mr. reed: thank you, madam president. madam president, the senate needs to do everything it can to help create jobs, improve our economy and address the basic needs of the average american. unfortunately, many efforts to make meaningful progress on these issues have been thwarted in the last few months. specifically for the last 87 days, emergency assistance for job seekers have been blocked by gridlock. and despite the best efforts of several of my colleagues, including my colleague and friend, senator dean heller of nevada, today over 2.2 million americans are being denied assistance in what remains a very difficult economy. but i'm pleased to say that a group of five republicans and five democrats have reached a principal compromise to end this impasse and help get people back on their feet. indeed, senators heller, merkley, collins, booker, portman, brown, murkowski, durbin and kirk have introduced a bill to continue emergency unemployment insurance for five months retroactive from december 28. as i have advocated, th

mr. reed: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: madam president, i just want to thank all my colleagues for this very strong bipartisan vote to move a step closer to restoring unemployment insurance benefits for over two million americans. i particularly want to thank senator heller whose leadership from the beginning has been instrumental. senator collins, whose leadership, wise counsel, thoughtful proposals have been one of the really strong forces sustaining our efforts throughout. senator portman, who has consistently thought about progressive changes for our training program so that people are better prepared for jobs, senator murkowski for her support and senator kirk, both of them valuable contributors. but all of my colleagues today who came forward, this is not the end of the story, but it's an important step forward for, again, over two million americans who are looking desperately forward, who need the benefits and will contribute to our economy. with that, mr. president, i will yield the floor. madam president, i w

where was the school superintendent, mr. reed? >> this was a man who was responsible and respected, didn't seem the sort to just take off without telling anyone. as the search continues, police make a startling discovery. >> so your missing person case has back homicide? >> correct. and it was like, wow. life with crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis is a daily game of "what if's". what if my abdominal pain and cramps come back? what if the plane gets delayed? what if i can't hide my symptoms? what if? but what if the most important question is the one you're not asking? what if the underlying cause of your symptoms is damaging inflammation? for help getting the answers you need, talk to your doctor and visit crohnsandcolitisinfo.com to get your complimentary q&a book, with information from experts on your condition. it's on. in this corner, the newcomer citrus lime sirloin! and in this corner, chicken & shrimp tequila tango! 2 of the best, now on applebee's famous 2 for $20 menu. applebee's. see you tomorrow. so, if you're what

mr. reed: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today to urge my colleagues to support the bipartisan agreement that i have reached with five of our colleagues from across the aisle. senators heller, collins, portman, murkowski and kirk, to provide emergency unemployment insurance to 2.7 million americans. this commonsense bipartisan agreement is one of the main things the senate should do to help create jobs and strengthen our economic recovery so that it works for every american, so everyone has a fair shot. so i hope my colleagues will join with us and pass this bill quickly so it can be taken up for a vote in the house. the individual and economic consequences from the lapse of these unemployment insurance funds are very clear. i have described many times, my colleagues have come to the floor many times and indicated the individual cases where people who have worked for years find themselves without a job through no fault of their own, desperately needing some modest assistance, and these benefits are about $3

mr. reed.t: we strongly support education reform, specifically standards-based education reform. we are not big fans of common core, primarily because of the way it is laid out and we think some of the standards that have been offered by common core are off-base. we don't want a national curriculum, frankly. we don't have a problem with standards and saying that everybody ought to be able to read and write and everybody ought to be able to add and subtract and perform basic skills, including at this point computer skills and internet skills, but we are not excited about that being imposed at the national level. in any event, even though it is not as popular as it was, maybe 10, 15 years ago, we do belief that students should be tested. we do believe -- we do not think they should be over tested. we do not think they should be taught merely to test. but if we are spending all this money on education, and in the district of columbia, it is over $30,000 per student, we ought to know whether or not

in fact, as mr. reed said, there are 37 changes to the law. september 24, september 26, october 23, november 14 there were seven more changes to the law. on november 22, november 21, 22nd, january 1, november 27, the 30th of november, december 12, december 19, december 23. and then, secretary sebelius, you were on fox news and assured the american people who are watching fox news at the time that they would be no more delays. yet on january 10 of this year another delay. genuine 14th another delay. then they portend another delay. are there any further delays? community promised to the american people today, another promise, madam secretary, that there will be no more delays to the so-called affordable care act? >> we will continue to put out regulation -- >> can you make a promise -- >> as we go through this act, and i would like an opportunity to correct some of the i think the statements. we did -- >> will there be further delays? >> there are no planned delays in the law. >> you consult with a just when you, pardon me, do you consult with

you work for us, mr. reed. but things got particularly h t heated at a house over sight hearing this week one after lois lerner again refused to talk about the obama administration's targeting of tea party conservatives the hearing was called to an end by the republicans microphones were turned off and congressman cummings continued to speak. don't forget this dig at republicans. >> but for many of them i call them legislative arsonists they are there to burn down what we should be building up>> i don't remember it ever being this bad. they sound like a bunch of spoiled brats who simply pleneeo grow up. >> come on. we'll take you right here right now. >> shut up,ity i don't do. >> more ron. >> butt sniffer. >> puss licker. >> they never changed the long standing filibuster rule just for the satisfaction of getting even now. but folks, buckle up, it's only going to get worse. the 2014 elections are right around the corner. but you shouldn't worry, just be happy. the although you might be stressing about your job

mr. reed: thank you, mr. speaker. thank you to chairman brady for yielding the time. mr. speaker, i rise today to talk about the very important issue that this bill is here to address. we have at the end of the month a cliff where our providers under medicare are going -- we are looking at a 24% cut in their reimbursement for caring for our seniors. and what are we doing today? the other side is engaging in political theater rather than deal with the issue at hand. we have an opportunity, mr. speaker, an opportunity to fix a problem out of washington, d.c., that's been repeatingly -- repeatedly coming up since 2003, and do it on a long-term permanent basis. we have spent minor patches in the doc fix over that period of time, $150 billion. today we have an opportunity through the bipartisan work on the policy that will resolve this issue once and for all to do it at a cost of $138 billion. that would take care of this threat to our seniors and to the doctors that are providing for them on a permanent basis. it's the right thing to do. so what is the argument over? how are

mr. reed: thank you, madam president. there is absolutely no doubt that when a sexual assault occurs in a military unit, when a service member is a victim or a perpetrator of sexual assault, then we've all failed. it's not just the military chain of command, it's all of us. and that's why the efforts of senator mccaskill and senator gillibrand has been so critical and so important. they've galvanized this debate, they've forced action when action wasn't being taken. and now the question is: what is the pathway forward that's going to achieve what we all want to do, a reduction of sexual abuse in the military forces? mr. reed: i expressed before concerns with the approach that senator gillibrand's taken because i firmly believe, based on experience in the active military, that leadership has to be involved in every stage -- recruitment, training, evaluation, promotion and retention. and when we take the commanders out of any of these steps, we diminish their effectiveness in every one of these

mr. reed: thank you very much, mr. president. i rise this morning to join my colleagues in calling for action to address climate change. this is a global challenge that has far-reaching consequences for our economy our public health and our national security. i first want to begin by thanking my colleague, senator schatz who's here with us, senator whitehouse, my colleague from rhode island, senator boxer, members of the senate climate task force for their leadership and for bringing so many of our colleagues to the floor last evening and through the early hours of this morning to call attention to this critical issue of climate change. this issue is daunting and difficult. one reason it's so daunting and difficult is that it is a slow-moving crisis. we are often faulted for not responding to critical issues before us but we are certainly faulted for not responding for those who have responded over the many months and years. the nature of our attention span and political process and other issues crowd out these potential issues.

mr. wallin-reed with another detective in another spot. officers, ambulances, helicopters coming in.hat night. >> narrator: deputies led by sergeant faye. listen to his account of the chase. >> they started shining the spotlight back at me. and then the next thing i know, there's all these muzzlel flashes. >> do you think they were fighting on you? >> yeah, they were firing back at me. >> narrator: but some of the other detectives were out here in the meadow looking for the weapon or weapons. those young men must have fired at chad. they searched the car and they searched around the car. they looked all around the meadow. they found nothing. but then it's a big meadow and those are very deep and very dark woods. some of those young men did run. they could have dumped the gun out there somewhere. but they didn't all run. >> i've got one off to the right here. left hand up. >> narrator: remember the one shot in the leg, the one whose hand they saw sticking up who was found bleeding out in the meadow? he didn't bleed out. he survived. his name is justin lewis smyth. lewis. and he is abo

mr. chairman. >> senator reed. >> admiral, he described the strategy? is it a combination of the ability to inject forces? is it something else? >> is heavily reliable -- glad -- to be able to keep someone else out and for them to have dominant influence. however, we are seeing a more global outreach. we have had successful pla andations in the gulf counter piracy operations. to their credit, they have got significant forces deployed today. a number of ships and airplanes in support of the lost malaysian airliner. we are seeing a longer -- longer deployments and longer out of area deployments by the submarines. i don't know that is something that should alarm us. ey are going to need a bigger navy and bigger assets to ensure that their security is maintained. >> they have been very active in submarine construction. they have got a fairly extensive fleet, both ballistic missile submarines and attack submarines. we're building more. are you noticing a surge in terms of their submarine capabilities ahead of surface ships? they have a, credible submarine fo

senate, we might as well shut down because nothing is getting through the senate right now with mr. reedtion. our job in the house of representatives, this is the people's house. we are supposed to be the spokespeople for the people of the united states. if we don't stand up, if we don't dig our heels in, who is going to do it, tucker? there's no firewall other than the house of representatives if we have to do that. >> the president switched topics here, the president's new budget would cut a lot from the u.s. military. one veterans group estimates that top average army sergeant, for example, would see about a $5,000 cut to his pay. and yet at this exact moment the president is saying we need to reduce military spending. jetting around the country spending tens of millions of dollars on air force one. your and my airplane raising money for the democratic party? how does that work? >> well, it doesn't work. again, other than fox, there's not a lot of people putting this message out there. i just read this article that said we are beating our swords into food stamps. we are expanding prog

mr. president, the senator jack reed of rhode island, senator elizabeth warren of massachusetts and i are putting together a package of bills. we're going to address this issue from a lot of different perspectives. there is no reason why a college student should sign up for a private loan with higher interest rates and worse conditions for payback when they are still eligible for government loans which are more flexible and lower interest rates, yet some of these irresponsible schools steer their kids into private loans. the kids don't know any better. neither do their parents. secondly, they end up loaning money to these students and to their families, that they will never, ever, ever be able to pay back. jack reed says they ought to have some skin in the game. at some point, if they have overextended in loans, they ought to have to eat some of those losses, where the students can't pay it back. and senator warren, elizabeth warren, is tackling the even bigger issue about refinancing college loans. what's it all about? i see senator stabenow on the floor today. it's about giving a fair s

reed. senator wicker. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thanks to both of our witnesses today. let me try to be brief. publish general selva, i want to talk about moving c130js. but let me say that the dod wants to do another background, and often we hear defense officials say, not going to be like the 2005 background. they say our days of spending lots of money just moving things around that won't result in financial savings, those dies are over. yet with the air force plans to shut down the 815th airlift squadron and their active duty partners, the 345th airlift squadron, and move the squadron of c 30j air craft from the air force base. i guess the official announcement came yesterday. i have a news report from wlox, biloxi, mississippi, which says the air force base will lose ten aircraft under proposed cuts. the air force reserve command plans to transfer the ten c130j aircraft to the newly reactivated 9 3rd airlift group in little rock. first, i -- i am willing to work with the air force in making overall savings. every senate is going to defend its own -- our own bases. b

mr. hastings? guest: i do expect the fcc to look at this. i think they were looking at this before reed hastings spoke. i have tremendous confidence in the fcc and in the current leadership of the fcc. i think we will be able to make a case along the lines i just made in response to peter's question that this is not a place where government intervention is helpful or necessary. terms of mr. hastings, i have a huge amount of respect for him, he built an amazing business. he is a great partner of comcast. i think he would say that comcast is a great partner of his because of it were not for comcast and the cable industry, and the investments we made in broadband, netflix would not be as successful as netflix has enabled us to sell more subscriptions. but with his argument, with all due respect, on this issue is hogwash. it has nothing to do with access to the internet. that has nothing to do with net neutrality. it is not a matter of stronger net neutrality which is what he talked about. the transit market is intensely competitive. there are 40 companies who are out there selling access t

reed. >> well, thank you very much, mr. chairman, and thank you all for your willingness to serve, your current service, governor powell. dr. fischer, let me ask you a question, and this is from your perspective as not a member of the fed, but as one of the most respected experts in financial institutions and policy. where in the current debate of whether we should apply bank-like capital standards developed in dodd-frank with the assumption that they apply to bank holding companies to some very large insurance companies which may be classified as systemically important and, therefore, fall within this characterization? just in terms of the nature of an insurance company and the nature of the bank, are these identical or virtually identically appropriate or should there be a variation? >> senator, they're clearly not identical activities, and there are differences in how they run their portfolios with the insurance companies trying to match their liabilities rather than fundamentally being based on maturity transformation w

the clerk: nomination, christopher reed cooper of the district of columbia to be united states district judge. mr. reid: i send a cloture motion to the desks. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion: 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 debate on the nomination of christopher reeve cooper of the district of columbia to be united states district gunnel for the district of columbia signed by 1 senators as follows: reid of nevada -- mr. reid: i ask that the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: question is on the motion to proceed. all in favor say aye. all opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have t the motion is agreed to. mr. reid: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 582. the

mr. reid: i ask consent that during the adjournment or recess, the senate from thursday, march 13 through monday, march 24, senators king, reed of rhode island, rockefeller and casey be authorized to sign duly enrolled bills or joint resolutions. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent, madam president, that that -- i have a brief statement here. i know everyone is excited to hear, but everyone should be advised that when we return after next week, there is so much, so much to do. we need to pass the ukrainian bill that the foreign relations reported yesterday. we have a new bipartisan unemployment insurance compromise introduced today that was put together by a group of bipartisan senators. we have the s.g.r., the called doc fix to prevent a 24% cut to medicare payments to doctors, which will be extremely hurtful to patients. we have to do that. we have a backlog of nominations we have to do. and everyone should understand that i hope it's not necessary, but because of the enormous amount of work we have to do this month, senators should be on notice, all senators that there is a high prob