mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: madam president, i ask unanimous consent the e.p.w. committee be discharged from further consideration of s. 166 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 166, a bill to designate the new interstate route 70 bridge over the mississippi river connecting st. louis, missouri, and southwestern illinois as the stan musial memorial bridge. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, the senate is -- the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed. mr. schumer: i further ask that the bill be read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of h. con. res. 14 which was received from the house and is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. th

mr. schumer. >> no. >> mr. durbin. >> no. >> mr. whitehouse. >> no by proxy. >> ms. klobuchar. >> no. >> mr. coons. >> no by proxy. >> mr. blumenthal. >> no. >> ms. hirono. >> no. >> mr. hatch. >> aye by proxy. >> mr. sessions. >> aye by proxy. >> mr. graham. >> aye by proxy. >> mr. cornyn. >> aye. >> mr. lee. >> aye by proxy. >> mr. cruz. >> aye. >> mr. flake. >> aye by proxy. >> mr. chairman. >> no. i note for the record that senator graham is here. >> great yeas -- >> as much as i'm over here i'm here. >> oh, ok. >> the amendment fails. is there another amendment? >> i have one amendment. >> incidentally, i appreciate -- and i mean it sincerely, i appreciate the courtesy of the senior senator from texas who is -- told us well in advance which amendments he's going to have and he's not taken an undue amount of time. that means a lot to me. so please go ahead. >> again, the fundamental flaw i think in the legislation is assuming that certain types of weapons will be used only for offensive purposes. that's wrong. if it were true, the bill itself would not exempt ret

mr. schumer. aye. >> mr. durbin. >> mr. whitehouse. >> miss klobuchar. aye. >> mr. franken. >> aye. >> mr. coons. >> mr. blumenthal. >> mr. chairman. >> aye. >> mr. chairman votes are 11 yeas, seven nays. >> the senator from texas. >> so you don't think i'm trying to pull your leg, there was a complete substitute -- >> they emailed into our office at 4:16 yesterday. >> ok. trust me. my brother in law is a good guy. i know you have. he has done the prayer at the opening of the session several times. i must say, it has nothing to do with it. one of the things he has found the biggest thrill when he has been been visiting clergymen for the senate is being able to spend the day on the floor, and so many senators, republicans and democrats alike, i yield to senator feinstein. >> thank you very much. i want to thank you for allowing me to hold the hearing. i want to report to you that we heard from one bereft and grieving father, who lost a precious son at sandy hook. we heard from the trauma surgeon there, who took care of their bodies. and talk about what these weapons,

mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mr. chumer: well, thank you, mr. president. and i rise in full support of caitlin halligan and must strongly disagree with my friend from kentucky, the leader. the bottom line is very simple, she's a well-qualified nominee. we know that. and the leader acts as if miss halligan were acting on her own. he cannot cite a single instance where the things he's talked about, whether you agree or disagree, he cannot cite a single instance where miss halligan was not acting as an attorney representing the views of someone else. the same thing john roberts did. the sam thing sam alito did. and when those things -- the same thing sam alito did. and when those things were brought up, our colleagues on the other side justifiably said, you can't attribute views to themselves when they are representing somebody as an attorney. we all know the obligation of an attorney is to represent his or her client, whether you agree or disagree with those views. when you work as solicitor general, you represent the s

mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: first let me compliment my colleague from delaware not only for his typically excellent remarks today, but also for his vigilance on these issues. he's relatively newer member of the judiciary committee, but he has dove -- dived -- jumped in to these issues with tremendous eagerness, intelligence, balance, and effectiveness. so i want to thank him for his great remarks. now i too rise today in enthusiastic support of the nominee to the court of appeals for the d.c. circuit of caitlin halligan. ms. halligan has been waiting for an up-or-down vote for 23 months. even more importantly, the entire country has been waiting to fill this position, a judgeship on the second-most important court in the nation for 23 months. the question that we're going to answer tomorrow is: can we take some of our bipartisan goodwill, our desire to legislate and get things done for the co

mr. schumer: thank you. i thank my colleague from alabama for taking only 30 seconds because of the 30 seconds i took to explain to him that i would take a minute. i have three parts to my little statement. i'll speak briefly on each and i ask unanimous consent the rest be put in the record. first, i rise in support of the nominations of katherine failla for the southern district of new york and pam chen of the eastern district. i have enthusiastic support for both of them. they're superb nominees to the federal bench. and let me talk a little about each. like many proud new yorkers, chen was not born in new york city but is now a valued and valuable not just of the new york bar but of our entire community. chen was born in chicago after her parents came here from china. she came by her zeal for public service honestly because her father worked for the i.r.s. for over 30 years. her mother was a professor of political science. when i first met chen i don't think it took more than five minutes before she 25ubg

mr. schumer: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mr. schumer: well, first, let me thank the chair of the budget committee, my friend and colleague from the state of washington, for her remarks and, even more, her excellent work on putting to thputting together ac budget. that may be the reason why our colleagues want to delay. for four years they've had a great time saying, you don't have a budget. you don't have a budget. it was the only thing they had to say because the actual confines of their budget is so far away from what the american people want they couldn't get into the details. nobody wants to end medicare as we know it. nobody, as in the ryan budget, wants to reduce taxes dramatically on the wealthiest americans -- 39% to 25% -- and then take away deductions from middle-class people, good deductions that make sense like the mortgage deduction, the charitable deduction, the retitle deduction, the health care reduction. no, no wants to do that. and no one wants to eat our seed corn. investment in education, investment in infrast

mr. schumer. >> eye. >> mr. durbin. >> mr. whitehouse. >> miss klobuchar. eye. >> mr. franken. >> eye. >> mr. coons. >> eye. >> mr. blumenthal. >> mr. grassley, eye. >> mr. no by approximately. >> mr. graham. >> no by proxy. >> mr. cornyn. >> no. >> mr. lee. >> no by proxy. >> mr. cruz. >> no. >> mr. flake. >> no. >> mr. chairman. >> aye. >> mr. chairman votes are 11 yeas, seven nays. >> the senator from texas. >> so you don't think i'm trying to pull your leg, there was a complete substitute -- >>ure' not the one that talked about my brother-in-law. >> there was a complete substitute at your office at 4:16 yesterday. is when we got the language. >> i was on the floor introducing it on monday. >> i'm not saying you personally delivered it to our office. i'm saying your shop emailed it to our office at 4:16 yesterday. that's my only point. thank you. >> all right. and trust me my brother-in-law's a good guy. >> i had the honor of meeting your brother-in-law. >> i know you have. and he's done the prayer at the opening of the session several times. i must say just for --

mr. schumer. >> by proxy. >> mr. durbin. >> no. >> mr. white house? >> no by proxy. >> miss close but shar. >>>. mr. blumenthal? >> yes. >>> mr. grassley. >> aye. >> mr. hatch? >> aye by proxy. >> mr. --. >> aye by proxy. >> mr. graham, aye by proxy. >> mr. cornyn. >> aye. >> mr. lee, aye. >> mr. cruz? >> aye by proxy. >> mr. chairman? >> no. >> mr. chairman? the votes are eight yeas, ten nays. >> senator schumer. senator schumer be recorded no in person. senator cornyn you have the floor. >> mr. chairman i call up amendment 13116 and ask for its immediate consideration. >> without objection it is before the, committee. >> this amendment would allow persons who obtained a protection order which iswell a broader definition than just, merely a protective order, as ordinarily, ordinarily thought of. this would allow people who obtained protection order as defined by the violence against women act to obtain and possess personal self-defense weapons prohibited by this legislation. the national coalition against domestic violence estimates that 1.3 million

mr. schumer. >> eye. >> mr. durbin. >> mr. whitehouse. >> miss klobuchar. eye. >> mr. franken. >> eye. >> mr. coons. >> eye. >> mr. blumenthal. >> mr. grassley, eye. >> mr. no by approximately. >> mr. graham. >> no by proxy. >> mr. cornyn. >> no. >> mr. lee. >> no by proxy. >> mr. cruz. >> no. >> mr. flake. >> no. >> mr. chairman. >> aye. >> mr. chairman votes are 11 yeas, seven nays. >> the senator from texas. >> so you don't think i'm trying to pull your leg, there was a complete substitute -- >>ure' not the one that talked about my brother-in-law. >> there was a complete substitute at your office at 4:16 yesterday. is when we got the language. >> i was on the floor introducing it on monday. >> i'm not saying you personally delivered it to our office. i'm saying your shop emailed it to our office at 4:16 yesterday. that's my only point. thank you. >> all right. and trust me my brother-in-law's a good guy. >> i had the honor of meeting your brother-in-law. >> i know you have. and he's done the prayer at the opening of the session several times. i must say just for --

mr. schumer. >> aye. >> mr. durbin. >> aye. >> mr. whitehouse. >> aye. >> miss klobuchar. >> aye. >> mr. franken. >> aye. >> mr. graham. >> no by proxy. >> mr. cornyn. >> no. >> mr. lee. >> no by proxy. >> mr. chairman. >> aye. >> mr. chairman votes are 11 yeas, seven nays. >> the senator from texas. >> so you don't think i'm trying to pull your leg, there was a complete substitute -- >> you're not the one that talked about my brother-in-law. >> there was a complete substitute at your office at 4:16 yesterday. is when we got the language. >> i was on the floor introducing it on monday. >> i'm not saying you personally delivered it to our office. i'm saying your shop emailed it to our office at 4:16 yesterday. that's my only point. thank you. >> all right. and trust me my brother-in-law's a good guy. >> i had the honor of meeting your brother-in-law. >> i know you have. and he's done the prayer at the opening of the session several times. i must say just for -- it has nothing to do with this thing, but one of the things that he's found

mr chalker cooper was neutral scooper charles schumer you know the guy who was arguing this he paraphrased jefferson although he didn't he i think had i been writing it i would have said as thomas jefferson said when he was asked you know who should make the final decisions with regard to thinking this is in the marbury vs madison case. he said you know who should make the decision and he said the people themselves isn't this something that should be up to the states or is this something that the supreme court should be but i think we've seen over the years in the live the life of the supreme court is the supreme court has been a place of the great equalizer or the scales of justice where groups go to find justice brown versus the board of education roe v wade we see tons of those cases where the supreme court sort of plays that middle row where legislators that were you sort of take the legislature the politics out of it and the money out of it and you really have a conversation about the philosophical nature and how that relates to our constitution but aren't those both cases within had

mr. lee? >> aye by proxy. chairman? >> no9. . >> 8 yays, 10 nays. >> senator schumer recorded no in person. amendment call up 11316 to ask for immediate consideration. >> without objection, it is before the committee. >> this would allow persons who have obtained a protection order, which is a broader definition then just merely a , this wouldrder allow people who love it obtained a protection order to obtain and possess the personal self-defense weapons prohibited by the legislation. the national coalition against domestic violence estimates 1.3 million per year women are traumatized by domestic violence, and one in every four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime. when the sexual assault statistics are added, the numbers are staggering. the most vulnerable, this is a symbol of struck bridget struggle and the certification of real threat of danger they and their families must live with every day. we should ensure that at the very least they are able to own and possess the very tools necessary to protect themselves from becoming a tragic statistic. i would ask my colleague

senator schumer have cosponsored, and i appreciate your interest in that and will put other questions on the record as well. thank you. >> thank you, senator klobuchar. senator rubio. >> thank you, mr. chairman. first, thank you all for serving on the commission. it's an exciting to be on there with all these things happening. i may not use all my time for questioning. i have a 4:30 p.m. appointment to unlock my phone. [laughter] >> are you going to need a lawyer for the? >> at 440 thymic i have to go to the library congress. i guess i'll start with commission ago because he was so involved with the internet freedom debate that took place. and i guess it's my question. i'm interested in working on draft legislation with others that would declare the policy of the united states to promote the global internet free from government control and maintain the current multi-stakeholder governance. i know not asking to endorse legislation although feel free to do so, any of you, but i would ask you, do you think is her statement from the congress will be something that's helpful in regards to position of the united states and these international bodies and beyond? >> thank you for your lead

maybe some of my colleagues would engage senator schumer on that point they finally, i note the views of mr. mark -- again. he is the father of a young son who was murdered in newtown. says he is not willing to entertain this conversation until congress implements solutions to improve the nich database, until you fix the database, and what feeds it, you will not solve anything. he says that these checks are not universal and never will be. that word is intended to give people a sense that they have solved the entire problem. obviously, i agree with the letter writer. we heard testimony that hundreds of thousands of mental health records are -- of prohibited persons in a single state have not been provided to the nics. should make sure existing laws are effective and a fourth before we start enacting new ones. for these reasons, i oppose this legislation. now, as i said to senator schumer, i have three or four questions i would like to ask him. i think they take short interest, so i am not doing this to extend it out, but to get clarification. >> just for a moment. i have to step out just fo

schumer's legislation as amended by his amendment. >> y by proxy. >> aye, ay, ay by proxy, ay, ay , ay, a, no by proxy, mr. lee, no, no, no by proxy, yie. >> ten eyes, eight nays. >> the school of safety enhancement act of 2013 by senator box and collins, i'd call out the bill and offer a substitute that circulated on behalf of senator boxer and senator warner. if there are no objections to substitute the s 146 is amended with the substitute offered. it is open for further amendment. >> i believe that i'm going to offer an amendment but i won't speak about the amendment now. and i think i'll be able to vote for this bill so i'll say a few words. i work closely with senator boxer and warner on this substitute. i thank them for agreeing to some changes that i requested. i also have this one amendment that i want to bring up. first though, the substitute reduces new authorization from the proposed $100 million a year to a more reasonable $40 million a year. all told this is a $600 million reduction in the cost of the bill over the ten year window. the secure our schools program was authorized in the year 2,00

senator schumer has sponsored and i appreciate your interest in that and we'll put some other questions on the record as well. thank you. >> thank you, senator. senator rubio. >> thank you, mr. chairman. first, thank you all for serving on this commission. it's an exciting time to be on there with all these things happening. i may not use all my time for questioning. i have a 4:30 appointment to unlock my phone. [laughter] >> are you going to need a lawyer for that? >> at 4:40 i have to go see the librarian of congress. i'll start with commissioner mcdowell. you were so involved in the internet freedom debate that took place. here's my question. i am interested in working on some draft legislation with others that would declare the policy of the policy of the united states to promote a global internet free from government control and maintain the current multistakeholder governance. i'm not asking you to endorse legislation, although feel free to do, so any of you, but i would ask you, do you think that that sort of statement from the congress is something that's helpful in regards to the position of the united states and these international bodies and beyond? >> first of a

mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the snore from new york. -- the senator from new york. mr. schumer: are we in a quarrel? the presiding officer: yes. mr. schumer: subsidy that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i rise in opposition to coburn amendment 26 which deals with -- the presiding officer: all time has expired. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent for an additional two minutes to address this amendment. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president. i thank my colleagues. i rise in opposition to coburn amendment 26. what it does is prevent certain types of funding to be given to ua s*eu, which is the -- ua s*eu, the lifeblood of new york's antiterror programs. it's gotten rave reviews from people. the person in charge is ray kelly, who is very much in the mainstream, right in the center of our fight against terrorism not only in new york, but in the country. as you know, new york city has more than 1

mr. president, just so senators will know tomorrow the judiciary committee will continue its work on three remaining gun violence measures. senator schumer's proposal to expand requirements for background checks, senator boxer's proposal to enhance the safety of our schools, and senator feinstein's bill to reinstitute assault weapons ban. i'd like to have these completed by the end of this week in the judiciary committee. you know, last week when the president signed the violence against women act, -- and trafficking victims protection legislation, he said we were able to pass this on a bipartisan measure because the american people spoke up. that's what happened on the vawa bill when a group of house republicans switched their position to support passing the vawa bill even though they had opposed passing it last year. the assaults in the context of the gun violence legislation, seven of the eight republican senators on the judiciary committee voted against closing the loopholes in the law to combat straw purchases and gun trafficking even though virtually every law enforcement agency i've heard from in this country wants us to close the l