that mrrper didn't try. >> i would not comment on domestic politics of this issue or any other issue in the united states. >> the president said key-tone the a big -- keystone is a big project with big consequences. republicans say one consequence of delay could give china access to canadian oil. at the white house, wendell goler, fox news. >> shannon: in regulation nation this evening, another effort to make america less dependent on foreign oil is on hold tonight for one major supplier. correspondent dan springer looks at why a wealth of fuel is not making its way to a gasoline station near you. >> reporter: shell oil company was planning a big announcement this week about america energy future and would move ahead with plans to tap estimated 27 billion-barrels of oil in the arctic ocean. but five years and $4 billion in the process of clearing all the hurdles, shell still doesn't have all the permits it needs or clear road map for getting them. >> we are not disputing the high standards we

senate said clearly senator mcconnell would not have made this agreement if speaker boehner had told him he would be opposed to it. clearly that would have happened. so, i think mr. levin might be right. i do not know if senator mcconnell has begun behalf of speaker boehner. i don't think speaker -- speaker boehner has said that yet. but certainly i am sure he may respond to that question a. let us see what he has to say. >> house republicans just stood here and told us the democrats would just come back -- if you could work out your differences in an hour and get a year-long tax cut. why not do that? >> if we could just work out our differences. they passed a bill. how did they try to work out their differences? no hearings, no markups, and just passed it, and jammed it through. knowing full well it was designed to fail. and what happened when it went to the senate? harry reid tried to put it on the floor and say, okay, here is their bill. who objected to putting it on the floor? the republicans. they did not want it voted on. and then what happened when the senate bill came to the house? they precluded a vote on the senate bill. so that when speaker boehner sa

mcconnell voted for it. tea parties members voted for it. this is one of those times when the senate did its job, and frankly i like mr. boehner. sis i don't think this is him. it's unfortunate that the people in this country are now being rolled over. >> dana, explain to me if chairman cleaver is correct, how this could happen. look at this graph. 39 republicans in the senate voted in favor of it, including tea party favorites marco rubio and pat toomey. 39, including tea party favorites. in the house, 229 republicans vote against it. i mean, what's happening here? >> well, reverend, i think the congressman's take is basically correct, and, of course, what -- i was in that session earlier today with john boehner and the other conferrees, they would like to make this a dispute, just another bit of partisan bickering with the democrats, but this is a whole other ball of wax. their fight isn't with the democrats. it's with republicans in their own parties and conservatives. john boehner is a relatively weak speaker. you've got to understand, you mentioned the whole braveheart thing. ten people got up in this private meeting of th