mr. mcconnell: mr. president could we have order. the vice president: the senate will come to order please. the senate will come to order. the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: mr. president i suggest the absence of a quorum. the vice president: the absence of a quorum having been suggested, the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the vice president: a quorum is present. mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: durbin: mr. president?the vice president: mr. president, the democratic leader is necessarily absent. i'll be acting in his stead until his return. the vice president: also noticed. mr. mcconnell: mr. president i have a resolution at the desk and i ask for its immediate consideration. the vice president: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 1 informing the president of the united states that a quorum of each house is assembled. the vice president: without objection, the resolution is considered and agreed to. mr. mcconnell: i move to reconsider the vote by which the resolution was

mr. mcconnell: now mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to consideration of s. res. 38 submitted i i earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 38 relative to the death of wendell h. ford, former united states senator for the commonwealth of kentucky. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to -- the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: now mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until 4:30 p.m. monday, january 26, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired the journal of proceedings be approved to d

mr. mcconnell: so, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until:30 a.m. tomorrow -- until 9:30 a.m. tomorrow, friday january 9. following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day. following any leader remarks the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until 9:30 a.m. tomorrow. why is the keystone though one of the first to come up in congress and the effort in the house? >> guest: thanks for having me. keystone is the first bill to come up because since after the midterms last year the senate majority leader

mr. mcconnell: --. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. mcconnell: execution the motion to reconsider be made with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: for the information of all senators, we are designating the full member membershipship of each committee plus the chairman of the armed services and energy committees tonight. we'll appoint the rest of the chairmen tomorrow once we have had a quick meeting of the republican conference to ratify the names. now, mr. president -- mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed with resolution of senate resolution 22 submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 22 to constitute the minority party's membership on certain committees for the 114th congress or until their successors are chosen. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection so ordered. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to the motion to reconsider cons

mr. mcconnell: mr. president i ask unanimous consent that the bill s. 32 be discharged from the committee on finance and it be referred to the committee on the judiciary. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: mr. president i ask unanimous consent when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. friday january 16, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour deemed expired the journal of proceedings be approved to date and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day and the senate resume consideration of s. 1 as under the previous order. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: so we were able to reach an agreement to proceed to the keystone bill this afternoon and start processing amendment to bipartisan jobs and infrastructure bill. there are several amendments pending from senators on both sides of the aisle and i would encourage everyone to work with senator murkowski and senator cantwell to get in the que

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to immediate consideration of s. res. 29, submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 29, condemning the terrorist attacks in paris and so forth. themr. mcconnell: i further ask that the resolution be agreed to -- the presiding officer: is there an objection to proceeding to the motion? without objection, so ordered. mr. mcconnell: i ask the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: so, madam president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to consideration of s. res. 30, which was s

mr. mcconnell: mr. president are we in a quorum call? the president pro tempore: we are not. the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: mr. president i understand there is a bill at the desk that's due for its second reading. the president pro tempore: the clerk will read the title of the bill for the second time. the clerk: h.r. 33 an act to amend the internal revenue code of 1976 and so forth. mr. mcconnell: in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule 14, i would object to further proceedings. the president pro tempore: objection is heard. the bill will be placed on the calendar. mr. mcconnell: mr. president today the senate is continuing to consider s. 1, a about toil approve the keystone x.l. pipeline. chairman mccow mccow ski is here to manage--chairman murkowski is here to manage the debate. any votes on amendments in the queue will occur on 2:15 on tuesday. it's taken us a while to get going on this bill and the last thing we need at this point is for members who have been sa

mr. mcconnell: mr. president i move to proceed to s. 1. the president pro tempore: without objection, the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 1 s. 1, a bill to approve the keystone x.l. pipeline. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that following leader remarks the senate proceed to the consideration of h.r. 26, the house-passed tria bill. further, the only amendment in order be an amendment to be proposed by senator warren which is at the desk with the time until 1:45 equally divided in the usual form. i further ask that no other amendments or motions be in order aside from budget points of order if applicable and that if a point of order is raised the motion to waive be considered made. i further ask that following the use or yielding back of time and the disposition of any pending actions -- of any pending motions to waive the senate vote on adoption of the warren amendment, the bill be read a third time followed by passage of the bill as amended if amended and the adoption of the warren amended if amen

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the president pro tempore: minority leader the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: today is an important day for our country. many senators took the oath this afternoon, 13 for the first time and a new republican majority accepted its new responsibility. we recognize the enormity of the task before us, we know a lot of hard work awaits, we know many important opportunities await as well. i'm really optimistic about what we can accomplish, but but i'll have much more to say about that tomorrow. for now i just want to welcome back all of our returning members, i want to congratulate the many new ones, and i want to say a word about our colleague from nevada, senator reid is a former boxer he's tough, i know he'll be back in fighting form soon enough. we all wish him a speedy recovery and i wish is very best to all of you. enjoy the ceremonies tomorrow -- today, and tomorrow it's back to work. i yield the floor. mr. durbin: mr. president? the majoritythe president pro tempore: the

mr. mcconnell: mr. president i ask unanimous consent that at 9:30 a.m. friday, tomorrow, the senate proceed to vote in relation to the following amendments in the order listed -- sullivan 67, cardin 75 murkowski 98, flake 103 cruz 15, moran 73, daines 132. further, that all amendments on the list be subject to a 60-vote affirmative threshold for adoption and that no second degrees be in order to the amendments. i ask consent there be two minutes of debate equally divided between each vote and that all vote after the first in the series be ten-minute votes. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. durbin: mr. president reserving the right to object. the presiding officer: the assistant democratic leader. mr. durbin: now that we have purged the calendar of five of the six democratic amendments, the majority leader tells us it's time to vote. it doesn't strike me that this is in the best interests of what we are trying to achieve here in going back and forth in a bipartisan constructive fashion. i wo

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. mcconnell: i ask that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: mr. president many have now heard the sad news that one of the giants of kentucky politics passed away last night. wendell ford first came to the senate in the 1970's, calling himself just a dumb country boy with dirt between his toes. but over a distinguished two-decade career, this workhorse of the senate would prove he was anything but. i had the opportunity to watch my senate colleague up close as he ascended to leadership in his party and established himself as a leader on issues of importance to my state. a proud kentuckian who rose from page in the statehouse to governor of the state ford shaped the history of the commonwealth in ways few others had before him. he never forgot the lessons about hard work he learned while milking cows or tended to chores on the family farm. this world war ii veteran never backed down from a fight either. we i

mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to h.r. 240. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 5 h.r. 240 an act making appropriations for the department of homeland security for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2015, and for other purposes. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: cloture motion. we the undersigned senators in in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to proceed to h.r. 240 making appropriations for the department of homeland security for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2015, signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. mcconnell: madam presid

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the president pro tempore: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: today the senate is continuing to consider s. 1 a bill to approve the keystone x.l. pipeline. chairman murkowski and senator cantwell are here this morning to manage debate and there are several amendments pending. we'll begin voting on those and any other amendments in the queue shortly after lunch today. senators also should begin gathering in the chamber at 8:20 this evening so that we can proceed as a body to the house for the state of the union address. now, mr. president i understand there is a bill at the desk that is due for second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the bill for the second time, the title of the bill for the second time. the clerk: h.r. 240 an act making appropriations for the department of homeland security for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2015, and for other purposes. mr. mcconnell: in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule 14, i would object to further proceeding. the presiding officer: the ob

mr. mcconnell: now mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. tomorrow january 22. i ask that following the prayer and pledge, the morning business be deemed expired the journal of proceedings be approved to date and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day. i further ask the senate then be in a period of morning business for up to one hour with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes, with the democrats controlling the first half and the republicans controlling the final half, and that following morning business, the senate then resume consideration of s. 1. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: we were able to process several amendments to the keystone bill today and there are now seven more in the queue and pending. senators should expect votes related to amendments to this bill throughout the day tomorrow. if there's no further business to come before the senate, i

mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: today the senate will resume consideration of the keystone bill. there are up to 18 roll call votes scheduled this afternoon on benefiting amendments to the bill. i want to commend chairman murkowski and senator cantwell for working with our colleagues to get literally dozens and dozens of amendments up and voted on in the three weeks we have been working on this bill. now it's time to get through the remaining amendments and vote up or down on passage of this bill before we leave for the week. mr. president, i understand there is a bill at the desk that is due a second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the title of the bill for the second time. the clerk: s. 272 a bill making appropriation for the department of homeland security for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2015 and for other purposes. mr. mcconnell: an order to place the bill on the calendar under rule 15, i would object to further proceedings. the presiding officer: objection is heard. the

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that at 4:30 p.m. on monday february 2, the senate proceed to the consideration of calendar number 6 h.r. 203 that the time until 5:30 p.m. be equally divided in the usual form and that following the use or yielding back of that time, that the bill be read a third time and the senate vote on passage of the bill without any intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. nelson: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: mr. president there is a disturbing report in "the washington post" today about a major telephone company verizon verizon, putting super cookies on the phones that its customers are being used which will allow those customers to be tracked and if that information is turned over to other third parties to be utilized for purposes of advertising even though the customer has indicated that they do not want that particular cookie placed on the their

mr. mcconnell: now, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 27 submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 27 to authorize testimony and representation in united states of america v. jeffrey a. sterling. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid on the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i understand there is a bill at the desk and i ask its second reading. first reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bill for the first time. the clerk: h.r. 240 an act making appropriations for the department of homeland security for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2015 and for other purposes. mr. mcconnell: i ask for a second preegd and in order

mr. mcconnell, senator from texas plrks cornyn senator from south carolina. the senator from missouri ks mr. blunt. senator from mississippi, mr. wicker. senator from illinois, mr. durbin, senator from washington, ms. murphy -- ms. murray. mr. leahy. senator from michigan senator from minnesota, ms. clube char. the speaker: please exit through the lobby doors. >> mr. speaker, the dean of the diplomatic corps. >> mr. speaker, the chief justice and associate justices of the supreme court. >> mr. speaker, the president's cabinet. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. noip today we'll have two -- mr. mcconnell: today we'll have two stacks of votes culminating in passage of s. 1, the keystone bill. senators should be expected to stay close to the floor as these will be ten-minute votes. we'll have five or six votes at 11:00 and four or five votes kicking off at 2:30. the senate will be in session tomorrow morning but no votes are expected. the first vote of next week will be at 5:30 on monday. now, mr. president, in the past few weeks we've really had a whirlwind, but the keystone jobs debate has been important for the senate and for our country. we took about a dozen more roll call votes on amendments yesterday. that means the senate has now taken more than twice as many of these amendment votes on this bill alone than were offered or allowed all of last year. we obviously had a busy afternoon yesterday and we'll continue again today. it's been an instructive exercise too because we learned about more than just the lesser prairie chicken but we dis

mr. mcconnell: mr.ent. mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. the senate will be in order. the senate will be in order. the senate please -- the senate will be in order please. the senate is not in order. the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: mr. president i enter a vote to reconsider the cloture vote on the murkowski substitute amendment number 2. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close the debate on s. 1 a bill to approve the keystone x.l. pipeline signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that the debate on s. 1 a bill to approve the keystone x.l. pipeline, shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule, and the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vo

mr. mcconnell, and mr. boehner put up our walls. put up our cyber walls.he president was saying he wants to require 30 days the companies have to say make it public. tell the white house that they've had some kind of breach or problem. but there are laws on the books all over the country. and states all over the country with their own rules about this. this seems to me to be trying to close the gate behind the horse, i guess. >> well, there are 47 different jurisdictions that have laws on this. and a lot of people have complained and argued that it's a confusing patchwork. so do you follow the most stringent law? and there are different notification requirements as to government officials and reporting agencies and the like. trying to get some form of uniform standard, national law, a lot of people are worried that a national law could come with tougher state laws. they have to come with a formula that could say this is a floor and states have a right to make it tougher, but this is the minimum standard he in terms of notification. gerri: i want to switch

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: this morning the senate will be in a period of morning business for an hour before resume consideration of the keystone bill. senators should expect votes on pending amendments to the bill after lunch today. votes are possible into the evening tonight as well as during tomorrow morning's session of the senate. we need to make progress on this bill and all members should expect a busy day. now, mr. president the senate, as i indicated will continue its work on the keystone jobs bill today. it's great to see a real debate on the floor of the senate again. i saw some action in the chamber yesterday, even some unpredictability. we saw how democracy in the senate has looked many times in the past. it's great to see both sides able to offer amendments once more. i -- the assistant democratic leader said he welcomes our vision of the senate where members bring amendments to the floor, debate them, vote on them and ultimately pass legislation and that's what we're doing. another dem

mr. mcconnell: i thank my friend from california. mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until 10:00 a.m. on tuesday, january 13. 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 the senate resume the motion to proceed to s. 1 until 12:30 with the time equally divided between the two leaders or their designees. further, that the senate recess from 12:30 until 2:15 to allow the weekly conference meetings to occur. finally, notwithstanding the provisions of rule 22, all time during morning business, the recess and the adjournment of the senate count postcloture on the motion to proceed to s. 1. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. mcconnell: unfortunately there is an objection from our colleagues on the other side of t

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: majority leader. mr. mcconnell: today the senate is continuing to consider s. 1 a bill to approve the keystone x.l. pipeline, and there are six amendments pending, three from each side. we'll begin voting on those amendments as soon as chairman murkowski and senator cantwell work out an orderly schedule. and senators should expect votes throughout the day in relation to these amendments and any others in the queue. now, mr. president last night the american people heard two very different addresses. one was focused on the middle class and how washington can work together in a serious way for better jobs, higher wages and more opportunity. it was a call for constructive cooperation. it was a call for new ideas. so i want to commend senator ernst for her thoughtful address. she understands the needs of working people in a way those of a particular mind-set in washington simply don't understand. she knows that the middle class is looking for washington to function again and that hardworking americans who want

mr. mcconnell called this speech his final act. is there that much riding on this? >> no, it's not his final act. there's a lot happening in the world, whether putin, executive orders, whether syria it may be the beginning of the final act. certainly domestically, i think his administration has cohered and have cohered both on policies we talked about and income inequality. the conversations today with people in the white house, they take it a as a matter of course that we're going to hit the republicans where all we've got. we're going to take the issues where we have a 70% approval and they have a 30% approval and we'll hit them. you could have picked policies where they had agreement but i think the culture of washington is let's find the policies where we have the advantage, that's where the mind gravitates to, and it's almost like an assumption. you don't even think of going to the policies where you find common ground just because the habits of confrontation are so built in. >> woodruff: but it's coming from the both sides as the question suggested. when you h

mr. mcconnell called this speech his final act. is there that much riding on this? >> no, it's not his final act. there's a lot happening in the world, whether putin, executive orders, whether syria it may be the beginning of the final act. certainly domestically, i think his administration has cohered and have cohered both on policies we talked about and income inequality. the conversations today with people in the white house, they take it a as a matter of course that we're going to hit the republicans where all we've got. we're going to take the issues where we have a 70% approval and they have a 30% approval and we'll hit them. you could have picked policies where they had agreement but i think the culture of washington is let's find the policies where we have the advantage, that's where the mind gravitates to, and it's almost like an assumption. you don't even think of going to the policies where you find common ground just because the habits of confrontation are so built in. >> woodruff: but it's coming from the both sides as the question suggested. when you h

mr. mcconnell of kentucky. >> republicans now control the house and senate. setting up inevitable showdowns with president obama. john boehner was once again elected house speake but not without drama. a dozen of his fellow republicans revolted backing other candidates. boehner now controls the largest republican majority in more than 80 years but faces significant challenges from some conservatives. >> still going to have to assuage a lot of the party members. >> we recognize the enormity of the task before us and we know a lot of hard work awaits. >> and he has an aggressive agenda. approving the controversial keystone x.l. pipeline tax reform and reversing president obama's executive actions on immigration. >> mitch mcconnell wants to start hitting some singles and doubles and he's doing a pretty savvy thing in saying if the american people are putting us on probation and giving us a tryout here, we have to deliver. >> white house said today that president obama recognizes an opportunity for democrats and republicans to work together. >> the key to doing t

mr. mcconnell of kentucky. >> reporter: republicans now control the house and senate, setting up inevitablens with president obama. john boehner was once again elected house speaker but not without drama. a dozen of his fellow republicans revolted backing other candidates. boehner now controls the largest republican majority in more than 80 years but he faces significant challenges from some conservatives. >> you're still going to have to assuage a lot of tea party caucus members. >> reporter: mcconnell takes over as senate majority leader. >> we recognize the task before us. >> reporter: he has an aggressive agenda approving the controversial keystone pipeline tax reform and reversing president obama's executive actions on immigration. >> mitch mcconnell wants to start hitting singles and doubles. he's doing a savvy thing in saying the american people are putting us on probation giving us a tryout. we have to deliver. >> reporter: the white house said that president obama recognizes an opportunity for democrats and republicans to work together. >> the key to doing that is not the frequency

mr. mcconnell: mr. president, am i correct that the senator from illinois is going to object to this consent agreement? mr. durbin: i please raise your right hand. i, thomas westerman wolf do solemnly swear that i will support, obey and defend the constitution of the united states and the constitution of this commonwealth and that i will discharge the duties of my office with fidelity. congratulations, governor. >> thank you very much. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, the 47th governor of pennsylvania, tom wolfe. thank you so much. chief justice sailor, governor corbett, governor rendell, governor stat and governor's ridge and governor swiker. everyone who is here. leaders and members of the judiciary. leaders and members of the general's aseplsembly and family and friends and above all my fellow pennsylvanians. i'm so thankful for so many here today that i want to start by thanking governor tom for his many years of service for the commonwealth of pennsylvania. governor. [applause] next i want to thank

mr. mcconnell. the senator from utah, mr. hatch. the senator from south dakota mr. thune.he senator from missouri, mr. blunt. the senator from mississippi mr. wicker. the senator from illinois, mr. durban. the senator from new york, mr. schumer. the senator from washington, ms. murray. excuse me. the senator from vermont, mr. leahy. the senator from montana, mr. tester. the senator from minnesota muskoka chart. numbers of the -- >> members of the escort committee will please exit through the lobby doors. >> as the escort committee makes its way out of the chamber to get to the president, what is the important of that tradition? >> let me tell you a little story. the first sort-of response to george washington's presidential speech was written by james madison. the congress is meeting in new york city -- excuse me, philadelphia at this time and congress and where the president was living in a townhouse nearby, now or the liberty bell is. it was very close by. madison writes the speech and george washington delivers the address before congress and congress goes over to his h

mr. mcconnell said the u.s. would not consult on its debt. yet one of the issues you will face in march as raising the debt limit. under what circumstances would you vote to increase the debt limit? >> i think we have to make substantial progress on balancing the budget. if we do that, i will take a serious look at voting to increase the debt limit. but i am not at all -- i don't believe that the consequences of failing to raise the debt limit our with the president and some others in the united states congress have said. i think we have a lot of room to cut our spending. and if we do that, we will impact -- and avoid the catastrophic consequences that others talk about. >> do you support the so-called boehner rule, the one dollar per one dollar to cut spending increases? >> i think that is a minimum threshold that we have to meet. and real cuts, not cuts that have 10 years from now or 15 years from now where another congress will inevitably change those cuts. i think we have to have cuts the happen now. they will unfortunate heard. but the p

mr. mcconnell: mr. president i send a cloture motion on the pending substitute to the desk. >> i have a cloture motion on the substitute. >> the clerk will report the cloture motion. >> we the undersigned senators in accordance with rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate bring to a close the debate on the murkowski amendment number to the keystone xl pipeline approve black signed by 17 senators as follows. >> i ask consent the reading be dispensed with. >> is there objection? >> no objection. >> with a cloture motion on the underlying bill to the task? >> the clerk will report. >> cloture motion we the undersigned senators in accordance with rule 22 the standing rules of the senate here by noon to bring to a close to the debate of bill to approve the keystone xl pipeline speesix. >> i called for dispenser for the reading. >> without objection cast unanimous consent that at 9:30 a.m. friday morning the senate proceed to go in relation to the final amendments sullivan 67, 67, 75, murkowski 98, blake

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: mr. president let me just congratulate our new colleague from alaska on his initial address to the senate and just comment that it couldn't be more timely, as his state is obviously under assault by this administration. and his prescription for the way forward both for alaska and for america strikes me as entirely appropriate for our country and i congratulate our colleague. the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. sullivan: i want to thank the majority leader for his kind words and all the other colleagues who came to witness a new senator's maiden speech. thank you. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. mr. coats: mr. president may i also congratulate our new colleague from alaska. well said and welcome. the two senators from alaska have dominated the start of this new serks -- session and we're glad because they're bringing very important legislation and decisions to this body. i congratulate the senior senator and junior senator from ala

mr. mcconnell and speaker boehner and the u.s. chamber of commerce in the business roundtable. we are humble about what we face but we are tens of millions of americans and we are committed that we are not going to have another raw deal and trade. we are going to come to the 21st century and negotiate trade deals that work for tens of millions of americans not just for hundreds of corporations. now it's my honor to introduce my brother from wisconsin who thinks this is a warm day in washington. representative mark -- [applause] >> thank you brother cohen and it is a little bit balmy. i have followed trade long before it came to congress. for 27 years i've been a small-business owner could have a specialty printing business a union shop and part of what we do is find american-made products for people. over the years i've watched a bad trade deal after bad trade deals send jobs overseas. it's almost impossible to find a pen that's made in the u.s.. in fact and rock county wisconsin accounted paul ryan and i share a representative congress we still have parker pens and in 2010 the

mr. mcconnell hasn't given much indication on whether he feels it could pass the senate if it is scheduled and weather would be scheduled. the senate moving forward and it could be weeks or months before they go forward and they likely don't have the votes to override a presidential veto which could hamper expectations in the senate debate. >> host: follow lauren french is reporting on twitter and lauren and friends at politico.com. thanks for the update. >> guest: thanks for having me on. .. proposal for a $50 million increase to schools. he is expected to talk about the aftermath of the ferguson missouri shooting. before becoming governor he served as the attorney general for six years. this is live coverage from jefferson city, missouri. >>> john huff honor ryan mckenna, labor and industrial relations. [applause] >> dr. keith shafer. mental health. sarah parker poly natural resources. dan isim acting director of public safety. neah ray, acting director of revenue. [applause] >> brian kimcade, social serves. dave nickels, transportation. also pleased to introduce missouri national guard

mr. mcconnell finally realized that and he said you know we want to have an open debate. promised you an open debate but this is going to occupy the entire year if i don't turn the spigot off. so late thursday night he did move in debate. there are six amendments left on the schedule. start voting on those today. with the vote on final passage expected by the end of the week. and again, this is just for the sake of timing, they have other things they want to do. iran sanctions coming up that they want to do and more importantly, they have this drk hs funding bill they've got to do by february 27th or else the homeland security department runs out of money. so, you know, that's still a month away but the pace of the senate is is not quick and so i think mcconnell gauged ahead and said we've got to turn off this keystone xl debate and move on to other things. >> take us back over to the house, mike, border security bill is coming up we think on wednesday and of course, there are plenty of battle lines drawn with that one. what's it all about? >> it's mostly all about obama'

mr. mcconnell called this speech his final act. is there that much riding on this? >> no, it's not his final act. there's a lot happening in the world, whether putin, executive orders, whether syria, it may be the beginning of the final act. certainly domestically, i think his administration has cohered and have cohered both on policies we talked about and income inequality. the conversations today with people in the white house, they take it a as a matter of course that we're going to hit the republicans where all we've got. we're going to take the issues where we have a 70% approval and they have a 30% approval and we'll hit them. you could have picked policies where they had agreement but i think the culture of washington is let's find the policies where we have the advantage, that's where the mind gravitates to, and it's almost like an assumption. you don't even think of going to the policies where you find common ground just because the habits of confrontation are so built in. >> woodruff: but it's coming from the both sides as the question suggested. when you

mr. mcconnell, please. thank you. >> thank you. the issue of benghazi certainly came up today as former cbs journalists sheryl atkinson testified before the committee is one of the witnesses here he is not sure if it came up yesterday in all of the western he, nine hours worth of lessening by loretto lynch and questions from senators that you can find all of that online at www.c-span.org. democrats line. roy, welcome. caller: yes, thank you. i think senator whitehouse got it right. i think he explained it well. what i did not like senator lee was asking this lady and pretty much putting words in her mouth saying he did not understand about the person and north carolina. they kept it to one thing. they have done a lot of things in north carolina. i am here and 53 years old. what they have done is cut back on the day you can vote and timeframe it can be done to make it harder because they do not want to bring -- windy reelection fairly. they have to cheat to win. it is a shame. thank god for good white americans and black americans w

mr. mcconnell said -- the exact same-type bill presented last month? >> it is.ritten some time ago. my lead co-sponsor on the democrat side was mary landrieu. she wanted to bring it up before the end of the year. it got 59 votes. now joe manchin is the lead democrat sponsor. so all along we anticipated bringing it up after the first of the year but senator landrieu wanted to give it a cry last year so we did. >> yesterday you said you're not sure you could override a veto. what are the options you're weighing? >> that's why we're having this open process or what's called regular order on the floor where we'll go through the committee, let republicans and democrats alike offer their amendments. if they can get 60 votes, those amendments pass and they're part of the bill. again, we hope to build more support for the bill by having that regular order open amendment process. >> senator hoeven always a pleasure to see you. >>> coming up more on the terror attacks on paris as freedom of speech and radical islam collide. (woman) the constipation and belly pain feel lik

mr. mcconnell of kentucky. >> reporter: republicans control the house and senate, setting up inevitable showdownsed house speaker. but not without drama. a dozen of his fellow republicans revolted, backing other candidates. boehner now controls the largest republican majority in more than 80 years but faces significant challenges from some conservatives. >> he is still going to have to assuage a lot of tea party caucus members. >> reporter: mitch mcconnell takes over as senate majority leader. >> we know a lot of hard work awaits. >> reporter: and he has an aggressive agenda. approving the controversial xl pipeline, tax reform and reversing president obama's executive actions on immigration. >> mitch mcconnell wants to start hit something singles and doubles. he's doing a savvy thing in saying the american people are putting us on probation. we have to deliver. >> reporter: the white house said president obama recognizes an opportunity for democrats and republicans to work together. >> the key to doing that is not the frequency of conversations, but more the willingness from people on both sides

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: mr. president this morning the senate will continue to debate the motion to proceed to the keystone x.l. pipeline bill, with the time equally divided until 12:30. some of our colleagues on the other side continue to filibuster the motion to proceed to the bill. all senators should know that we'll get on this bill today and we'll begin the amendment process. we can do it the eatcy easy way or we can do it the hard way. either we'll get on it this afternoon by consent or shortly is after midnight without consent. but we'll get on it today. it's surprising to me that some democratic senators are choosing to exercise their procedural rights in order to block their own colleagues from offering amendments to the bill. although at this point the only senators who have filed amendments at the desk are republican senators. so i want to make it clear to everybody, you know, we're committed to an open amendment process but not an open-ended one. and so we are hopeful that democrats who continue i re

mr. mcconnell was on there this morning and he's really just talking the same.e was -- i thought we would see some new ideas out of these guys, but it is really just the same thing. he is talking about the pipeline, which ain't going to be many jobs. how about our infrastructure throughout this whole country echoed that will make some jobs. and then he mentioned -- this whole country? that will make some jobs. and he mentioned trade agreements. trade agreements is what put us in the 2000 eight worst recession since the 1930's. what does he mean "trade agreements"? what kind of jobs are left in america? low-paying jobs. host: jim, you are an independent. do you like the democratic leaders? caller: no, i haven't been happy with any of them. the collar before that mentioned we need to get rid of all of them, especially the old-timers. i never was for term limits, but maybe it is time. i don't know what the answer is but you will see the same gridlock. republicans really need to come up with some good ideas. how about keeping some jobs? host: winchester, virginia, s

mr. mcconnell some years ago said his number one job was to defeat barack obama.rity leader. if that sentiment continues not much will get done. number 2, the hopes and dreams and aspirations of some sitting senators who want to replace barack obama in the white house that will get in a way of a lot of legislation. people's personal ambitions will get in the way of certain agendas in the senate. thirdly, if this republican senate is intent on spending all of its time trying to one 2 obamacare which has already been upheld in the court system we will have a real waste of time and money and that energy in this town so for those reasons and others i am not very hopeful about what will come out of this congress and your first question was about the white house. i believe, peter knows what this is for because i am of broadcaster and talk-show host i never believed in of waiting answering a question. my job is to ask people questions listed you were on my show and i ask you a question i want you to enter. i never run from a question. i say that as a preface because last

mr. mcconnell is the same mitch mccome who said his number one job was to defeat rack obama.rity leader. if that sentiment continues not much is going to get done. number one. number two te hopes and dreams and aspiration moves sitting senators who want to replace barack obama in the house is going to get in the way of a lot of legislation just people's personal amibitions naked amibitions go together get in the way of certain agendas in the senate and thirdly if this republican senate is intent on spending its i'm trying to up do obamacare, which has been upheld in the court system we'll have a real waste of time and money and bad energy in this town. so for those three ropes -- ropes i'm not hopeful about this congress. your first question was about the white house. i'm laughing because i'm going -- i believe -- peter knows -- because i'm a broadcaster and a talk show host i neverrer ever believe in avding answering a question. my job is to ask people questions. if you were on my show and asked me and i asked you a question i'd want you to answer, so i don't ever run from a

mr. president, don't just tell us about the additions. >> mitch mcconnell made it clear this is his top prioritysion. mr. cohen how do you stop in the next 90 days? >> we are building the broadest coalition for fair trade that this country has seen including in the nafta years. we are building a coalition in the key congressional districts, the swing districts that include conservatives, environmentalists, students human rights advocates as well as labor. this will not be labor against trade. this will be the american people talking about fair trade, united with people around the world who are talking about fair trade, not corporate trade. >> he is right -- >> it seems the president has come around a little bit. go ahead -- >> larry is right. i think the american people have had experience with trade agreements and it has not been good. the more we can build a coalition. but the first step is fast track. that is to allow a clean up or down vote on a trade agreement without any real input without any amendments without a full debate of all those sectors that are really impacted and i think will t

mr. mcconnell started the session by noting that the uptick in our economy resulted from the mere expectation of a republican congress. it is good to know that after so many apocalyptic predictions that we have enough progress that some republican leadership is claiming credit for all the things they said would hurt or hinder the economy that had, in fact, helped it significantly. one of the areas that we have not seen progress in that we need to see is the fact that not all americans are insured. this is not by accident. the data is remarkable that we have the widest wealth gap in decades. compensation for chief executive officers at american corporations was about 20 times that of the typical worker back in the 1960's. in more recent years, it has become about 300 times the typical worker's pay. since 1979, worker productivity increased by 65% but worker wages remain flat. ceo pay grew by almost 1000%. i think that this income inequality has same of the effects on economic growth in our country. as does discrimination against certain groups __ ggender discrimination, for example. claiming t

i want to thank the speaker, and leader mcconnell as well as mr. reid and nancy pelosi.me of these folks i haven't seen. i haven't had an opportunity to wish them happy new year. to the speaker, i just want to point out i said there were going to be things we agree on having a college football playoff is clearly something we can agree on. when i came into office, i think it turned out pretty well particularly for ohio. i want to congratulate the ohio state buckeyes for their outstanding victory. and commend organ as well for fielding a great -- commend or -- i want to talk to the leadership about how we can keep the progress going that we are seeing, particularly in our economy. the latest job report indicates that the recovery continues to move in a robust fashion. we have now created 58 straight months of private-sector job growth. about 11 million jobs created in the private sector, unemployment rate has come down faster than any time in several decades. we are seeing the strongest job growth overall as well manufacturing since the 1990's. we are producing more energy

i want to thank the speaker and leader mcconnell as well as durbin filling in for mr. reid and nancy pelosi and all the leadership here today. first of all, some of these folks i haven't seen so i had an opportunity to wish them happy new year. to the speaker i want to point out i said there are going to be some things we agree on. having a college football playoff is clearly something that we can agree on. i call for it. when i came into office i think it turned out pretty well particularly for ohio so i want to congratulate the ohio state buckeyes for their outstanding victory. and commend oregon as well for fielding a great team because their quarterback is from my original home state of hawaii and i also want to just talk to all the leadership about how we can keep the progress going that we're seeing particularly in our economy. the latest job report indicates that the recovery continues to move in a robust fashion. we've now created 58 straight months of private sector job growth. about 11 million jobs created in the private sector. unemployment rates come down f

i want to thank the speaker and leader mcconnell as well as dick durbin filling in for mr.nancy pelosi and the leadership here today. first of all, some of these folks i haven't seen so i've had an opportunity to wish them happy new year. to the speaker i want to point out, i said there will be some things we agree on. having a college football playoff is clearly something we can agree on. i called for it. when i came into office. i think it turned out well, particularly for ohio. i want to congratulate ohio state buckeyes for their outstanding victory. and commend oregon as well for fielding a great team because their quarterback is from my original home state of hawaii. and i also want to just talk to all this leadership about how we can keep the progress going that we're seeing, particularly in our economy. the latest job report indicates that the recovery continues to move in a robust fashion. we've now created 58 straight months of private sector job growth. about 11 million jobs created in the private sector. unemployment rates come down faster than any time in severa