mr. reid: i yield for a question. mr. mcconnell: is it the majority leader's intent to allow any votes on republican amendments? mr. reid: on what? mr. mcconnell: on the bill we're just discussing. mr. reid: we have been waiting for -- this is thursday -- since monday to get a proposal from the minority, from the republicans as to what they believe would be a good way to pay for this. othernothing other than whack obamacare. the answer is we're where we are now. we've tried a number of different ways on many pieces of legislation to say okay, let's have -- let's just do germane amendments. no. how about relevant amendments. no. how about a specific number of amendments and give the minority more than the majority. no, can't do that either. we want unlimited amendments on everything and as a result of that, we have the continued obstruction that has taken place in this body for five years. it's time we get back to legislating the way we used to. mr. mcconnell: is the answer to my question, i would say to the majority leade

mr. reid: mr. president, i would ask unanimous consent that the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i move to proceed to calendar number 26. -- calendar number 266. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 1846, a bill to delay the implementation of certain provisions of the biggert-waters flood insurance reform act of 2012 and for other purposes. mr. reid: mr. president, on this issue, we have a bipartisan coalition that badly wants to get this done, and so we're going to do everything we can to move afford on this. at this stage, the republicans have not cleared the proposed consent agreement. i've indicated to the republican leader that later today i would ask that, but also to stopgap, we have started the rule 14 procedure, which just in a minute i'll move to that, and we'll have the second reading. so if we can't work anything out on the -- on a consent agreement, we'll tee this up, so this will be the first vote we have back

mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate now proceed to a period of morning business with senators allowed to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i've been told there is a bill at the desk and is it due for first reading? the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bill for the first time. the clerk: s. 1931, a bill to provide for extension of certain unemployment benefits and for other purposes. mr. reid: i now ask for second reading in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule 14 but then object to my own request. the presiding officer: objection is heard. the bill will be read for the second time on the next legislative day. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning january 16. following the proeurp the morning hour deemed expired, the journal of proceedings journal of approved to

mr. reid: mr. president? the president pro tempore: the majority leader. mr. reid: i note the absence of a quorum. the president pro tempore: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: mr. speaker. mr. majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks and those -- the presiding officer: we are in a quorum call, mr. leader. mr. reid: and i did it. i should have known. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, following my remarks and those of the republican leader, the senate will resume the motion to proceed to calendar number 265, unemployment insurance compensation. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the time that i use, leader time, and that of senator mcconnell not count against the half-hour that the proponents and opponents of this legislation have to speak, 15 minutes on each side. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid:

mr. reid: i spend long periods of time on the floor compared to most senators. that's my job. and in doing so, i get to know people more than probably a lot of people. and i -- over the many years, i've come to -- we talk about a senate family and it really is a senate family. and for me, it really is my family. i know that i'm being way too protective and probably a lot of people say it's none of my business, but that's how i feel. and when people leave, i really feel bad because you get to know people and you feel comfortable with the people you know. and the reason i mention this today is that one of the people that i've learned to really admire and appreciate and joke with and have a good time is one of the republican staff members that's leaving. patrick kilker -- and i have no idea if i've pronounced his name right. kilcer. i don't know the name very well but i've known him for a long time. we call him patrick. and he's a republican floor assistant. and if i have an issue and there's not

mr. reid: mr. president? the president pro tempore: the majority leader. mr. reid: i move to proceed to tar calendar 266, is $1846, the flood insurance legislation. the president pro tempore: the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 266, s. 1846, a bill to delay the implementation of certain i guess pros of the biggert-waters insurance reform act of 2012 and for other purposes. mr. reid: mr. president, i would note the absence of a quorum. the president pro tempore: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: +srao*eud mr. president? the presiding officer: the leader. the senate in a quorum call. mr. reid: i ask that it be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: following my remarks, the senate will resume consideration of the unemployment insurance extension. filing deadline is 3:00 p.m.tained at deadline for all second-degree amendments to the reed styt substitute is 4:30 today. there have been some discussions going on. the republican leader and i have spoken, i have spoken to democratic and republican senat

mr. reid: mr. president, i would ask now we, the senate, proceed to a period of morning business, senators allowed to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask that now we as a senate proceed to h.r. 3527. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 3527, an act to amend the public health service act to reauthorize the poison center national toll-free number, and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. reid: i ask the bill be read a third time, passed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table, that there be no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i now ask consent the veterans affairs committee be discharged from further action on s. 1434 and that we now proceed to that matter. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 1434, a bill to designate the junction c

mr. reid: mr. president, we have the vote scheduled at 5:30, is that right? the presiding officer: that's correct. under the previous order, the senate will consider the following nomination which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, robert wilkins of the district of columbia to be united states district judge for the district of columbia circuit. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: the republican leader and h.i.v. a number of conversations today about how we should proceed on unemployment insurance. i have had conversation and he has had conversation with a number of our members, both democrats and republicans. right now, because the vote is not scheduled until 5:30, it's been difficult for me and i'm quite certain the republican leader to talk to all the necessary people involved in trying to come to some conclusion as to how we should proceed on this legislation. two of the people i met with today are -- everyone knows are people who are trying

mr. reid: mr. president? the president pro tempore: the majority leader. mr. reid: reid: i welcome back the presiding officer and the entire staff and look forward to our continuing work together over the next two weeks and see what happens after that. mr. president, following my remarks and those of the republican leader, the senate will resume the motion to proceed to calendar number 265 which is the unemployment insurance extension. at 3:00, the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of janet yellen to be the chairman of the board of governors of the federal reserve system. this will be postcloture time so the time until 5:30 will be equally divided and controlled. there will be two roll call votes at 5:30, first on the yellen confirmation and second on the motion to proceed to to the unemployment insurance legislation. and, mr. president, there could be a series of oats after that dealing with other no, ma'am -- votes after that dealing with other nominations. we'll

mr. reid: mr. president? the president pro tempore: the majority leader. mr. reid: following my remarks and those of the republican leader the senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to s. 1926, the flood insurance bill postcloture. the senate will recess from 12:30 until 2:15 today to allow for our weekly caucus meetings. mr. president, i understand that s. 1963 is at the desk and due for a second reading. the president pro tempore: the clerk will read for the second time. the clerk: s. 1963, a bill to repeal section 403 of the bipartisan budget act of 2013. mr. reid: mr. president, could i ask who the sponsors of this legislation are? who is sponsoring it? the president pro tempore: it is sponsored by senators pryor, hagan, shaheen and begich. mr. reid: thank you. i would object to any further proceedings with respect to this bill. the president pro tempore: objection having been heard, the bill will be placed on the calendar. mr. reid: mr. president, i congratulate diane skarva

mr. reid's staff and he insisted mr. jaczko be made chairman of the commission. beginning in 2009 now former chairman jaczko was able to effectively block any progress on yucca mountain until the d.c. circuit ruled in august of last year that those actions were in clear violation of the law which was an important victory for the rule of law and for the power of congress. in its ruling the d.c. circuit determined -- quote -- "that the n.r.c. has continued to violate the law governing the yucca mountain licensing process." close quote. the court then highlighted that the n.r.c. had gone well beyond missing statutory deadline for completing review of the licensing application, recognizing that -- quote -- "congress has not altered the legal landscape" that is, congress has not amended the waste policy act. the court explained that the nuclear regulatory commission is -- quote -- "simply flouting the law." close quote. the court granted the request of the plaintiffs in the case for -- quote -- "a

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: there will be no roll call votes tonight. mr. president, i think, as most people know -- at least i'll reiterate it -- i oppose paying for any short-term extension of unemployment benefits. the current level of long-term unemployment is an economic emergency, without any question. and this would be very unpair to the people who are -- very unfair to the people who are in desperately need of help, to say we're happy to give you this money but we're going to take something else out of the economy to do it. we're not going to do that. i think that would be wrong. having said that, mr. president, there are a number of senators who are having productive conversations about possible offsets, one of which is on the floor -- one of whom so the floor today, my friend, the senator from ohio. and he's been -- he's someone that understands finances. he was head of the office of management and budget so whenever we have him working o

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the cow of the quorum be terminated. -- the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, today has been an eventful day on the unemployment insurance front. we began the day working with republican colleagues to put together what we thought was an amendment that they would join us in pushing forward. but surprisingly, mr. president, and disappointingly to me, those that we've worked with were not able to join on the amendment. i'm disappointed for a number of reasons, not the least of which is we gave the republicans what they wanted. it's entirely paid for. the amendment made structural reforms in the unemployment compensation field, which they said they wanted. the amendment includes a proposal much like that advocated by senator portman that would prevent people from collecting both unemployment insurance and disability insurance at t

mr. reid: i ask that the call of the quorum be terminated. officer without objection. mr. reid: i ask that the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak up it ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to calendar number 230, s. 1302, that the committee-reported substitute be considered, the harkin-roberts substitute amendment which is at the desk be agreed to, the committee-reported substitute as amended be agreed to, the bill as amended be read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be reconsidered and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate. if the senate receives a a bill from the house, that it -- that is identical to the text of s. 1302, as passed by the senate, then the house bill be read three times, passed, and there be no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: i now ask

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i'm sure not many people care, but the reason i didn't go first today is those of us who serve in office depend on other people to prepare materials for us so we can make a reasonably good presentation. well, i came here today and looked at my stuff, it was yesterday's, so i figured i would be better off waiting until i got the right one, which kind of reminds me, mr. president, of something i heard as a very young lieutenant governor of nevada. he had -- this is a story that's not true, but i have always remembered it -- or it may be true. it didn't happen to me, but it's always made me aware of the great work my staff does. a man is used to his staff preparing these remarks, flowery remarks and always so very, very good, and he has a long speech he is delivering. he gets to page 5 and it says okay, you s.o.b., you're on your own and the rest is blank. i remembered that today and figured i better wait and get my office

mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the amendment? without objection. the senate will proceed. mr. reid: i have a cloture motion i ask be reported. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion, we the undersigned senators in accordance with the rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the conference report to accompany h.r. 2642, the agricultural reform and risk management act signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i now ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waiched, the cloture vote occur at 5:30, monday february 3, if cloture is invoked, there be two 20 minutes, at 2:15, to be equally divided between the leaders or their designees, upon the use or yielding back of that time all postcloture time be considered expi

mr. reid: no. mr. durbin: i'd like to ask the senate leader, it is my understanding that the republicans came up with a new demand that they be allowed to offer new amendments to the unemployment insurance package before they would drop their senate republican filibuster that was stopping unemployment benefits for 1 .4 million americans. mr. reid: that is true. and the biggest advocate we had for that on this side of the aisle was the whip, the senior senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i'd like to ask the majority leader this question: is it not true yesterday that in response to this republican demand, that you offered a unanimous consent request which would have given, in fact, up to 10 amendments on each side of the aisle, democrats and republicans, to this measure and that the democrats did not specify what the amendments would be, that it was really the decision of the republicans to offer those amendments? did the senate majority leader offer that to the senate republicans so that they would stop

the senator from nevada, mr. reid. the senator from illinois, mr. durbin. the senator from new york, mr. schumer. the senator from washington, ms. murray. the senator from colorado, mr. bennett. the senator from michigan, ms. stabenow. the senator from alaska, mr. begich. the senator from kentucky, mr. mcconnell. the senator from texas, mr. cornyn. the senator from south dakota, mr. thune. the senator from missouri, mr. blunt. and the senator from wyoming, mr. barrasso. >> the members of the escort committee are exit through the chamber doors through the lobby. [inaudible conversations] .. brt [ inaudible conversation] >> the acting dean of the court. applause ] >> mr. speaker, the chief justice and the >> mr. speaker, the chief justice and the justice of the supreme court. [ applause ] [ applause ] [inaudible conversations taking place]

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i move to road to calendar number 24, the flood insurance legislation. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: motion to proceed to s. 1926, a bill to dplai the implementation of certain provisions of the biggert-waters flood insurance reform act of 2012 and to reform the national association of registered agents and brokers, and for other purposes. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: on this issue alone, we have been trying for months to move this afford. on our side we have heard constantly, persistently, always senator landrieu indicating how important this is to her state and to our country. so i would hope that we can finally have a pathway afford on this today, with a consent agreement. it is my understanding that senator isakson from georgia is going to try to come to the floor soon to do that. i want to alert torch this. if that isn't goi

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i appreciate very much my colleague, the senator from -- the junior senator from nevada voting with us on this, voting with himself, he's a cosponsor of this. he and jack reed have done dmirrably good work for the senate and for the country. everyone should notice on the first matter we tried to invoke cloture on i did not move to -- a motion to reconsider. i did on this one. this is a three-month unpaid for. i would would hope we could get that passed sometime. if we can't, there's still an effort to i'm sure out there someplace, that we could find a way to work together to get these people the desperate help they need. so that's why i did this, leaving the door open for us to work together to try to come up with something. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to express my supreme disappointment that we have blocked the senate from moving forward on this critical legislation. there are 1.5 million americans who h

members of the committee on the part of the senate to escort the resident of the united mr. reid, mr. durbin, mr. mcconnell, mr. cornyn, mr. blunt. >> the members of the escort committee will exit through the chamber doors through the lobby. >> acting dean of the diplomatic orps. >> mr. speaker, the chief justice and the associate justices of the supreme court.

mr. reid: mr. president, the republican leader and i don't agree on everything, but we do agree on some things, and there is one thing no one can dispute that we agree on, and that's our love of baifnl baseball. we both love baseball season. p it gives us an opportunity when we go home after working here to turn on tv and watch a few innings of a baseball game. for some people, baseball is a really slow, boring opportunity to watch people moving slowly. but senator mcconnell and i love it and we talk about baseball. we love the nationals, and we -- and he an i have a great affectr the nationals because of bryce harper, a las vegas aght leevment the reasoning i mention that, mr. president, is today nevada's greatest baseball hero -- in fact one of the greatest baseball heroes of all time -- was inducted into the baseball hall of faivmen fame. greg maddocks is an extremely nice man, a man of humility. i have gone out to dinner with him and his lovely wife a few tiesmtimes. i know his brother well. an

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i move to proceed to calendar number 294. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 294, s. 1926, a bill to delay the implementation of certain proefbgs provisions of the biggert-waters flood insurance act of 2012. mr. reid: mr. president, 5:30 today there will be a roll call vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the flood insurance bill. i'm told that s. 1950 is at the desk due for second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bill for the second time. the clerk: 1950, a bill to improve the provision of medical services and benefits to veterans and for other purposes. mr. reid: i would object to any further proceedings with respect to this bill at this time. the presiding officer: objection having been heard, the bill will be placed on the calendar. mr. reid: mr. president, as i announced earlier today, the senate will vote in -- at 5:30 to advance legislation that will p

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i move to proceed to calendar number 297, s. 1950. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 297, s. 1950, a bill to improve the provision of medical services and benefits to veterans and for other purposes. mr. reid: mr. president, i was happy to move on behalf of chairman sanders who's put together this bill. it's supported by 25 different service organizations. following my remarks this morning and those of the republican leader, the senate will be in a period of morning business for an hour with the majority controlling the first half, republicans the final half. following that morning business the senate will begin consideration of s. 1926, the flood insurance legislation. we were able to reach an agreement for several amendments to be considered to the flood insurance bill. all amendments must be offered by 3:00 p.m. today. other roll call votes are possible later today. senators will be notified when these votes are sched

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: majority leader. mr. reid: following my remarks and those of the republican leader we'll be in a period of morning business with the time until noon divided equally. the republicans will control the first 30 minutes and we'll control the second 30 minutes. at none all postcloture time on the motion to proceed to the unemployment insurance extension will expire and the senate will begin consideration of the bill. senators will be notified when votes are scheduled. mr. president, another day has passed and we still have a vast majority of republicans standing in the way of extension of unemployment benefits. some republican senators are having conversations about possible offsets for a full year extension. i've said a number of times i think we would be ill-advised to have another short-term. if we're going to have an extension they're talking about paying for it, let's do in a -- for a year. mr. president, let's see how they want to pay for this. we've heard proposals. the proposals are, one, to stop people

mr. reid: i move to proceed to calendar number 266. the president pro tempore: the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 266, s. 1846 a bill to provide implementation of certain provisions of the biggert waters flood insurance act of 2012 and other purposes. mr. reid: so there is further discussion on the matter today, on our side we've cleared the bill. we could complete it quickly and we're waiting to hear from the republicans. this is one of the bills that we need to do some amendments on this. we can do some amendments on it. so the point is i think we should try to get this done. we have been waiting for a long time to get this done. this is truly a bipartisan bill. as i explained to the republican leader yesterday, i've had a number of republicans come to me to see if there is a way this bill could be moved quickly. it's become a desperate situation with so many problems. construction has been in some areas brought to a halt. hopefully we'll work something out on this in the immediate future. mr. pres

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following my remarks and those of the republican leader, the senate will resume the motion to proceed to the unemployment compensation legislation. we have no votes scheduled yet. when we are able to work something out in that regard we will notify all senate offices. mr. president, yesterday's vote to advance a measure which is so vitally important to our country to extend a lifeline to americans who lost their jobs during this great recession is really a positive development. but we're a long way from restoring benefits to 1.3 million people who have been looking for work for months, some of them, mr. president, for years. a few republicans willing to even debate this measure or threaten a vote against a short term extension unless it's fully paid for. let me start by saying, mr. president, i'm opposed to offsetting the cost of emergency unemployment benefits. i repeat. emergency unemployment benefits. i don't understand why my republican colleagues can't read the script from t

one can appreciate how mr. reido this point. >> it's interesting, we're watching this sort of two -- there's two ways, and some people have compared it to the evolution on gay marriage. >> sure. >> you've had civil unions in, in this case, medical marijuana, and then you have recreational use, and that's same-sex marriage. is your goal now that you want recreational use decriminal -- full decriminalization? what's the ultimate goal? >> it's always been to end the prohibition of marijuana and replace it with alternatives that are constitutionally compliant, that have regulations and controls that you actually benefit from the sale. >> mm-hmm. you want to be treated like alcohol and cigarettes? >> absolutely. in colorado, the day before it became legal on the first of the year, an ounce sold for $100. the next day, it sold for $135 and the state got $35 per ounce. we're looking at hundreds of millions. colorado is looking at $600 million this year in taxes. >> do you feel it's a responsibility, now, normal, though, to

mr. reid: we are going to have three more votes tonight but i understand they're going to be voice votes. we've made significant progress with this important piece of legislation. the next vote will be at 11:15 tomorrow and we expect the final vote on this bill tomorrow at 2:00. the presiding officer: there are now two minutes equally divided. senator reed of rhode island. mr. reed: the pending amendment is the reed amendment, will be accepted by a voice vote and i yield back my time. the presiding officer: is there further debate? if not, the question is on the amendment. all in favor say aye. all opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it, the ayes do have it. the amendment is agreed to. there are now two minutes equally divided -- the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: move to reconsider and lay on the table. the presiding officer: without objection. there are now two minutes equally divided on the amendment from senator whitehouse of rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president? the presid

host: "the new york times" says mr. reid laid out further potential points of conflict. on march 6, he will take up raising the minimum wage, which many republicans opposed. why is this an important issue? guest: raising the minimum wage is key to making sure that people who are working full-time are not in poverty. that is a simple fact. it does not need to be a conflict between business and workers. it is good for the economy if families have money in their pockets. they can buy the basics and support their families. it is out fairness and also good for the economy. making sure people have money to buy what they need. there has been research on this, we have not seen a huge unemployment -- a huge negative job impact from raising the minimum wage. economy you see healthy where workers are more productive and there is less turnover. this has been good for the economy and good for workers. republicans disagree. if you look on the state level, state that have enacted minimum wage increases in 2013 -- new jersey one up a dollar, new y ork up $.75. .alifornia, went up rhode

my friend and colleague, senator coburn, recently noted in the "wall street journal" -- quote -- "mr. reid had already used senate rules to cut off debate and prevent the minority from offering amendments 78 times more than all other senate majority leaders combined." why? it appears designed to advance a partisan political agenda. show votes in an election year. in other words, let's airdrop bills on the floor and prevent any form of modification or improvement. that seems to be just routine business around here these days, and it is shameful. it's my hope that in this new year all thoughtful ideas will get a vote. it is my hope that in this new year we'll actually get a chance to amend bills. that's the only way that we can actually pass legislation to improve the lives of the american people. i look forward to putting forth my own proposals to fulfill my duty to the people of nebraska to get our friends and our neighbors back to work rather than focusing on issues that divide us, i hope that my colleagues, republicans and democrats, will come together to support policies that promote op

mr. reid: it's the same tune time and time again. things are never quite right. they want to offer amendments. we have been waiting here since monday for pay-fors. the only pay-for we've heard realistically to take care of this is something that everyone knows we disagree, to take away health care benefits from the american people. the proposal by my friend from ohio is not a good proposal. it hurts people who are disabled and that's the fact. we have stopped dual payments, that's what our amendment does. this is something we've been going through and the american people have been going through now for years. my friend worked with the senior senator from new hampshire on energy efficiency. now, if that wasn't quite a show. show. >> the fact of the matter is that this is quite a shell. and we have it all taken care of. republicans are trying to move forward on this and it went on for weeks and weeks and we never got anything done. so mattern president, we are where we are. and the democrats do not need a memo. we need to be compassionate about those that are disab

mr. reid opened the second session of the 113th congress monday by declaring -- quote -- "the rich keep getting richer, the poor keep getting poorer, and the middle class are under siege." it was hardly an endorsement for an economy entering its sixth year under president obama's watch. and gene sperlg of the president's economic -- gene percentling, the president's economic advisor, just say this -- quote -- "three people are looking for every one job open." close quote. so what do we do about this? what do we say about this? i would say, colleagues, that while hopefully we can help unemployed americans today with some sort of a -- benefits that are paid for in a financially sound manner, hopefully we will see wages rise and that we need to see wages rise, in my opinion, because i think the middle class is under siege. i think poor people are getting ham nerd this current economy, but i would just ask this question -- who has been setting the agenda economically for america for the last five

as chip reid reports, mrs.fe milestone. >> reporter: add an education event at the white house president obama made sure nobody forgot about friday's big event. >> it's her birthday tomorrow. >> reporter: not just any birthday. the big 5-0. in an interview in "people" magazine mrs. obama describes her life as ever evolving. robin, a "washington poswashin" contributor covered mrs. obama firsthand. >> i also had the sense that she was choosing her words so carefully and now it seems she is more comfortable expressing herself. >> reporter: mrs. obama was asked by "people" whether she would ever consider plastic surgery or botox. >> she said i don't imagine i would go that route but i have also learned to never say never. >> i think that was pure unadulterated honesty. >> reporter: with a focus on healthful foods, exercise, and education, she's a big part of the first lady's legacy will be an impact on children, but she's also been a role model for people her own age. >> eleanor roosevelt when she turned 50 said wh

host: "the new york times" says mr. reid laid out further potential points of conflict.march 6, he will take up raising the minimum wage, which many republicans opposed. why is this an important issue? guest: raising the minimum wage is key to making sure that people who are working full-time are not in poverty. that is a simple fact. it does not need to be a conflict between business and workers. it is good for the economy if families have money in their pockets. they can buy the basics and support their families. it is out fairness and also good for the economy. making sure people have money to buy what they need. there has been research on this, we have not seen a huge unemployment -- a huge negative job impact from raising the minimum wage. economy you see healthy where workers are more productive and there is less turnover. this has been good for the economy and good for workers. republicans disagree. if you look on the state level, state that have enacted minimum wage increases in 2013 -- new jersey one up a dollar, new y ork up $.75. .alifornia, went up rhode isla

mr. chairman, i do have some more questions but will submit them for the record. >> senator reid. >> thankou very much, mr. chairman. first, mr. wise, let me commend you and your colleagues for your always thoughtful and careful analysis and this is no exception today. and peter rogoff is someone i had the privilege of working with on the appropriations committee and then the federal transit administrators you've mr. fox erb job that is acting and i think he made a wise judgment and is demonstrating his very effective leadership already, so i commend the secretary, also. just two basic questions. mr. rogoff, can you give us some ideas of the impacts if we do not move in a timely fashion to restore funding in the mass transit account and what's going to happen and when is it going to start happening? >> we've always come at this, i shouldn't say "always" but in recent years we've determined roughly the appropriate balance that we need to maintain in the transit account of the trust fund is $1 billion, on the highway side it's about $4 billion for the highway account. and both the federal hi

mr. president i yield the floor. >> senate majority harry reid came to the floor later to respond to remarks by senator mcconnell. assist 20 minutes. >> mr. president the republican later and i don't agree on everything but we do agree on some things and there is one thing that no one can dispute that we agree on and that is our love of baseball. we both love these fall season. it gives us an opportunity when we go home after working here to turn on the tv and watch a few innings of a baseball game. for some people baseball is a real slow, boring opportunity to watch people moving slowly. senator mcconnell and i love it and we talk about baseball. we love the nationals and he and i have a great affection for the national because of a las vegas athlete. the reason i mention that mr. president is today nevada's greatest baseball hero, in fact one of the greatest baseball heroes not of nevada but of all time was inducted into the baseball hall of fame. greg maddux is an extremely nice man, a man of humility. i have gone out to dinner with him and his loving wife a few times. i know his brother

reid. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. let me commend you. you always thoughtful and canalful analysis inspect is no exception today. thank you. peter is someone i've had the privilege of working on the appropriations committee and the administrative have done a great job. secretary fox named you as acting under secretary for policy, i believe. >> correct. >> i think he made a wise judgment and demonstrating his effective leadership already. i comment the secretary already. can you give us an idea the impact we do not move in a timely fashion to restore funding in the mass transit account. when is this going to start happening? >> we always come out -- i shouldn't say always. we have determined that roughly the appropriate balance we need to maintain in the transit account of the trust fund is a billion dollars. on the head side it's $4 billion for the highway account. both the federal highway administration and the federal trance it have plans on how we manage cash in the event of balances falling below that level. within the federal transit

mr. chairman, i do have more questions, but will submit for the record. >> senator reid. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. wise comella may commend you and your colleagues that are always thoughtful and careful analysis and this is no exception today. peter rogoff is someone i've had the privilege of working with on the appropriations committee and so much so secretary fox was named u.s. the act didn't undersecretary and he and a very wise judgment and he's demonstrating his effective leadership already. commend the secretary also. two basic questions. can you give us some ideas of practical impacts if we do not live in a timely fashion to restore funding for mass transit account? when is it going to happen and what is going to happen? >> in recent years the appropriate balance that we need to maintain in the transit account of the trust fund is a billion dollars. on the highway side it's about $4 billion for the highly account. both the federal highway administration and the federal transit administration have plans on file and how would manage cash seeking below that level. it involves re

mr. speaker, secretary kerry, leader pelosi, leader reid, and leader macconnell and distinguished members, ladies and gentlemen- my family and i thank you most warmly for the very great honor that you have a corded the memory of my grandfather in accepting the donation from the churchill center of this magnificent bust of sir winston to be permanently displayed here in the united states capital. on behalf of all of us, mr. speaker, my thank you for the wonderful tribute you all paid to churchill's memory. he is -- he has a very vivid memory. as you know, my grandfather visited washington often during his long career but perhaps most notably as a test of president franklin roosevelt during the second world war. on december 20 6, 1941, just days after the appalling atrocity at pearl harbor, he came across the atlantic and was invited to address a joint session of congress just yards away from where this moving ceremony is being held today. on that occasion, as we have been reminded, he famously joked that if his father had been an american and his mother british, instead of the other way ar

reid. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. let me commend you. you always thoughtful and canalful analysis inspect is no exception today. thank you. peter is someone i've had the privilege of working on the appropriations committee and the administrative have done a great job. secretary fox named you as acting under secretary for policy, i believe. >> correct. >> i think he made a wise judgment and demonstrating his effective leadership already. i comment the secretary already. can you give us an idea the impact we do not move in a timely fashion to restore funding in the mass transit account. when is this going to start happening? >> we always come out -- i shouldn't say always. we have determined that roughly the appropriate balance we need to maintain in the transit account of the trust fund is a billion dollars. on the head side it's $4 billion for the highway account. both the federal highway administration and the federal trance it have plans on how we manage cash in the event of balances falling below that level. within the federal transit

reid schar. bridget kelly is clearly, as is mr.was would be happy to have them come before the committee and share their insight. >> do you expect the subpoenas will work their way up the pyramid, starting with the lower ranking people, moving towards the center of power? >> lawrence, i think that's exactly right. again, i think we're going to take our advice from our council, but i think where we want to go is based on the documents we've received already, the people that have been identified and use that as a kind of jigsaw puzzle to start to identify and clarify this picture. with the redactions, that picture right now is unclear. we've asked for complete clean copies of those documents which may obviously give us a chris call clear picture. i think as that starts to come in, it will identify really a road map again to where this abuse of power began, how deep it goes and whether or not it goes all the way up directly to the governor itself. our position is we will follow the evidence wherever it goes. and however high that goes

reid, how are you? good to see you, sir. mr. durbin, how are you doing? good to see you. mr. bennett.e have all the senators coming in now. now you know we're getting serious. supreme court justices, members of the senate. things are getting serious here. dana, i'm sorry, you were talking about one of the stars of "duck dynasty". >> i'm emphasizing this not because i think it's necessarily important but because i want to set the scene for what's happening. he is here, willie robertson, not just is he sitting in the gallery but i have seen a steady stream of congressmen make their way up the stairs up the gallery to come and greet him, to take pictures with him. you're sitting there with members of the supreme court, the majority leader, the vice president and a lot of members are just interested in coming and taking a picture with somebody who is a star of "duck dynasty." it is definitely something i have not seen in my many many years of covering state-of-the-union address. >> it's interesting. this year we have as we mentioned before special guests. hey, senator portman, how are you

mr. leahy: thank you very much, madam president. i want to congratulate senator reid, who i know worked extraordinarily hard to get the votes for this. i -- i had read something someone wrote in the press saying that they are afraid that senator reid didn't talk about these issues enough yesterday on the floor, and i point out that you can either talk or do. he spoke, i thought, quite well, but he basically spent the timelining up the votes and won. a lot of people talk about what they want to do. senator reid usually gets it accomplished. i'd rather -- as one who has served here longer than anybody else in this body, i would rather see people get things done, and he did. now, speaking of things to get done, in this new year, in this new congressional session, the farm bill still remains as one of the nation's top legislative priorities, but it's languished in congress' inbox. the senate begins its new season, it is a relief at last to be able to say there are glimmers of hope the congress has finally reached a point where we could complete work on a farm bill. we --

mr. obama ordered today. >>> plus former defense secretary robert gates absolutely unloads on senate majority leader harry reidnd we have the don't miss video to prove it. also sex trafficking at the super bowl. did you know it's a big business. senator klobuchar and cain teaming up before the super bowl to sto

in addition to the president's message today, be majority leader harry reid as a says a vote mr. to get? >> the real question is the house. they'll probably get cloture in the senate and be able to pass thing is there. there's a three-month extension of benefits they're going to be considering. now in the house as it has been the last couple years, that's where the problem is going to lie in getting enough republicans on board to pass this. so people get their unemployment insurance back. it is going to be a challenge. >> yeah, you know, lauren, i was reading through eric kantor's memo he sent out lining the gop's agenda for the month of january. extending unemployment benefits nowhere on the list. what does that tell you about the chances of getting it passed? >> republicans have said repeatedly in the house they are open to exlending long-term unemployment benefits with one major kavyaate. they want the cost of the program which is estimated a three-month extension is about $6.4 billion, they want that to be offset. that's something that democrats just really haven't been willi

mr. obama ordered today. >>> plus former defense secretary robert gates absolutely unloads on senate majority leader harry reid. real talk for our panel. a woman falls off a cruise ship and we have the don't miss video to prove it. also sex trafficking at the super bowl. did you know it's a big business. senator klobuchar and cain teaming up before the super bowl to stop it. hi, everyone. i'm gretchen carlson. big changes in the way the government spies on us. president obama proposing new limits on the way nsa stores information on millions of americans. his proposal from a white house appointed panel. the big one, he wants to strip the nsa of its ability to store massive amounts of phone records but offered no recommendations for where to actually move all that stuff. and there will apparently be no more spying on friendly -- so-called friendly international leaders unless there's a specific threat. the president asking the intelligence community and the attorney general to deliver a transition plan within 60 days. the president today also addressing the nsa's critics. >> meanwhile a number of countries incl

mr. speaker, thank you very much for being with us. >> great to be here. >> why was reid schar selected as body? >> well, we wanted to pick best person qualified for it and the people that i've spoke to, reid was the person that made the most sense to help us and guide us in this unchartered territory for us. the assembly did not have a lot of staff to be able to do this, and there may be other agencies that may be investigating into this and we don't want to be an impediment or obstruction. i think mr. schar was the most qualified person that we could seek out. >> as the newly elected speaker of the assembly, it was your decision whether or not there would be a continuing investigation, subpoena power for the transportation committee that had been investigating, expired with the close of the session. it was your call. i have to ask you how you made the decision that the investigation would continue, there would be subpoena power moving forward from this point out and whether or not anybody tried to influence you in that decision, whether you felt pressure? >> no, i was never influenced by