mr. mcconnell: mr. president in. the presiding officer: the republican leader is recognized. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, we all understand there is an election going on around here in a few months, but i'd like to remind my colleagues on the other side that we've also got a job to do right now. i mean, we've got multiple cries-levecrisis-level issues th and yet our democratic friends don't seem to want to do a thing. never before -- never before has a president and a senate done so little to confront challenges so great. we've got a $16 trillion debt. the democrats haven't bothered to pass a budget in three years. every single american will get hit with a massive tax hike in just three months, if we don't act to prevent it. democrats are saying we shouldn't do anything about it, just go off the cliff, go off the cliff and let's see what happens. the defense budget is about to suffer automatic cut cuts that e president's own defense secretary -- the defense secretary in this administration -- has descr

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? mr. president? mr. president? the clerk: we the undersigned senators 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 motion to proceed to calendar number 504 s. 3525, a bill to protect and enhance opportunities for recreational hunting fishing shooting and for other purposes signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: there are two minutes equally divided. the republican leader is recognized. the senate will be in order. mr. mcconnell: mr. president i'm going to proceed for very briefly on my leader time. i'm going to ask consent that the next vote on cloture on the motion to proceed to s. 3525 be vitiated and the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of h.r. 4089 which is at the desk and is the house-passed sportsman heritage act the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider laid on the table. for the record again, this will allow a bill to get to the president

mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: reserving the right to object. it really is quite curious my friend the majority leader is complaining about the one area i can think of over the last year and a half where the senate has met historic norms. in other words, we have handled judicial confirmations in this congress here in the senate in a way that meets and in some ways exceeds historic norms. at the same time, of course, we haven't done all the other things that we normally have done in the past, but so far during this presidential election year we've confirmed five circuit court nominees and 29 district court nominees. that is a good record for presidential election years. let me look at a few. in 1996, we confirmed 18 district court nominees. this year we've done 29. in 2000, we confirmed 31. in 2004, we confirmed 30. and in 2008, the last year of president bush's tenure, only 24 district court nominees were confirmed. in fact, in 2008 senate democrats free traded president bush's nominees so badly they were

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. l harbor? when i was a young man, and my friend the majority leader, was a young man it was where were you when you heard about the assassination of president kennedy? with the current generation it was, of course, where were you when you heard about 9/11? as the majority leader has indicated, it was for us here at the capitol, kind of close up and personal, if you will. i recall being late that morning, and as a result of not having yet gotten to work, i saw, as millions of americans did, the second plane go into the second building in real time. as the majority leader has indicated, the building was subsequently evacuated and people scattered around town. and at the end of this horrendous and frightening day, we all gathered on the steps of the capitol to sing "god bless america." it was one of the most uplifting and unifying moments in the history of our country. and i think it's safe to say that we are as a nation together, even though we have our political differences, together an

mr. mcconnell, you don't know what you're talking about. another measure that should be worrisome to mitt romney, he's trailing in the polls on the economy. a cnn poll taken less than two weeks ago showed likely voters favoring the president over romney on the issue by a point and the latest nbc news "wall street journal" poll of registered voters showed the president ahead on romney's key issue by 6 points. with the president's numbers improving, democrats look to hold. jim demint told bloomberg news in a comment that would have been unthinkel six months ago and i quote... >> eliot: still not quite sure who that productive class is they always talk about. new york senator charles schumer seemed to enjoy demint's conditional change of heart. >> you know the tide is turning. we shouldn't have to wait for an election for the two sides to come together. but for the republicans it just might do the trick. >> eliot: another shift of position. romney campaign national cochairman tim pawlenty is resigning to become president and chief executive of

mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: we learned yesterday and are receiving reports this morning of the attacks against the united states embassy in cairo and the u.s. consulate in bengazi in libya. in libya, our ambassador chris stevens and three other americans were killed in the service of our nation. our thoughts and sympathies today are with the families of these brave americans. these attacks remind us of the sacrifices made on a daily basisaway foreign service officers, diplomatic security personnel and our marine security guards. i join my colleagues in strongly condemning the murder of these innocent americans, and i strongly support employing every available tool at our disposal to ensure the safety of americans overseas and to hunt down those responsible for these attacks. yesterday, we commemorated the anniversary of the attacks of september 11, and today we are reminded that brave americans serve us every day at the risk of their own lives. we honor the americans we lost in libya and we will stand

mr. mcconnell: mr. president, on another matter -- tomorrow the lie librarian of congress, dr. jim billington, will mark 25 years on the job and so i'd like to just say a few words of congratulation in honor of his service. dr. billington has enjoyed a distinguished career. he's a rhodes scholar, earned his doctorate from oxford, served in the army, and taught history at harvard and at princeton. he's a renowned author and a russian scholar, advising numerous members of congress, administration officials, and even presidents. dr. billington's tenure at the library of congress has been exemplary. his most significant contribution is certainly his vision to bring the library of congress into the 21st century by digitalizing its collection. because of his actions, dr. billington has expanded the library of congress' reach into thousands of educational institutions and millions of homes here and throughout the world. under dr. billington's leadership, the library of congress has strengthened and flourished. so today we honor and we thank dr. jim billington for an outstanding job le

mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: we learned yesterday and are receiving reports this morning of the attacks against the united states embsy in cairo and the u.s. consulate in bengazi in libya. in libya, our ambassador chris stevens and three other americans were killed in the service of our nation. our thoughts and sympathies today are with the families of these brave americans. these attacks remind us of the sacrifices made on a daily basisaway foreign service officers, diplomatic security personnel and our marine security guards. i joi my colleagues in strongly condemning the murder of these innocent americans, and i strongly support employing every available tool at our dissal to ensure t safety of americans overseas and to hunt down those responsible for these attacks. yesterday, we commemorated the anniversary of the attacks of september 11, and today we are reminded that brave americans serve us every day at the risk of their own lives. we honor the americans we lost in libya and we will stand united

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. cconnell: the attacks this week on our diplomats, our installations and diplomatic security personnel have reminded all of us of the service of these brave americans, the service that they render to our country every single day. from the deadly attacks on a u.s. diplomatic station in benghazi to the attack on our embassy in cairo and now another attack on another embassy last night in yemen, four americans are dead. our flag is being desecrated. this is a moment for americans to show our closest allies in the middle east that we stand with them unequivocally, unequivocally, no mixed signals. neither signal nor any of our allies should ever have any reason to doubt that resolve. now, i'm encouraged that turkey has condemned the violence in benghazi. there is absolutely no justification for what happened in cairo, benghazi or gemmen, none. we must do everything within our power to protect our representatives overseas and hunt down those responsible for these attacks. there were warnings

mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: later today congress will award the congressional gold medal to daw aung san suu kyi, a remarkably courageous woman whose cause i've taken a particular interest in over the years. suu kyi's story is so powerful it's almost hard to believe it's all true. her faith, aung san was assassinated when she was just a toddler. she lived in india for a time, worked at the u.n. here in the u.s. and eventually married and settled into a comfortable lifer with her professor husband and two boyce in oxford in england. that quiet, yo suburban life changed for every one night in the spring of 1988. she got a phone call that her mother had fallen ill back in burma. she left to take care of her the following day and arrived to find a revolution already under way. as her father's daughter, suu kyi was regarded as a natural fit to fill the role. years earlier suu kyi had had a premonition that her people might need her one day. so much so that when her husband proposed marriage, she agreed but

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. se of a lifetime, one always remembers those moments of national grief and anxiety. they don't happen very often. in my parents' generation it was where were you when you heard about the japanese attack on pearl harbor? when i was a young man, and my friend the majority leader, was a young man it was where were you when you heard about the assassination of president kennedy? with the current generation it was, of course, where were you when you heard about 9/11? as the majority leader has indicated, it was for us here at the capitol, kind of close up and personal, if you will. i recall being late that morning, and as a result of not having yet gotten to work, i saw, as millions of americans did, the second plane go into the second building in real time. as the majority leader has indicated, the building was subsequently evacuated and people scattered around town. and at the end of this horrendous and frightening day, we all gathered on the steps of the capitol to sing "god bless americ

mr. mcconnell is talking about the president the way he is, because he is the main person -- he is the leader of the republican senate. we all know the statement that he made. it is just a shame. the folks that both these guys in, but the party, they are responsible for this, the do nothing aspect. obviously, they are opposed to the president and opposed to having america made progress. host: thanks for the call. next is kelly and joining us from river falls, wisconsin on our independent line. caller: good morning. this is a system the founders gave us. the house seems to pass a lot of things that die in the senate. the senate cannot pass anything because of the filibuster rule. partisanship is what holds things up. maybe everybody when they go to the polls they should look at who the incumbent is and just vote the opposite. i know we would be voted out some good people, but maybe it would send a message to our legislators. if we keep putting in fresh faces, they would get the message that they had better get to work. thanks for c-span. thanks for the opportunity. host: thanks for the call. a

mr. mcconnell: yesterday dozens of republican senators came to the senate floor one after the other to register their complete frustration with the way democrats are running this place. never before -- never -- have a president and a majority party in the senate done so little to address challenges as great as the ones our nation faces right now. never. i mean, we've got a $16 trillion debt, and they haven't bothered to put together a budget in three years. they haven't passed a single appropriations bill. they haven't passed the defense authorization bill, for the first time in a half a century. these things are usually about as standard as turning the lights on. they haven't done any of them. it's a disgrace. think about it. the middle east is in turmoil, we're fighting a war in afghanistan and against al qaeda, and they can't even bother to pass the defense authorization bill? so we're fed up with the way this place is being run. no legislation, no amendments, no action on taxes, no action on defense cuts, nothing. and now we're at it again. all republicans want to do is extend government fu

mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that not withstanding cloture having been invoked at a time to be determined by me after consultation with senator mcconnell it be in order and the senate proceed to consideration of s. 3576, which is legislation i just referred to introduced by senator paul. the text of which is at the desk. that there be up to 60 minutes of debate equally divided between senators paul and kerry or their designees, that upon the use or yielding back of that time the senate proceed to vote on passage of the bill, that the vote on passage be subject to a 60-vote affirmative threshold and that the bill doesn't achieve that 60 votes, it will be considered as having been read twice, placed on the calendar, that following the vote on passage of that legislation, s. 3576, the senate proceed to the consideration of calendar number 418, s.j. res. 41, there be up to 60 minutes of debate equally divided between senators kerry and paul or their designees, that upon use or yielding back of that time the senate proceed to vote on passage of the joint resolution. that if the joint resolution is not passed it be returned to the calendar.

mcconnell says is the failure to lead on numerous issues. this just happens. it runs about three minutes. have a lock and listen on this. >> mr.nt we all understand there is an election going on around here in a few months, but i'd like to remind my colleagues on the other side that we've also got a job to do right now. i mean we've got multiple crisis-level issues to deal with, and yet our democratic friends don't seem to want to do a thing. never before, never before has a president and a senate done so little to confront challenges so great. we've got a $16 trillion debt, democrats haven't bothered to pass a budget in three years. every single american will get hit with a massive tax hike in just three months if we don't act to prevent it. democrats are saying we shouldn't do anything about it. just go off the cliff, go off the cliff, and let's see what happens. the defense budget is about to suffer automatic cuts at the president's own defense secretary. the sevens tk*ebg b secretary in thidefense secretary in this administration has described as horrible. the middle east is in turmoil. we remain at war in afghanistan and

mr. allen is fair and has some humor and i like him. i take umbrage take umbrage3/4 of your calls. they always play the same old saw about mitch mcconnelldo they think the democrats do not want to defeat the republicans? so much hatred for obama. republicans did not like his policies. i hear that so much on c-span. we love conservative. am voting for allen west. he is my congressman down here. he is great. i love clarence thomas. condoleezza rice, etc. i take umbrage with the hate. they have short memories. george bush was in office and video - they wanted to try him for war crimes. hate is a two-way street. caller: i think he is done a balanced job this morning. if politics was the main and horrible, what would you write about? that's all you do. use politics as a way to enflame the population. you said he needed to back out because he lost michigan because of a statement he made even though you said, that is not what the man to. why don't you publish that? eant.t is not what you ma host: i want to ask you about the role of the campaign committees, the ads that are put out by the campaigns. caller: they can't parse through? it is just

mcconnell giving a little speech. my job is to make this 01-term president. he has tried really hard to do that. luckily, believe mr.linton has successfully taken care of that. kful bama better be havthan he is not debating mr. clinton. host: deal in misery. here are some tweets we received this morning. -- neil in missouri. the other party created amount of debt. here is jim hav. clinton's speech was no surprise to anyone, was it? this is gary, obama is a troubled if he said he is willing to share the spotlight with president clinton. that was finally. here is more of bill clinton from last night. >> now, we all know he also tried to work with congressional republicans on health care, debt reduction, and new jobs. that did not work out so well. . [laughter] it could have been because of the senate republican leaders said in a remarkable moment of candor, to full years before the election their number one priority was not to put america back to work, it was to put the president out of work. [applause] ait a minute 00 -- senator, i hate to break it to you, but we're point to keep president obama on the job. [applause

mr. romney said he wished president obama had succeeded when he took office. if so, he was alone in his party. let's review the history. senator mitch mcconnellan leader in the senate, said the republicans' number one priority was the defeat of president obama. [ "human" by the human league playing ] humans. we mean well, but we're imperfect creatures living in a beautifully imperfect world. it's amazing we've made it this far. maybe it's because when one of us messes up, someone else comes along to help out. that's the thing about humans. when things are at their worst, we're at our best. see how at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy? you expect something $40in return. billionaire oil tycoons charles and david koch and their special- interest friends are spending $400 million to buy this year's elections and advance their agenda. what's their payback? politicians who will pass laws that benefit special interests, but hurt the middle class; more tax cuts for the rich, eliminate the minimum wage, big cuts to our schools, but big subsidies for oil companies, learn what you can do at... ari'm fine.y

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: a number of our colleagues have already spoken about the huge problems that we face and the president's complete failure to lead. we have got a $16 trillion debt, millions out of work, the biggest tax hike in history looming, and our military faces crippling across-the-board cuts. the nation and the world need strong american leadership and robust, robust political institutions to meet these challenges, but the president with a lot of help, a lot of help from the democrat-controlled senate has deliberately chosen inaction. why? because over the past two years, the democratic senate has seen itself as an extension of the president's reelection campaign rather than a forum for solving the nation's problems. everything it's done and hasn't done is meant to help the president, not the american people. so our problems have only gotten worse, and the senate has of course completely broken down as an institution, as described by the senator from mississippi. democrats haven't passe

mr. president, iw ask unanimous consent that on wednesday, september 19, following any leader remarks, the senate resume consideration of s. 3457 and notwithstanding rule 22, it be in order for senator mcconnell or his designee to raise a budget point of order against the substitute amendment number 2789. that if a budget point of order is raised, the majority leader or his designee be recognized for a motion to waive the applicable budget points of order, that the time until 12:00 noon that day be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees on the motion to wai waive. that upon the use or yielding back of that time, the senate proceed to vote on the motion to waive. that if the motion to waive the applicable budget points of order is not agreed to, cloture motions with respect to the substitute and the underlying bill be withdrawn and the bill be returned to the calendar and the majority leader then be recognized. that if the motion to waive is agreed to, at a time to be determined by the majority leader, after consultation with the republican leader, and notwithstanding rule 22, the motion to commit be withdrawn and that all pending amendments be withdrawn with the exception