mr. schumer: thank you. first let me thank my colleague from oregon, our new shining chairman of the finance committee, who's doing such a great job. and he's trying in his own inimitable, almost always successful way to weave together ideas of democrats and republicans to create a bipartisan solution. first on the issue of extenders and that wille that will be a bt case, and he knows tft and, second, on tax reform in general. if we can't pass these tax extenders in a bipartisan way, it will not bode well for tax reform. i am very hoh hopeful with the initial signs that we can get that vote done. as the senator from oregon mentioned, it has many, many benefits for all parts of the country, ideas from democrats, ideas from republicans, ideas that, such as he mentioned, was kind enough to mention, that we worked on together, such as the proposal that senator roberts and i put together under the guidance really of senator coons, who was the originator of the idea. so, madam president, today i want to thank my f

mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president. first let me compliment our chairman, our new chairman of the finance committee. he is doing a great job on this bill. he is keeping the tenor bipartisan, as he has done throughout his whole career. and he's only been there a short while, but he's taking to the chairmanship like a fish to water. i just want to follow up. there is so much bipartisan in this bill. it passed out of committee unanimously. i worked o on an amendment with senator roberts that senator coons had originated with senators isakson and blunt to improve the section 181 live production incentive. portman and carter worked on energy nshes. cantwell and roberts on low-income tax credit and the list goes on and on and on. as a result, this bill has broad support. the business round table, grover norquist as well as the n.e.a. and feeding america -- broad, bipartisan support. so where are we? and i'd just like to further elaborate on what the chairman has said. we are willing to vote o

mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president. and i rise today to point out that -- to my colleagues that more than 300 days have passed after we in the senate passed bipartisan legislation that would secure our border, hold employers accountable for hiring illegal workers, grow our economy and provide a chance for people currently here illegally to get right with the law and earn legal status. but the house has failed to anything to fix our broken immigration system he were more than 300 days after we in the senate passed bipartisan legislation. to be clear, the problem is not that there's a difference of opinion between a house bill and a senate bill on immigration that cannot be reconciled. the problem is that house republicans have complete abdicated their responsibility to address important issues, such as our fix -- such as fixing our broken immigration system. again, the problem isn't that the house has passed laws that the senate disagrees with. the problem is that the house won't put any

mr. schumer's party has been the one that's hijacked by special interests. and they've lost sight of who they claim to represent, working americans. that's my charge. that's what i say. we have a generous immigration policy. we need to make sure it's enforced correctly and carried out awfully. that's what the american people have asked of us. they've demanded, really, for 40 years, that we create a lawful system that we can be proud of, that treats people fairly. you make your application to come to america, you lay out your qualifications, and they're evaluated and the best persons, the persons most deserving on an objective basis are the ones that are admitted. what's wrong with that? that's what canada does. that's what the u.k. does. it's what australia does. nothing wrong with that. that's what we should be doing. and we should decide how many people the country can absorb and what wage categories before we admit huge numbers, and certainly before we double the number that we presently bring in. so a number of people have complained and on the floor of

mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mr. schumer: i'm going to be very brief because i know that you, mr. president have to be out of here as a certain time, as do i as did senator murphy. so i'll come back tomorrow and speak at great length, or greater length anyway. let's hope it's not too great. i just wanted to say this, mr. president. one of the things that america knows is that college is becoming more of a necessity and it's getting to be priced like more of a luxury. we can't have that. when college is a ticket to success -- not just income success but even recent surveys show longevity happiness -- it's a shame it's a crying shame when any american deserves to go to college but doesn't go or doesn't go to the right college because he or she can't afford it. we aim to change that in a variety of ways. but the one that senator warren has talked about and taken the lead on is in terms of refinancing. it is absolutely outrageous that students who have just gotten out of college in the last 5 10 15, 20 years even are payi

mr. schumer. >> thank you, mr. speaker. thank you, ambassador froman.you have a really tough job and you approach it with intelligence and integrity and calmness, so thank you for your service year. i want to talk about currency manipulation. a bipartisan majority both the senate and house have made very clear want strong and enforceable currency manipulation language included in any tpp agreement. strongly which on currency manipulation is a vital first step to earning democratic support to passing tpp in the senate. we'll have to take a close look at every aspect of the deal but i think nothing can give tpp a fighting chance of being passed better than strong currency reforms. japan and other countries regularly distort their currency exchange rate to push of trading surpluses with us. and the last year alone the yen has fallen about 25% against the dollar. china's not part of tpp but if we did this it would send a warning shot that they eventually walk into tpp to have to reform their kurds as well and might even just get them to move on their own if

mr. schumer and to talk what immigration but what is in the interest of the american people?t talking about politics and special interest and ideology but what is good for america. . . talk about workers and wages in your remarks this morning when you demeaned people who disagree with you and oppose your great bill that you've drafted that will not work. so we're not going to be scared off. we're not going to be intimidated and handing over control of our immigration laws to a small group of special interests who are meeting in your office, maybe promising support. so i just feel strongly about

mr. schumer is party has been the one that hijacks special-interest.going to represent working americans. that is my charge. that's what i'm saying. the immigration, we need to make sure it is enforced directly and carried out lawfully. that is what the american people the best of us. they have demanded, really, for 40 years that they recreate a lawful system that we can be proud of, that treats people fairly. you make your application to come to america, lay out their value, and the best person, the person most deserving on an objective basis of the ones that are omitted. what is wrong with that? that is what canada does. that is what the u.k. does. it is what australia does. there's nothing wrong with that. that is what we should be doing, and we should decide how many people the country can of sort and what wage categories before we had made huge numbers. and certainly before we double room -- double them. so a number of people have complained. and on the floor of the senate that tech industries cannot find qualified americans. you have heard that c

schumer, - so mr. senator schumer went on. he called for my expulsion from the republican party. i'm pretty sure they're not going to listen to chuck schumer on that. he says, quote, they can show some courage and say that the steve kings of the world can say whatever they want but they ave no place in a modern republican party. a leftist activist deploying alinsky tactics on the floor of the united states senate would tell the republican party that they should expel me. who in a lot of ways have stood with the entire platform consistently for a long time. i have to go change the platform first and it would be easier to just become a democrat. however, you know, their ranks are not swelling as fast as ours are. common sense is prevailing, and we are' seeing that republican jorts in the states -- we're seeing that republican majorities in the states and likely expanded here in the united states house of representatives and a more of a shot in the united states senate, what does that say to who's calling the shots in america? it's not chuck schumer. it's not harry reid. it's not di

mr. chairman. >> senator schumer. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, ambassador free-throw froman. you have a tough -- ambassador froman and you have a tough job. so thank you for your service here. i want to talk a little bit about currency manipulation. a bipartisan majority of both the senate and house have made very clear we want strong and enforceable currency manipulation included in any t.p.p. agreement. strong language on currency manipulations are a vital first step to earning democratic support on passing t.p.p. in the senate. we have to take a close look at every aspect of the deal, but i think nothing can give t.p.p. a fighting chance of being passed better than strong currency reforms. japan and other countries regularly distort their currency exchange rates. to push up trading surpluses with us. in the last year alone, the yen has fallen about 25% against the dollar. china is not part of t.p.p., but if we do this it would send a warning shot that if they eventually want in t.p.p. they have to reform their currency as well and might get them to move on their own if the

chuck schumer represents the extreme outliers and they are socialists, marxists, progressives, liberal democrats. i'm sure one of the laboralists will be one he's embraced, mr speaker. second quote, senator chuck schumer of me, steve king. it is beyond the pale. i'm certain the majority of republicans in the house will see their stomaches chur when they hear him spew that kind of rhetoric. that's not dialogue, mr. speaker to see that kind of thing and what i wonder is why would chuck know he would know when the stomaches of republicans might churn. i think they might churn when they hear him say those things. . my doesn't. i take this with good humor. i understand it's a tactic. it's designed to bring out a goal. and it's not necessarily to raise me up to the point where he assigns me with the full sense of responsibility and authority to determine immigration policy here in the house of representatives. i wish it were so, mr. speaker. i don't believe it's so. yes, there is some influence there. history will decide how much. not he me, not chuck schumer. but here's his goa

reid of nevada, wyden, menendez, murray, tester, canal, leahy, schatz, warner, schumer, rockefeller, cardin, and heinrich. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. a senator: mr. president? t the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are notment mr. blumenthal: i would ask to speak as if in morning business. -- mr. murphy: i ask unanimous consent that katherine martucci from my office be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the year. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. murphy: thank you, mr. president. there was a fairly remarkable hearing in the house of representatives yesterday, the energy and commerce committee, upon which i used to sit when i was there, called together some of the nation's biggest insurers to talk about all of the failures of the affordable care act as seen through the lens of the insurance companies. first up on the docket for republicans was the claim that no one had paid their

mr. president, you're going to hear it again. in this case senator roberts and senator schumer and others made adjustments to the credit to make it work better for small hiss and start-up firms. many of these firms that are just getting out of the gate can't really use the research credit in its current form. so the expire act says to all of those start-ups, if they want to use the credit, we're going to make it easier to hire and pay workers. we're going to help you do that. the congress also needs to keep pushing business investment and innovation, and that's why the expire act extends incentives like bonus depreciation and expanded business expensing. this makes it easier for companies to informs in new equipment -- to invest in new equipment and property, grow their operations and create more jobs. now, we know many of our communities are hurting. they've been battered by an exodus of manufacturing jobs. so it's critical to drive investment to those communities to help promote growth and create good paying jobs. the people in those communities hit and hit hard by this economy deserve a chance to achieve the american dream jus

mr. chairman for this hearing. it's wonderful to see you again, ambassador froman, and i want to follow up on senator schumer's comments. no surprise want to ask you about currency manipulation as well. we talked extensively about that. i'm surprised it has not come up yet. i thought that this event something that was being discussed, or to emphasize again, as you know, we have 60 senators in a bipartisan way that a written a letter asking that we have an inclusion of strong and enforceable currency disciplines in all future trade. 60 members. majority members who feel very strongly about that so when you talk about trying to pass a tpp, i'm not sure how that passes given the strong feelings that people have. 230 members, 230 in the house wrote a letter also. and so senator schumer talked in general terms about this, so let me zero right in on one country, although this is certainly not about one country. we know about china, we know what's happened, issued late in the past. singapore, malaysia, korea, different places as you know talk, but let me talk about japan because we are doing specific negotiations with japan a

mr. president. this is legislation that has been introduced with senator graham of south carolina, with senator hoeven of north carolina, two republicans as well as senator schumer and senator coons. as i noted, it passed the judiciary committee but we still have objections on the other side, people that are holding this bill up. at the same time metal theft continues to rise across the country, and this bill does not create the kind of burdens that my friend mentioned. this bill is very narrow. the only crime that it creates for a federal crime is a crime of theft of critical infrastructure. critical infrastructure, something that could threaten the national security, and this is not a far reach given that we have seen people stealing copper pipes, given that we have seen houses blow up. it is not a far reach at all. secondly, what does this bill do? well, it leaves it to states to decide what metal theft laws they want because in the end, it does not preempt those laws. if they have laws that are on point, if they have laws relating to metal theft that create some kind of a requirement that not everything can be paid for by check so that law enforcement -- by

mr. speaker. i don't believe it's so. yes, there is some influence there. history will decide how much. not he me, not chuck schumer. but here's his goal. i believe that senator schumer has concluded that he could taunt the leadership in the house of representatives, and that includes our speaker of the house, into brigham necessary at this legislation to the floor of the house because if it does, and if it should pass, the senate would conform with any amnesty legislation because they are controlled by democrats. and i have long known and long been restrained by people in my own party, mr. speaker, from laying out the argument as to why almost every democrat i know wants open borders and amnesty and a never-ending supply of illegal aliens in the united states of america. it's a pretty easy formula to figure out, especially if you sit here for 10 or a dozen years engaged in hearings and debate on a weekly basis, you begin to hear the threat of their conversation and you begin to understand the real truth behind their motives. and it works out to be this. of course there are a large number of illegal immigrants in th

mr. ornstein, one of the situations is whenever you try to do something about an issue like this -- by wait i enjoyed this morning sitting literally in the center between senator roberts and senator schumer, but when you try to do something, everybody thinks of it in partisan terms. does this advantage my party versus the other party, my candidate versus the other. this data i referred to that came out yesterday indicates that the gap, the red more conservative leaning groups, the blue are more liberal groups, and the gap between them is diminishing significantly. it's 85% or 90% conservative back in 2010, as you see here, still a dig disproportion in 2012. the gap is now 60-40. hopefully both sides are going to realize this is a danger. this isn't a partisan issue to me. this nondisclosed money is a danger to the republic no matter who it favors one year to the next. as the old testament says if you sow wind you'll reap the whirlwind. i'm afraid people are saying right now today this benefits my party. but next year or year after that it could benefit the other party and that's why i think we need to make a change like this. >> it's interesting, mr. chairman, that before mccain-feingold

mr. schumer: mr. president, after i speak -- and it will be very short -- i ask unanimous consent my friend and colleague from utah be given the floor. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: and i thank him for letting me say a few words. i just wanted -- i was listening to the debate of course between the majority leader and minority leader, and i just want it to be clear here, the tax extender bill was negotiated very well by senators wyden and hatch, with many of us in the committee participating. and it was truly a bipartisan product. the ideas in there, i'd probably say are half republican, half democrat. now senator hatch makes a very good point, which is that's only about 25% of the senate. what about everybody else? if we have no amendments, no one else can legislate. so i want to clarify what our offer is. senator mcconnell said the whole tax code. amendments on the whole tax code should be allowed. that is no way to legislate. that goes the opposite way. the finance committee

mr. schumer: thank you, madam president. now, we believe that every american who works 40 hours a week deserves a fair shot at getting out of poverty. and under the present minimum wage laws, that doesn't happen. you can work hard with pride as americans do and work that 40 hours and still be below the poverty line. that is basically not part of what america is all about. because america says to everybody, you work hard, you can provide a decent life for you and your family. and since the minimum wage has stagnated, that doesn't happen. since 1968, the minimum wage has failed to keep up with inflation and lost a third of its value. that is not a fair shot for americans. a full-time minimum wage worker makes only about $15,000 a year. not a fair shot for americans. it's wrong and it flies in the face of the american dream. madam president, at the state of the union we each get one guest. i brought a young woman named sha rinch qua elliott. let me tell you about her. shariqua is a cleaner at kennedy airport. she scrubs toilets