mr. reid: ask consent that the call. quarrel be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: first of all, u.a.e.ppreciate your patience in presiding over the senate at this late hour. and i want to extend my appreciation to this staff. everybody here for all their work -- about the last month it has been very, very difficult. i appreciate very, very much the professionalism that's shown here in the senate and the efforts they go to to make all of us look good. and sometimes they takes a lot of -- that takes a lost effort. i do appreciate their working so hard together. here at the desk here, that is -- if there's anything that's ever bipartisan, it's right here, republicans, democrats, and here there is no partisanship on the senate floor. step back a little bit and there is when you're away from the professional staff. but i appreciate very much your hard work. mr. president, we've tried for days now to change what the republicans and the house have tried to do to the amer

mr. reid: for the information of all senators, it is my intention to have the chair lay before the senate the house message to accompany s. 365 at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow morning, august 2. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: r. president, we do have a financial crisis in our country. the debt limit that we will be considering tomorrow is the thermometer, the canary in the coal mine that tells us we are at a dangerous level. for example, we have reached it faster and at higher levels than we ever have, the result of which is that our debt rise is telling us that we have to raise our debt limit. those things happen periodically, but this one would be the largest debt limit increase in our history, and it is a fact that we have never had such a surge. the deficit this fiscal year ending september 30, just for one year, would be $1,500 billion, $1.5 trillion, the largest deficit president bush ever had, and it was large, was was $450 billio

mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks, i'll make a motion to concur on the house message to accompany s. 365, the legislative vehicle for the debt limit compromise. the time until noon will be equally divided and controlled for debate. at noon the senate will conduct a roll call vote on the motion to concur on the house message with a 60-vote threshold. i ask unanimous consent that an intern in senator bingaman's office, trey debrian be granted floor privileges during today's session of the senate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: madam president, i now ask the chair to lay before the senate the house message took company s. 365. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. the chair lays before the senate a message from the house. the clerk: resolved that the bill from the senate, s. 365, entitled an act to make a technical amendment to the education sciences reform act

mr. reid: ask unanimous consent that the quorum call being termed. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the the senator from kentucky. mr. mcconnell: over the past few weeks congress has been engaged in a very important debate. it may have been messy, it might have appeared to some like their government wasn't working, but in fact the opposite was true. the push and pull americans saw in washington these past few weeks was not gridlock. it was the will of the people working itself out and a political system that was never meant to be pretty. you see, one reason america isn't already facing the kind of crisis we see in europe is that presidents and majority parties here can't just bring about change on a dime. as much as they might like to from time to time. that's what checks and balances is all about. and that's the kind of balance americans voted for in november. the american people sent a wave of new lawmakers to congress in last november's election with a very clear mandate: to

mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. llowing l >>> live pictures of the senate floor. they are in session. they'll be doing a little bit of debating, a little bit of talking and then the vote itself will be at 12:00 noon. i'll anchor special coverage at 12:00 noon for that vote. >>> the story making headlines, the death to the is mounting in the latest bloody crackdown on protests in syria. italy is recalling its ambassador, one day after the eu expanded sanctions on president assad and his aides. more than 1600 people have reportedly been killed by syrian forces since this uprising began in march. >>> if it is tuesday, people are voting somewhere. today, that is in mississippi. the gubernatorial primary republican lieutenant phil bryant faces a primary challenge from businessman dave dennis. if victorious, bryant would be heavily favored in the general election to fill the seat, which will be left open by haley barbour, who is term limited. >>> the obama administration is considering rolling back anti-terror laws to make

mr. reid: i appreciate the kind words that my counterpart mr. mcconnell has stated on the floor, i've gotten to know him and speaker boehner a lot better this past month or two. especially the speaker. even though i disagree vehemently with the direction the speaker's legislation took with no bipartisan support at all, it is not the product we have here. the product we have here is one of compromise. the winners, without trying to the winners, without trying to to the winners are especiallyroh one winner through all this is the americanties we sold for less than we wantedo so did my friend, the leader, the republican senator, but they that's the way legislation works and compromise works. but i can't let go without bo responding to my friend who boasted about the new senators and members of congress who came here. all i welcome, them all.n the result of the tea partys has direction of the congress the do last few months has been very disconcerting and very unfair to the american people. nc stopped us from theco conclusionlu much earlier and mt g

mr. reid: before the distinguished senator from texas leaves the floor, i want to express my appreciation to her for her bipartisanship in working through this difficult issue. everyone understands the labor issue. it's something that is overhanging this important piece of legislation, but it shouldn't be hanging over an extension of the bill. tens of thousands of people are not working because of this. the actual airport of our airports are of concern to me. now, f.a.a. is doing everything they can to make sure they are safe and sound, but 4,000 people who work for the department of transportation are off work, in addition to the tens of thousands of people who have construction jobs. we have a new airport tower, control tower in las vegas that is being constructed. they have worked about two weeks and they are now all laid off. it's not fair. this extension should go forward and resolve this issue, as we should resolve all issues, in conference with the other body. it's so unfair that they a

mr. reid: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader, the senator from nevada. mr. reid: the eyes of washington and the world have been watching washington this past week very closely. while they witnessed a lot of political wrangling they also saw congress make some historic, important decisions. and averted a default on our debt that has been so concerning to all of us for such a long period of time. our country was literally on the verge of a disaster. it was on the brink of a disaster. one day left, we were able to get together and avert that disaster. now, this compromise that we've reached is not perfect. and i feel it's important -- mr. president, can we have order, please. the presiding officer: the senate will please come to order. we welcome all our visitors and want to make it clear think disturbance or manifestation of approval or disapproval is prohibited under the senate rules. the majority leader may proceed. mr. reid: i appreciate the kind words that my counterpart mr. mcconnell has stated on the floor, i've gotten to know him and speaker boehner a lo

obama, mr. reid, mr.i, if you really want to help the economy, allow the economy to grow the tax base. when you try to raise the tax base and cure it by raising the tax rate, you get less revenue, let productivity, you get more unemployment and that allows these democrats to claim they get to spend more money on people. people want to be self-reliant. they want to work. they don't want the washington to tell them they need their assistance to get thousand this period of time. that's what we need to do is reduce the weight of big government on people's backs. >> bret: so president mccotter, what do you do that could get through a divided congress to change the economy? >> i think there are two things you get through a divided congress. hopefully there would be coat tails where you would have a republican senate. i would say bipartisan support to do what the come -- we believe there are currency manipulations, cyber spying, dumping, the list goes on. i think you can build a bipartisan coalition to enforce e

mr. reid: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority lear, the senator from nevada. mr. reid: the eyes of washington and the world have been watching washington this past week very closely. while they witness a lot of political wrangling they also saw congress make some historic, important decisions. and averted a default on our debt that has been so concerning to all of us for such a long period of time. our country was literally on the verge of a disaster. it was on the brink of a disaster. one day left, we were able to get together and avert that disaster. now, this compromise that we've reached is not perfect. and i feel it's important -- mr. president, can we have order, please. the presiding officer: the senate will please come to order. we welcome all our visitors and want to make it clear think disturbance or manifestation of apoval or disapproval is prohibited under the senate rules. the majority leader may proceed. mr. reid: i appreciate the kind words that my counterpart mr. mcconnell has stated on the floor, i've gotten to know him and speaker boehner a lot be

but mr. reidgenda, and it came back to bite you. >> that, i don't disagree with. i raised it. what i do raise with you is when you talk about this paradigm shift, you're talking about a shift that still protects tax cuts for the wealthy, still protects tax loopholes. you talk about how the republicans don't want to deal with all this spending. it was the republican president bush that brought us into three wars. >> agreed. >> we have no problem spending that. your problem is spending on the american people. >> let me tell you what is really helpful. if the democrats get off the talking points and put a plan on the table. >> spending money on the american people rather than the wars, chasing weapons of mass destruction that is not there is a talking point? >> it is a talking point when you don't do anything. you don't follow it up. when you don't follow it up with an action plan. neither reid, obama, nor pelosi had an action plan to deal with what was obviously coming, and that was a generation of

by the way, the democrats were so serious about the economy, mr. reid could have solved this in december, 2010 getting the debt limit up. if you want to take it back to the beginning. that's where it begins. >> michael, if you are claiming that harry reid and barack obama were naive by not including a debt limit, you are right. they were naive. there's no way republicans behaved this insanely. >> you have never seen real hope and change. you saw it with this group of people that came up and went to congress and did what they said they were going to do. >> that brings up another good point. you have called them insane. >> i called him insane. >> no, you said barack obama said he didn't know this group of people would act so insane. we hear political bombers, terrorists from mika and you say insane. i will say, if you are just a lawyer and looking at negotiating tactics and looking at this battlefield, willie, you have to look at this and say -- you have to say, okay, they came in, they had a goal, they told everybody from the beginning, from january, thi

mr. reid was talking about all the things they could be doing.there is a long list of stuff that the white house thought -- frankly republicans thought before the recess. three trade agreements, korea, panama, there's a little bit of finger pointing, the fact of the matter is if it wasn't for the debt debate it would have gotten done. there is no secretary of commerce. that has been held up. he brought up the highway bill. i don't think that was going to get done. we know about the faa reauthorization. this thing got in the way of a lot of other work that congress was going to get passed before this recess. >> chuck, no question about that. this is the long distance runner who gets to the finish line and collapses at the end of the race. he doesn't die, he collapses. the real question when they come back are they going to go straight to a cr and not do any appropriation bills. that says a lot of talk. >> one of the things that harry reid's office points out in this deal they set is spending limits for 2012 so there isn't going to be a shutdown. t

mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call being terminated. officer without objection. reid scried that the time between 6:00 be equally divided between the leaders or their designees, senators be permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: madam president, for the information of all senators, a couple of house votes later today. they have a one-hour rule, so whenever they take it up. that he will debate it for one hour. it is my intention to try throbbing in a unanimous consent agreement and set a vote and complete action on the debt limit increase. this vote could happen either tonight or tomorrow, so i want senators to be aware of that. of course with an unanimous consent agreement, we can move whenever we wish to this agreement, but it would take consent. i think it is pretty clear that we have -- we finish this, we have some nominations we have to deal with and we have to get the f.a.a. thing resolved. i think this frankl

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: mr. leader. mr. reid: thank you investment following leader remarks the senate will resume consideration of the motion to concur on the house message to go accompany s. 627, which is the legislative vehicle for the debt limit increase. the senate will recess from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. when the senate reconvenes the time until 2:30:30 will be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees. i want to spend a few minutes with the united states senate today and the american people to talk to them about this great body that we serve in. i know that there are all kinds of pundits and commentators who talk about how the system is broken. they point to what's been going on in washington the last few months as saying it shows we need a complete change in the way we enact laws. it doesn't work anymore. it's terrible, awful; what's been going on. mr. president, i want to take just a few minutes and historically review what our country's all about. in the summer of 1787, the founding

if you want to get more revenue, mr. reid and mr.let entrepreneurs create more revenue by backing off your regulatory action that are unprecedented at the level this administration is pushing those through. so there is a simple solution. that's for washington to do less, not to do more as the president would have us believe. >> heather: let's take a look at this. in the s & p statement, another portion, they very clearly said that the reason for the downgrade was congressional dysfunction and here it goes further, we lowered our long-term rating on the u.s. because we believe the controversy over the debate indicate that further near term progress containing the growth in public spending, especially on entitlements or reaching on agreement on raising revenues is less likely than we previously assumed. how do we resolve this? how do we fix the congressional dysfunction? >> i am hopeful that when members of the congress, particularly the senate, go home for a few weeks, and actually listen to the american people, i conducted 64 town ha

mr. huntsman. harry reid.their ruling of the government, in their leadership that somehow shows some nefarious means at work? >> well, their religion is based on a government of its own. the mormon religion teaches that they will be the government on earth, a one world government, the kingdom of god government, when jesus comes back to earth in the millennium. they've been trying for a very long time to put people in very responsible positions in the government to get them ready to rule the earth when jesus comes, and they believe that when jesus comes back that the garden of eden is in jackson county, missouri. >> but tricia, let me interrupt you. every religion out there likes for its members to rise in society, do important things, do good work. what's wrong with that? i mean, again, i'm asking, do you see anything in what they're doing that's bad? >> yes. if your goal as a church is to rule a one-world government and the kingdom of god will be ruled by the mormon church and we will all be subjected to it a

in other news, film actress tara reid is a mrs. , tweeted of her marriage in greece, the ceremony held hours after she announced engagement. congrats to the newlywed, and sairy borilis shared her grief about the stage collapse, telling new york daily news that the weather changed in a matter of minutes and accident felt like a bad dream. she performed as on opening act just before the accident occurred. >> nornl singer has returned to the stage after a troubling year of ups and downs to find out who rocked the mic at do something awards visit otrc.com. >> up next, a man drove nearly 1500 miles across 16 states for his favorite food. >> and later, the president nearly runs into one of the rinz who wants his job on the political trail. >> and trance form your fears to fuel. how to use it to fuel us into the direction we need to go. >> powerful message from a pilot with aspiring young women here in the bay area at 5:00. >> taking a look at traffic on 680. a lot of cars heading northbound. and perhaps slower than usual, but it's moving, stay with us. we'll be right back. ♪ it was the best

mr. mica said to the senate. now senator reid, because he cares about those 90,000 jobs, as difficult as it may be, it's our understanding, is going ta say, we are not going to leave washington with those folks out on the street as our republican colleagues, led by mr. mica and mr. boehner would do. >> congresswoman giffords came to the floor and voted for the bill. it was an incredibly emotional moment for a lot of members. can you tell us when you heard about this, what the moment was like for you, actually for all you guys. >> it was a great moment for our country. we had a person who is so highly respected, i think the most respected person in america, certainly elected official in america whose name is synonymous with inspiration, with respect, with courage work patriotism and she really wanted to come, i'm not going to go into the details of when we knew what and all the rest. i was not one who would have encouraged her to come we didn't think it was going to hinge on one vote but she felt so strongly about it that she want

mr. cohen: i have voted twice to raise the debt ceiling. in may. i voted this past weekend for leader reid's program which had cuts. but i can't vote for this program because the first series of cuts we know the second series of cuts we don't know. i fear it's a trojan horse. if you look inside that trojan horse it's the whirlpools and the shoals and that's an odyssey in journey this country should not traverse. this country has been taken by a group of ideologues that don't want to reduce it. want to hurt employment figures to hurt the president of the united states, mr. speaker, and i don't want to hurt him. one justice said the greatest danger is to by men of zeal. well-meaning b without understanding. justice brandaise is with us today. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from micgan. mr. camp: i yield two minutes to a distinguished member of the ways and means commiee, the gentleman from texas, mr. brady. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for two minutes. mr. brady: mr. speaker, it's important

within hours, that speaker boehner would simply agree to unanimous consent agreement, and leader reid, if mr. mcconnell would agree to unanimous consent agreement, could pass this within hours. or pass the bill that is in the senate. [inaudible] >> we now hear that the senate can pass it within minutes. [laughter] i will quickly go back to the house of representatives and report that, no matter how much my credibility will suffer. [laughter] we need to act on this issue now. 75,000 americans demanded it our country demands it, and it's very responsible to hold hostage these people and our country and the safety of our airways, pending some petty political gain that might be reached. i now yield to a distinguished former colleague of mine, not a colleague of mine but a good friend of mine, the chairman of the congress committee, senator jay rockefeller. >> ladies and gentlemen, it's very easy to solve this. it's embarrassing easily, shamefully easy. all we have to do is to have the house and us or we send it in and accept it. a clean bill of extension. the leader talked about where and a a 21

mr. cohen: i have voted twice to raise the debt ceiling. in may. i voted this past weekend for leader reid's program which had cuts. but i can't vote for this program because the first series of cuts we know the second series of cuts we don't know. i fear it's a trojan horse. if you look inside that trojan horse it's the whirlpools and the shoals and that's an odyssey in journey this country should not traverse. this country has been taken by a group of ideologues that don't want to reduce it. want to hurt employment figures to hurt the president of the united states, mr. speaker, and i don't want to hurt him. one justice said the greatest danger is to by men of zeal. well-meaning but without understanding. justice brandaise is with us today. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. camp: i yield two minutes to a distinguished member of the ways and means committee, the gentleman from texas, mr. brady. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for two minutes. mr. brady: mr. speaker, it's impo

mr. chairman. >> thank you, general. >> senator reid. >> thank you very much mr. chairman and thank you general dempsey for your service to the army and the nation. i have ever confidence you're going to be a superb chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. i want to recognize you and your family. i think i properly pointed out to your chairman although you were high school sweethearts you married after west point. i want to make sure of that because that's problematic otherwise. i also want to salute admiral mullen for his extraordinary service and join my colleagues in recognizing the extraordinary service of general john shalikashvili. general shalikashvili proudly said he was a citizen of only one country, the yoits of america despite where he was born and where he traveled. he was the consummate citizen soldier. to his family, my deepest sympathies. the issue that is before us and eluded to and talked about in your previous hearing as chief of staff now is the budget. and with the sake of risking over simplification there's three major categories that you have t

mr. max. >> thank you very much. >>> the federal aviation administration on its way to being back in business. senate majority leader reid says the congress has reached a compromise to end the stalemate that caused a partial shutdown of the agency, kept tens of thousands of workers out of work. the new deal reportedly would extend the faa's operating authority through mid-september and eliminate $16.5 million in subsidies to 13 rural airports. the senate is expected to pass the previously approved house bill today by unanimous consent. after the president signs the bill this weekend, roughly 70,000 employees and construction workers will go back to work on monday. and that is great news. >>> breaking news out of libya this morning. a rebel spokesman says moammar gadhafi's son was killed in a nato airstrike. the city in the western part of the country, gadhafi of the leader of the 32nd brigade fighting in the rebel-held city of misrata and the capital of tripoli. there's been no comment from the government or nato. one of gadhafi's other sons was killed by a nato strike earlier this year. >>> syrian forces renewing a crac

mr. president, we're not going to cooperate with you. they walked out on him. at least three times. we finally got a deal because some of us -- and i say harry reid, strong. vice president biden, strong. mitch mcconnell, strong. nancy pelosi, strong. the president made sure that at the end of the day we didn't default. but what a spectacle in the world. the world can't even believe this, mr. president, and i know your hard work to get what we call a big deal, a major deal, a $4 trillion deficit reduction that was fair. that asked the millionaires and the billionaires and the multinational corporations to do something. but no, that wasn't to be. and we wasted time. a lot of time. and what happened? we almost brought the country to its knees and thank god it didn't happen is all i can say. and i felt strongly if we hadn't gotten an agreement, the president would have had to invoke the 14th amendment in order to save our country from this hostage taking. so that was a made-up crisis, never happened before. do you know the most times 25 the debt ceiling was raised was under ronald reagan 18 times. under george bush, nine times. i never heard anything like thi

mr. secretary, are you on the phone with congressman micah and senator rockefeller and schumer and harry reid? when you look at where these small airports are that the republicans clearly were targeting harry reid, they were targeting jay rockefeller, you know, the house knew exactly what it was doing. everybody is playing the game here. are you on the phone with them behind the scenes to try to come up with an agreement short term or long term? >> absolutely. i was on the phone with senator reid on three or four occasions as late as 7:00 last evening. we're going to continue the conversations. frankly, senator reid is trying to be very, very helpful here. he gets it, even though his airport would be one that wouldn't receive the essential air service money. he says i want to get people back to work on building the to your at mccarran airport in las vegas. that means as much to him. getting people back to work, he really is putting the action where his words are. he's working very hard on this, and i have been in conversations with other members of congress. come back off your vacations where

mr. rosell. i hope that helps. ♪ a relationship evolved... good morning, bob. (sets down cup) perry. it just goes to show you that with a little help, anything can change, even interns. dr. reidi'm not the one that placed that central line the other day. i just took credit for it. i'm not gonna do that anymore. good. any chance you could show me how to place one of those things? let's go. (man) ♪ whoa ♪ na, na, na, na >> august 17, 2011. from comedy central's world news headquarters in new york, this is "the daily show with jon stewart." captioning sponsored by comedy central [theme song playing] [cheering and applause] >> jon: welcome to the dail show. i'm jon stewart. our guest tonight... oh, you're too kind. our guest, former republican party chairman... our guest tonight, former republican party chairman michael steele here once again in non-puppet form. we're very excited about that. much more dynamic in non-puppet form. our coverage of the elephant stampede to the white house continues. as you may recall, sunday belonged to the fiery congresswoman from minnesota michele bachmann, whose performance at the ames straw pole vaulted her to the front of the race. >> first of

representatives and harry reid would be running the shop down that hallway through there in the senate and the president asked for $2.4 trillion there would hardly have been a debate, mr. speaker. hardly a debate at all. they would have brought a bill under a closed rule down here to the floor with a limited amount of debate and if they thought that was going to be negative publicity it would have happened at the time of the night that the press was not going to be able to report it so that the american people would pay attention. and yes, it would have leaked out, it wouldn't have been a lid secret, but neither would it have been with fanfare, it would have been $2.4 trillion rubber stamped by this congress, house and senate and sent to the president for his signature, business as usual and off we would have gone and we would have seen ourselves then with a debt or excuse me, yes, with a national debt of, oh, let's say $16.7 trillion, no question asked, no strings attached. that's what would have happened. but the american people rose up over the last couple of years and they formed organizations around this country spontaneously, project 912 organizations, tea party

mr. bush's plan host: the third member that senator harry reid pact is john kerry.is "the washington journal -- the wall street journal." host: we'll go to alan, an independent in detroit. caller: i think what the fed did is a good thing for the simple reason that the republicans can no longer say that these bush tax cuts are necessary, because they have the opportunity to borrow money at no cost if they really want to create jobs. the second part is nobody mentions that we are still at war. i am a veteran. i do not see how you justify these taxes benzes would bar -- expenses with borrowing money so republicans can maintain tax cuts. it is not right. we are still at war. nobody mentions that. we are still a war. from --led let's hear host: let's hear from bofa, read , florida. caller: i do not think the people understand or listen, most of them, when you are having such wonderful information on every single day. these low interest rates have been like this for a long time, and i think there is no money. most of us, obviously i am a teacher, i do not make much, whee

mr. defazio: it's a little different than the reid bill we voted on saturday. it actually increases military spending $78 billion over the bill that we voted on on saturday. and it decreases domestic spending by $80 billion. and it doesn't end the wars unlike the reid bill we voted on saturday. it has one specified cut. student financial aid. that's the only cut specified. what kind of world do you people live in? and of course it doesn't ask a single thing of millionaires, billionaires, corporations that avoid taxes. doesn't close a single loophole. doesn't ask one millionaire or billionaire to go back to clinton era taxes. and it does does nothing about our most serious deficit in this country and that is a jobs deficit. unless you really believe that tax loopholes, tax cuts, and cutting investment in aviation and surface transportation creates jobs on your planet, this bill creates none here today. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan rise? mr. garrett: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the ge

reid proposal and proposals by the administration and others? because each one would have required some modest sacrifice from millionaires and billionaires to help pay for those tax breaks. republicans had to oppose this. mr. president, in his remarks last evening announcing this debt ceiling bad deal, as i call it -- bad deal -- president obama said the result quais -- quote -- "would be the lowest level of domestic spending since dwight eisenhower was spending." that bears repeating. president obama said the result -- quote -- "would be the lowest level of annual domestic spending since dwight eisenhower was president." well, for the record, mr. president, the american people do not want to take down federal funding and investment to the level of the eisenhower years. to do so would be tantamount to repudiating all that we have done since then to make our country better and more fair. to make our country more of a middle-class society, more a country where people who can be born into poverty, can aspire to be in the middle class, can get a good education, good health care, decent housing, a head start. to return to the spending of dwight eisenhower would be tantamount to repudiating the great society pr

reid to say, to hell with the 60 votes we're jamming it through. >> i don't think she would have changed the rules and i don't think she would have gotten more cooperation from mrhan barack obama did. >> i think her personal skills -- >> mcconnell determined to get rid of obama. >> by did they send joe biden up there? biden works the senate. and obama doesn't. >> i agree. better personal skills. if clinton had been elected, again, speculating, it been elected president, especially after tenure compared with an unrealized and unblemished obama administration, president hillary clinton would have been compete wig a dream. -- competing with a dream. if obama had lost, hillary won, saying, gee if he only had obama. >> exactly. exactly. we blew this opportunity for hope and change in history, and -- >> and there's not all that much difference. that's not like reagan and rockefeller or something like that. they're not that far apart. obama and hillary. >> here's a question. why -- >> they work so well together. >> the heart of progressives who watch this program. it seems to me that the clintons were able to do things like ball, the budget over eight year. worked wit

mr. president, i ask the yeas and nays on my motion to concur. >> is there a sufficient second? there appears to be a sufficient second. jenna: senator reidpping up some comments before the vote on this debt deal. bret baier is still with us watching this from d.c. senator reid covered a lot of ground, whole bunch of topics there. what stands out to you? >> reporter: sure, a couple of thoughts about this and what the senator said. one is just a perspective. we are here at this moment because senator reid chose shot to increase the debt ceil -- chose not to increase the debt ceiling when he had that request back in december of 2010. the democrats had the democratic senate, democratic house and, obviously, a democratic president. he said publicly back then that the reason he didn't want to do it then was because he wants republicans to buy in, to have some buy-in into the debt, and he wanted them to share the pain. so it was a political decision back then. that's just a perspective thing. what he was talking about there, it's also interesting to hear both the senate majority leader and the senate minority leader mention the tea party. and s

mr. president. >> senate leaders also spoke with reporters about the debt limit vote and what happens next. harry reid will be first, followed by mitch mcconnell. this is less than half an hour. >> the debate was long and it was not easy. people have wondered whether congress could get this job done. we got it done and brought our economy back from the brink of disaster. in the end, the two sides came together. that is how the system works. neither side got what they wanted. there were things we had to give up. that is the way it is. that is how our system works. that is where compromise is all about. it was a bipartisan compromise. it was not the right wing cap, cut, and, whatever it is over there. that was not bipartisan and. it is nothing we agreed to. it was a disaster for america. disagreement and cuts the deficit by $one trillion. we look forward to the work on the committee to make sure that millionaires and billionaires and corporate jet owners and people who have yachts who get tax benefits, oil companies to get these huge subsidies, that is what this committee is going to be about. we need t

mr. henry, are you going to ask this question again? because i think i answered it. >> i wanted to ask you why the president can't call harry reid who he gets along with well and democrats yesterday i'm told blocked the unanimous concept agreement in the senate to push the bill forward. >> i know that's been said. here's the thing. the house has a provision that is politically motivated, and we can have that fight. what the -- the way to not -- in the name of achieving that, you know, getting that scout, we are preventing the -- these 74,000 americans from working. >> [inaudible] >> the way to do it is -- right -- >> [inaudible] >> the house refused to pay the bill which the senate would pass. no, no, no, that is the issue, ed. >> you want to put the people back to work. come back in a month -- >> oh, that's how it works? >> no, you said the top priority -- >> we get what we want and then we come back and fight. that's not how it works. if there's a dispute creating a log jam not allowing this extension to pass because of dispute and preventing 74,000 people from working, you remove the problem, take the splinter out, and you pass the

mr. reid: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to h. connecticut rest res. 70, the motion to reconsider laid on table, and be placed in the record at the appropriate place as if given. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask we proceed to a period of morning business until 4:00 p.m., senators permitted to speak up to 10 minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i have five unanimous consent requests for committees to meet, they have the approval of both senator mcconnell and me. i ask unanimous consent they be agreed to and printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. a senator: the senate is not in order. the presiding officer: he would are in a quorum call. a senator: i ask unanimous consent the -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from arizona. mr. mccain: the