mr. mcconnell: and mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the appointments at the desk appear separately in the record as if made by the chair. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: and mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn to then convene for pro forma sessions only with no business being conducted on the following dates and times and that following each pro forma session, the senate adjourn until the next pro forma session. monday february 16 at 4:45 p.m. thursday february 19 at 10:00 a.m. i further ask that the senate adjourn on thursday, february 19, until 3:00 p.m. monday february 23 and that following the prayer and pledge, the morning business be deemed expired, the journals of proceedings be approved to date and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day. i ask that following leader remarks, senate hoeven be recognized to deliver washington's farewell address. further, that following th

mr. mcconnell proposes amendment number 268. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the pending amendment be agreed to, the bill as amended be read a third time and the senate vote on message of the bill and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table without any intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. mcconnell: i ask that the chair --. the presiding officer: the question is on passage of the bill as amended. all in favor say aye. opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the bill as amended is passed. mr. mcconnell: i ask that the chair lay before the senate the house message accompanying h.r. 240. the presiding officer: the chair lays before the senate the following message. the clerk: resolves that the house disagree to the amendment of the senate to the bill h.r. 240 an act making appropriations for the department of homeland security and so forth and for other purposes and ask a conference with the senate on the disa

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the chair recognizes the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to h.r. 240. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report. 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: mr. president i understand there is a bill at the desk that is due a second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bill for the second time. the clerk: h.r. 596 an act to repeal the patient protection and affordable care act and health care-related provisions and health care and education reconciliation act of 2010, 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: objection having been heard the bill will be placed on the calendar. mr. m

mr. mcconnell: mr. president i thank my friend and colleague from iowa. i will be very brief and his remarks, as he indicated will not be interrupted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: mr. president i ask unanimous consent the foreign relations committee be discharged from further consideration of s. res. 65 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 65, supporting efforts to bring an end to violence perpetrated by boko haram and urging the government of nigeria to conduct transparent, peaceful and credible elections. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection the committee is discharged and the -- discharged. mr. mcconnell: i further ask the menendez objection to the resolution be agreed to. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i know of no further debate on this measure. the presiding officer: is there further debate? hearing none, all in favor say aye. al

mr. mcconnell, mr. boehner on their respective sides might get them to ultimately approve something that doesn't include immigration? how will it happen? >> guest: you know one of the ways it could potentially happen is if leadership decides to try to convince the right wing and the rank and file that the better way to fight this is through the courts. remember, we saw this texas district judge last week rule that the president moved unlawfully by taking these 2014 executive actions. now that the administration is trying to stay this texas judge's decision, it's going to go to the appellate level. potentially, the republicans could have a chance of winning this in the courts so maybe they could say, hey, you know what? we don't have the votes in congress, let's try to fight this in the courts where we have a better chance of reining the president in. the problem is those judicial proceedings are going to take months maybe years. so i don't know how effective of an argument that's going to be in the shor

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings on the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: mr. president i appreciate our democratic colleagues joining us in proceeding to the house-passed bill. i've spoken with the democratic leader and my colleagues on the republican side and commit to offering an amendment to the house bill to fullyily fund the department of homeland security while addressing the president's executive actions on a separate adjacent track through consideration of the collins bill. when the senate proceed to h.r. 240, become offer a clean substitute and work to expedite consideration of the bill as amended to get it back over to the house this week. i would welcome bipartisan cooperation to pass the d.h.s. funding bill as well as the commonsense collins bill. mr. reid: mr. president? th

mr. mcconnell: now mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until 10:00 a.m. tuesday, february 10. that following the prayer andning hour deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders are reserved for their use later in the day. following leader remarks the senate be in a period of morning business until 12:30 p.m. with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each and the first hour be equally divided with the democrats controlling the first half the republicans controlling the final half. i further ask that the senate recess from 12:30 until 2:15 to allow for the weekly conference meetings. the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: reserving the right to object. may i have one -- the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: there appears as yet to be no republican plan whatsoever to answer the energy chairman's question on climate change: what do w

mr. mcconnell: now mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until:30 a.m. wednesday -- until 9:30 a.m. wednesday february 4. 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 leader remarks the senate be in a period of morning business until 12:30 equally divided with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each, following morning business the senate recess until 2:00 p.m. to allow for the bipartisan conference meetings meetings. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until forge these bipartisan leaderships.ent, i >> mr. president, may i come to the floor to call for a vote against the motion to pro

mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: senator alexander and senator enzi are here on the floor. i wanted to briefly address the nominee we'll be voting on this afternoon and then turn to the matter that the three of us wish to address. today the senate's going to vote on the nomination of michael bottocelli to be the next director of the national drug control policy i look forward to working with our nation's next drug czar, just as i have with previous drug czars. drug abuse is a serious problem in my home state. kentucky is the fifth highest proscribing state when it come to painkillers and we have the nation's third highest drug overdose mortality rate with many deaths driven by prescription painkillers. heroin abuse is also a problem in the bluegrass state. heroin deaths accounted for 32% of the drug overdoses back in 2013 and they continue to climb. the epicenter of the heroin problem is located in the northern region across the railroad from cincinnati although i'm hearing more and more from scich went tha

mr. mcconnell: therefore mr. president, the cloture vote on the motion to proceed will occur at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow morning. if there's no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order following the remarks of senator stabenow and senator sessions. the presiding officer: without objection. the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. sessions: mr. president are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we're not. the senator from alabama. mr. sessions: i would ask -- well we're in a odd world. our democratic colleagues continue to have the gall to suggest and state that the republicans are blocking funding for homeland security in america when nothing could be further from the truth. they've gotten away i guess with blaming republicans for blocking things, they just keep on saying it. but the house has fully funded all the legal policies and programs within homeland security and they've sent the bill over here. what did they do? they simply said, you

mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that following leader remarks the time until 10:00 a.m. this morning be equally divided in the usual form. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask that the mandatory quorum with respect to the cloture motion on the motion to proceed to s. 534 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that there be two minutes of debate equally divided before each vote. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: now madam president, this morning the senate will complete work on a bill to fund the department of homeland security and then we'll turn to senator collins' bill, commonsense legislation that would protect our democracy from the egregious example of executive overreach we saw in november. it actually, in my view, deserves broad support. remember president obama said more than 20 times he couldn't take those kinds of actions. he even referred to overreach like that as -- quot

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: for two weeks now the democrats have continued to filibuster funding of the department of homeland security. they -- they are filibustering homeland security fudge for one loan reason, to defendant actions president obama himself referred to as -- quote -- "unwise and unfair" -- end quote and -- quote -- "ignoring the law" -- end quote. for two full weeks democrats have prevented the senate from even considering legislation to fund the department of homeland security. democrats won't allow the senate to even debate this funding. democrats won't allow the senate to even consider amendments to this funding. democrats appear willing to do anything and everything they can to prevent the senate from taking any action to fund homeland security. and all to defend unwise and unfair -- the president's words, not mine -- overreach. this includes democrats who claim to be against overreach and claim to be for funding the department of homeland security and yet these democrats continue

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to h.r. 240. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. 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: mr. president? the presiding officer: majority leader. mr. mcconnell: it's good to see the new senate come together and pass another bipartisan bill just yesterday. it was a win for our nation's heroes and it was yet another win for the american people. but that was the, that was only one of the votes we took. because just hours after joining republicans to do something good for our veterans, democrats voted to block funding for the department of homeland security. it was enough to give anyone whiplash. and now americans are wondering what could possibly lead democrats to filibuster homeland security funding. the legislation democrats are filibustering would fund the department of homeland

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the president pro tempore: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the president pro tempore: without objection. the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask 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: mr. president i understand there are two bills at the desk due a second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the titles of the bills for the second time. the clerk: s. 338, a bill to permanently reauthorize the land and water conservation fund. s. 339, a bill to appeal the patients protection and affordable care act and the health care reconciliation act of

mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: in just a few minutes, democrats will have another opportunity to end the weeks-long filibuster of homeland security. it will be the first opportunity our friends on the other side have to show where they stand after a federal judge preliminarily enjoined the administration from moving ahead with actions president obama himself referred to as -- quote -- ignoring the law. ignoring the law --quote unquote -- president obama said that just over a year ago. the point is it's time to allow this homeland security funding measure to come to the floor. democrats say they want the ability to amend d.h.s. funding legislation but then they keep voting to block their own ability to offer amendments. it just doesn't make any sense madam president. so in a few moments we'll give our democratic friends another opportunity to reconsider. they can vote to allow the senate to debate the homeland security funding bill. they can vote to allow the senate to consider amendments from both sides a

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the president pro tempore: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to h.r. 240. the president pro tempore: the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 5 h.r. 240, aen act making a eption pros for the department of homeland security for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2015, and for other purposes. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the president pro tempore: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: last night i joined members of both parties to recognize the latest bipartisan achievement for the american people. the clay hunt act which will provide important support to our nation's veterans passed the house and senate with overwhelming bipartisan support. it's on its way to president obama's desk right now and i'm confident he'll sign it. and today the house of representatives is expected to pass yet another bipartisan bill for him to sign, the keystone jobs bill. it is just common sense. that's why this bipartisan legislation that already passed the senate with support from both parties. that's why la

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i understand there are two bills at the desk due a second reading. the presiding officer: the senator is correct. the clerk will read the titles of the bills for the second time. the clerk: s. 534, a bill related to immigration and for other purposes. s. 535 a bill to promote energy efficiency. mr. mcconnell: in order to place the bills on the calendar under the provisions of rule 14 i will object to proceeding en bloc. the presiding officer: objection having been heard the bills will be placed on the calendar. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to h.r. 240. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to proceed. the clerk: motion to proceed to the consideration of 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: mr. president the congress is sending the president of the united states another piece of bipartisan legislation today. americans of both pa

mr. mcconnell the leader of the senate and the speaker of the house, john boehner, want to have a vote on whether what i'm doing is legal or not. they can have that vote. i will veto that vote i'm confident that what we are doing is the right thing to do. >> president obama was also asked to respond to probable presidential contender jeb bush. bush, the republican front-runner said is that the president over stepped his authority with immigration plans. >> i appreciate mr. bush being concerned about immigration reform. i suggest that what he do is talk to the speaker of the house and the members of his party. because the fact of the matter is. that that even after we pass bipartisan legislation in the senate, i gave the republicans a year and a half a year and a half to just call the bill. we had the votes. they would not do it. and then the notion that well, you know if you just had not taken the executive actions, if you have not done it, maybe we voted for it. that does not make sense. that's an excuse. >> all right, that fight continues we will obviously be covering it over the next t

mr. mcconnell, the leader of the senate and the speaker of the house john boehner, want to have a vote on whether what i'm sdog is legal or not, they can have that vote. i will veto that vote because i'm confident what we are doing is the right thing to do. >> at one point president obama challenged 2016 front-runner jeb bush could do more to help pass immigration reform. >> i appreciate mr. bush being concerned about immigration reform. i would suggest that what he do is talk to the speaker of the house and the members of his party because the fact of the matter is that that even after we pass bipartisan legislation in the senate i gave the republicans a year and a half a year and a half to just call the bill, we this votes. they wouldn't do it. >> now the rmc tweeted, obama was against his immigration action before he was for it and said at least 25 times he didn't have the authority. six minutes past the hour etc. let's get down business right now, good morning. >> hey, betty, good morning to you. united airlines is warning the pilots on concentrating on safety procedures. they sited f

mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: can we have order, madam president. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. mr. mcconnell: i enter a motion to reconsider the vote. the presiding officer: the motion is entered. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to period of morning business with senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. the presiding officer: is there an objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. isakson: madam president? mr. isakson: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from georgia. mr. isakson: i ask the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. isakson: i rise for a minute to talk about trade between the united states and our trading partners around the world. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. mr. isakson: to make the point of my remarks i ask rhetorically for everybody in the auditorium and the senate chamber for a second to answer the question. are you willing to cut american sales by good

mr. mcconnell the leader of the senate and the speaker of the house john boehner want to have a vote on whether what i'm doing is legal or not, they can have that vote. i will veto that vote because i'm actually confident that what we're doing is the right thing to do. >> at one point president obama challenged potential 2016 front-runner jeb bush to do more to pass immigration reform. >> i appreciate mr. bush being concerned about immigration reform. i would suggest that what he do is talk to the speaker of the house and the members of his party. because the fact of the matter is that even after we pass bipartisan legislation in the senate i gave the republicans a year and a half -- a year and a half to just call the bill. we had the votes. they wouldn't do it. >> the rnc tweeted, "obama was against his immigration action before he was for it said at least 25 times he didn't have the authority." >>> all right. you may be tired of winter but one dog from alabama enjoying the cold here while she can. this pup is lulu from alabama, got to play in the snow after several inches fell in her hometown

mr. mcconnell: mr.president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to h.r. 240. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. 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: mr. president yesterday president obama took the extreme step of vetoing good american jobs. he sided with partisan extremists and powerful special interests over the middle class. it says a lot about the priorities of this administration but if the white house thinks this is the end of the new congress push for american jobs, it's wrong. i'll soon have more to say about this and what the senate plans to do. but for the moment the senate is focused on overcoming another extreme idea, the democrats' homeland security filibuster to defend executive overreach. many senate democrats led their constituents to believe they'd do something

mr. mcconnell: mr.president? i move to proceed to h.r. 240. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: motion to proceed to tar calendar 5 h.r. 240, an act making appropriations for the department of homeland security for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2015 is and for other purposes. mr. mcconnell: mr. president later today the senate will consider the nomination of ash carter to be the next secretary of defense. if i could place one demand on him, it would be to leave his successor with our armed forces in a better position to deal with global threats than they are today. as i've noticed -- noted in the past the overall consequence of many of the president's policies has been to weaken our ability to confront al qaeda and its affiliates the taliban and associated groups. the president's inflexibility to campaign promises made in 2008 as made to withdrawals from afghanistan, a rushed withdrawal from iraq, and executive orders to close guantanamo and send detainees back hom

mr. mcconnell: in just a few minutes, democrats will have another opportunity to end the weeks-long filibuster of homeland security. it will be the first opportunity our friends on the other side have to show where they stand after a federal judge >> in just a few minutes democrats will have another opportunity to end the weeklong filibuster of homeland security. it will be the first opportunity or friends on the other side have to show where they stand after a federal judge preliminary enjoined the administration for moving ahead at present, referred to as quote ignoring the law. ignoring the law quote unquote president obama said that over year ago. the point is it's time to allow the homeland security measure to come to the floor. democrats say they want to amend dhs funding legislation that they vote to block their own ability to offer amendments. it just doesn't make any sense that a presence on a few moments we will give our democratic friends an opportunity to reconsider they can vote to allow the senate to debate the homeland security funding bill. they can vote to allow the senate to

mr. mcconnell, mr.boehner on the respective sides might get them to ultimately approve something that doesn't include immigration. how will it happen? guest: one of the ways it could potentially happen is if the leadership decides to convince the right wing and the rank-and-file that the better way to fight this is through the courts. remember, we saw this texas district judge last week ruled that the president moved unlawfully by taking these 2014 executive action. now the administration is trying to stay that -- that texas judges decision. it will go to the appellate level. potentially, a republicans could have a chance of winning this in the court. maybe they could say, you know what? we don't have the votes in congress, so let's try to fight is in the courts were we have a better chance of running the president in. the problem is, there's judicial proceedings are going to take months, maybe years. i don't know how effective of an argument that is going to be in the short term but a lot of this conse

mr. mcconnell, the leader of the senate, and the speaker of the house, john boehner, want to have a vote on whether what i'm doing is legal or not, they can have that vote. i will veto that vote. because i'm absolutely confident that what we're doing is the right thing to do. [ applause ] >> president obama tonight daring republicans to take a vote, specifically on blocking him on immigration, saying, quote, i will veto that. if it passes. the president tonight also showing a little bit of temper when jose and the questioners at this town hall repeatedly questioned whether president obama himself and the democratic party, not just the republicans, but the democrats, too, could have done more to try to get immigration fixed. >> owen from houston said, why do the democrats and gop play political ping-pong when american families suffer as a result. >> wait, wait, wait. i appreciate the applause. let me just say, that's just not true. the notion that democrats and republicans play political ping-pong. democrats have consistently stood on the side of comprehensive immigration reform. [ applau

mr. mcconnell not running the senate like he should be? harry reid we need them to take the gloves off and start working on it. >> ok, jeff. comment on mitch mcconnell. politico who tweets, mcconnell said little about the way forward on d.h.s. this morning. he said it's good to see democrats finally bring an end to their weeks-long filibuster. another tweet from nancy pelosi. under the republican homeland security shut down, 169,000 d.h.s. employees would have to work without pay. again the current spending measure expires at midnight friday. looks like the senate will pass a clean measure without any immigration riders. garfield, new jersey republican callers only. go ahead. caller: good morning. a comment, two days ago, tuesday morning, we heard senator barbara boxer on the senate floor saying how criticizing the republicans debate on this immigration, the immigration riders to the homeland security funding, was an unrelated issue and should be taken up separately from funged homeland security. well, my comment is when the president and t

mr. mcconnell, the leader of the senate, and the speaker of the house, john boehner, want to have a votewhether what i'm doing is legal or not, they can have that vote. i will veto that vote. because i'm absolutely confident that what we're doing is the right thing to do. [ applause ] in the meantime, we're going to continue to pursue all legal avenues to make sure that we have a country in which we are respecting not only the law, because we're a nation of laws, but we're also respecting the fact that we're a nation of immigrants. i'm confident that ultimately people who have been living here for a long time, who have roots here, oftentimes have u.s. citizen children here, or legal resident children here, that they reserve to have an opportunity and that's what we want to provide. [ speaking spanish ] [ speaking spanish ] >> one of the most important things people need to know, and this didn't get enough attention when i made my announcement last year. in addition to expanding daca, in addition to creating the daca program for the parents of dreamers, what we also did was we said, we're

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to h.r. 240. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. 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: mr. president many americans have already started a the process of filling out their tax returns much it is a stressful time of year. thanks to obamacare many are sure 20 to find it even more stressful due to obamacare's million-plus dollars of tax increases. if you have health insurance obama hasobamacare has a tax for that. if you don't obamacare has a fax for that. and if your coverage is deemed too generous or not generous enough obamacare has a fax for you. some of these taxes are paid by consumers directly, others are passed alopping in the form of higher premiums, increased costs, and lost opportunities. but many fall on the shoulders of the middle class. and there's more to the is

mr. mcconnell the leader of the senate and the speaker of the house, john boehner, want to have a vote onhether what i'm doing is rel or not. they can have that vote. i'll veto that vote because i'm confident -- [ applause ] >> what we're doing is the right thing to do. >> president obama yesterday's town hall meeting on immigration challenging republican leadership to put his executive action legislation to a vote. joining me now for the daily fix, chris cillizza and managing editor of postpolitics.com and ruth marcus and alan gomez, immigration reporter for "usa today." i want your reaction to the town hall. president obama trying to put the pressure on republicans to get this passed. chris, does this strategy work? we're not seeing a whole lot of outreach from the white house. we're seeing them put the pressure in terms of the president going on the road and taking his message to the public. >> i don't think it's surprising. i don't know if it will work kristen. i think what he's trying to do is say, look republicans, the ball is in your court. we can do this the hard way or easy way.

mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that the previous order with respect to h.r. 203 be modified so thatthe senate proceed to the consideration of h.r. 203 at 11:00 a.m. on tuesday, february 2 2005 with all other provisions of the order being in effect. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: for the information of my colleagues this moves the vote on the clay hunt suicide prevention until noon tomorrow because of unfor seen weather events that have created travel problems for senators on both sides of the aisle. i move to proceed to h.r. 240. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to proceed. 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 ask unanimous consent the senate now be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: let me say first i want to welcome back our colleague, the m

mr. mcconnell.ividuals have purposefully strategically blocked the president on everything he has tried to do. they apparently set aside time after the election to strategize to put him in a lock hold, so he could not do anything legislatively. this sounds to me like terrorism within our own government. host: wall street journal headline this morning, gop leaders appear out of sync. the story this morning about senator majority leader mcconnell. rick in sydney, ohio, a republican. caller: i just basically have a small statement. i am a proud veteran. i spent four years in supreme headquarters in your. i want people to realize, the internet is a globally distributed network. ww w stands for "world wide web." it does not stand for u.s. controlled or anything, so i feel like the government should not have anything to do with running the internet. the internet should be the way it is right now. i do not believe the government is letting us know things that we need to know, they are not transparent. that

mr. mcconnell: so, mr. president, if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order following the remarks of senators moran cardin, and stabenow. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. moran: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. moran: mr. president thank you. i want to comment on an interview that was published yesterday, quoting the president sms in an interview published yesterday the president spoke about a number of issues facing the united states. and during that interview, he had commentary on terrorism and he referenced the january attacks in paris france, from what i describe as a very concerning way. the president described the attacks in paris as -- quote -- "randomly shooting a bunch of folks in a deli." the president's perception of the hostage taking and murder of four jews in a kosher super market in that way we ought to all be concerned. when he's asked to clarify the president's comments tod

mr. mcconnell, the leader of the senatespeaker of the house john boehner want to have that vote they can do what they want. i will veto that vote because i know what we're doing is the right thing to do. >> under the bill children born in the u.s. would be allowed to stay and protect those brought in illegally when they were children, but the republicans maintain it oversteps the president's authority and threaten to block funding for the department of homeland security unless the immigration actions are repeal. >> senate democrats have stood in the way for three week over a bill that's been debated and passed. so until they do something, we're in a wait-and-see mode. >> but the president said he won't back down. >> this is going to be solved because at some point there's going to be a president rodriguez or there's going to be a president chin. the country is a nation of immigrants. >> now, of course, it's no coincidence that the president delivered his speech in florida, a state that's mostly hispanic. he told voters to ask him this question are you really going deport 11 million peopl

mr. mcconnell proposes amendment number 268. >> i ask unanimous consent the amendment be agreed to and the bill be read a third time and senate vote on passage of the bill and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table without any intervening action or debate. >> is there object objection? without objection so ordered. >> i ask that the chair -- >> the question is on passage of the bill as amend ed. the bill is amended as passed. >> i ask that the chair lay before the senate the house message accompanying h.r. 240. >> the chair lays before the senate the following message. resolved that the house disagreed to the amendment of the senate to the bill h.r. 240 an act making appropriations for the department of homeland security and so forth and for other purposes and ask a conference with the senate on the disagreeing votes of the two houses thereon. >> i move to insist upon the senate amendment agreeted request by the house for a conference and authorized the presiding officer to appoint conferees. >> the motion is pending and debatable. >> i thank all senators

speaker boehner, leader mcconnell, senator durbin, minister o'toole, general votel, mr. ambassador mr. ambassador secretary mchugh, thank you, and all of our special guests. what a wonderful afternoon it is and made possible because congressman jeff miller, the chairman of our veterans affairs committee in the house and senator jon tester introduced legislation remembering our special forces, the 1st special service force. thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, senator. we can applaud them. that would be good. goen. again. and thank you, mr. speaker for bringing us all together. it is fitting that we are gathered here in emancipation hall because the heroes we honor today helped win the fight to free the world of tyranny. for generations our northern neighbor has been vital as a trusted ally and friend to our country. the 1st special service force

mr. mcconnell the leader of the senate and the speaker of the house, john boehner, want to have a vote on whether what i'm doing is legal or not, they can have that vote. i will veto that vote because i'm absolutely confident that what we are doing is the right thing to do. >> reporter: and the president is getting some support from places that he usually doesn't. congressman peter king, they don't agree on much but, of course, he's a new yorker who was in the post- 9/11 era. he doesn't want to stop funding the department of homeland security. and so this is something that we need to do you cannot fight the immigration fight on the backs of our national security or on the backs of the men and women who do this work day in and day out and who need to pay mortgages and need to put gas in their cars. jey johnson and you heard luke just mention this he's spending a lot of time on the hill. he's going to have a press conference pressing the administration's case. jose? >> chris jansing, luke russert, thank you so much. >>> now to major developing news overseas. the answer to an international m

mr. mcconnell: i would like to say a word about a remarkable woman in the senate that we'll soon be losing. kathie alvarez the senate's legislative clerk sark bit of a celebrity. every c-span afish onin a dough knows her voice. all she has to say is "mr. alexander," "ms. ayotte," and it is instantly recognizable. kathie has been calling the roll for quite a while. she became the first woman to ever call roll in the senate. in 1999 with senator collins in the chair kathie became a member of the first all-female team to preside over this body. and in 2009 she became the senate's first female legislative clerk. so kathie alvarez has been making a lot of history since she first arrived here in 1984. and you'll notice, madam president, that every female floor staffer is paying tribute to her today. they're each wearing something with kathie's favorite design: animal print. along with the love of cajun food s.a.r.torial distinction is one thing that louisianans become known for a passion for perfection is another. kathie has maintain add laser-like focus for three decades. that's good news for t

mr. mcconnell or mr. boehner could include something that does not include immigration? guest: one of the ways it could potentially happen is is people in the leadership try to convince the rank-and-file to fight this through the courts. we saw this texas district judge last week ruled that the president moved unlawfully by taking these 2014 executive actions. now, via administration is trying to stay that texas judge's decision. that will go to the appellate level. essentially, republicans could have a chance at winning this in the courts. they may say hey, we do not have the votes in congress let's try to fight this in the courts where we have a better chance of rain in the president and. the problem is that those judicial proceedings will take months, even years. i do not know how effective of an argument it will be in the short-term when a lot of those conservatives say they are in power and promise they would fight him on immigration. they want to act right now. that core argument may not work so well. host: steve, via twitter writes, what is the historical presiden

mr. mcconnell and mr.oehner have been talking during the presidential -- that took place last week, and we have our conference tomorrow, the republican conference, and i anticipate mr. boehner giving us some options. at this point, i don't know adoptions will be. i think he will give us options. you know, i never made anything personal about the president. i think he is a good man, i just do not agree with his policies. i feel that the action he took to say to a group of individuals, who came here illegally, that now you are legal, i think that was the wrong thing to do. he had said 20 or 22 times that i do not have the authority to take this action, and that he took the action. i think it's a bad message to the american people. host: could you accept what could be a clean dhs bill? or do you want the issues tied together? guest: if they came as to separate bills -- i think there needs to be a statement by the house, and send it to. this is where i get that with my own side with war, and other things. it a

mr. mcconnell the leader of the senate, and the speaker of the house, john boehner, want to have a vote ont vote. i will veto that vote because i'm absolutely confident that what we are doing is the right thing to do. >> jose is joining us now. you've interviewed the president before. talk about the president you saw yesterday. >> yeah. it was -- i think it was an opportunity to speak at length with some detail about issues. you know having a full hour with the president of the united states on one subject, i think, lends itself to being a little bit more detailed about what he's thinking and how he is thinking. and so the fact is that he was very clear that he would veto any bill that would defund his executive actions. and it's interesting, because i think this is exactly the conversation that the president and the white house wants to have politically speaking because this is something that goes to the heart of a lot of people in the united states. the 5 1/2 million undocumented that would be benefiting under president obama's executive actions have family members. >> right. >> remember

mr. mcconnell, when is the time? the time is now. pass a bill whatever your bill is have a vote. yes or no. send it to the house and we will work it out. but this legislation, this issue demands your attention. it demands a vote. it deserves a vote. the american people need to know, they deserve to know where their elected representative in the senate stands. not just to not vote on anything. they didn't send them there to just not vote. they sent them there to make a decision. yes or no. we get it. if you want to vote no, good for you. you explain. that you want to vote yes, great. but have the vote. there's no reason to not change the rule if it gets to a vote, if it gets us to a vote and upholds the constitution. as a matter of fact, if it takes changing the rules to uphold the constitution this is me as one representative of the fourth district of pennsylvania thinks it is worth it. with that, mr. speaker, again, i ask you, what is fair? what is fair about giving this -- these bonuses to people that just received a social security card? that have been operating outside the la

mr. mcconnell: mr. president it's good to see democrats finally bring an end to their weeks' long filibuster of the homeland security funding bill. once the measure we voted on yesterday is complete the senate will consider sensible legislation from senator collins. her bill is really quite simple. it would protect our democracy from the most egregious example of executive overreach we saw back in november. it's overreach described by president obama himself as ignoring the law. senator collins' measure simply takes the president at his word and helps him follow the law instead of ignoring it. it's hard to see how any senator could oppose such a good commonsense idea. so we look forward to that vote. now on a different matter, later today the obama administration's f.c.c. will take autopsy proposal favored by the president -- take up a proposal favored by the president that would stroke a blow to the future of innovation in our country. it's the so-called net neutrality rule. the growth of the internet

talking about income equality, jeb bush has hopped on the bandwagon, too, and senator mcconnell, speaker john boehner, mr. budget cuts for the poor himself, paul ryan and the list goes on and on and on and on. all these republicans are paying lip service to inequality but they're not proposing real solutions to fix the problem. president obama is. >> our job now is to create additional tools that number one, make sure that everybody's got a baseline of support to be able to succeed in a constantly moving economy, whether it's health care that survives job loss, whether it is making sure that we have childcare that allows two working household family to prosper while still caring for their kids. having a certain baseline in terms of wages through the minimum whaj. >> raising the minimum wage tax credits for childcare. these are real policies that could help workers, and the other thing, no republican would dare mention, taxing the rich. >> how do we make sure that the folks at the very top are doing enough for their fair share? the fact of the matter is that relative to our post-war history, taxes now are

speaker boehner, leader mcconnell, senator durbin, minister o'toole, general votel mr.cretary mchugh, thank you, and all of our special guests. what a wonderful afternoon it is and made possible because congressman jeff miller, the chairman of our veterans affairs committee in the house and senator jon tester introduced legislation remembering our special forces, the 1st special service force. thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, senator. we can applaud them. [applause] that would be good. again. and thank you, mr. speaker, for bringing us all together. it is fitting that we are gathered here in emancipation hall because the heroes we honor today helped win the fight to free the world of tyranny. for generations our northern neighbor has been vital as a trusted ally and friend to our country. the 1st special service force made up of men from both the united states and canada continue that tradition. canadians and u.s. citizens, men who made their living laboring as lumberjacks and trammers, mountain mountaineirs and miners, answered the call to serve and chang