mr. toomey: thank you, mr. president. i want to speak about our immigration debate and my amendment in particular. but first let me say, you know, we're going to find out just how serious our colleagues are about granting not just legal status to the dreamers, people who were brought here illegally when they were children and shouldn't be held accountable for that action, but the proposal that will be available for a vote later this week, will not just grant legal status but will grant a path to citizenship. it goes well beyond the legal executive order that president obama issued, and it will be available to far more people than those who took up president obama's illegal executive order. it will be an extraordinary moment. i hope we are able to reach an agreement on this because i think this needs to get done. but i want to first address an amendment that i have offered and is now up and pending and we will be voting on it, i think, at some point this week, which is about keeping our communities safer by addressing the

mr. toomey: mr. president, i'd like to address the chamber on a topic that i've been speaking on once a week or thereabouts since we passed the historic tax reform late last year. last friday i had the chance to visit skwred poole tools northeast plastics in scranton, pennsylvania. it's a company owned by cindy and allen hayen. jet pool tools make swimming pool accessories. they make skimmers and water test kits and other devices that people use in their pools. northeast plastics is a sister company, and they make custom plastic products like locker handles and barber supplies and all kinds of special order products. well, mr. president, this is a great example of tax reform in action, tax reform that is working for this small business and this employer in northeastern pennsylvania. they, like other small businesses, get to discount by 20% their net income and only pay tax on the other 80%. that frees up cash flow for this business and businesses all across america to go out and purchase new equipmen

toomey: we didn't address it, mr. president. president trump: do you know why? you're afraid of the nra. sen. toomey: no. i dealt with the nra five years

mr. toomey proposes amendment 1948 to amendment 1959. mr. mcconnell: i ask that the reading be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. the democratic leader. mr. schumer: i call up the amendment 1958. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator proposes amendment 1958 to the amendment proposed to be strike bin amendment 1959. mr. schumer: i ask that the reading be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i call up amendment 1959 to schumer amendment 1958. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: amendment 1955 to amendment 1958. mr. durbin: i ask consent that the reading be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. the democratic. mr. schumer: as we enter -- as we enter the second day of the debate on immigration, everyone should be focused on finding a bill to protect the dreamers and address border security that can get 60 votes. that's the ballgame. the majority leader's desire to vote on unrelated partisan im

mr. chairman. >> senator toomey? >> thank you, mr. chairman and mr. secretary. thank you once again for joining us once again. let me just stay on this topic since my colleague from massachusetts has brought it up. i think an important point that needs to be stressed here, and i'm curious to see if you agree, mr. secretary, but these banks that are $50 billion to $25050 billion and under this bipartisan regulatory relief measure would no longer be automatically designated as sifys. they're extremely heavily regulated anyway outside of a sify designation, absent a sify designation, isn't it true that all of these banks are subject to a huge raft of designations that has nothing to do with the sify regulation? >> that is true. in many cases they're probably regulated by as many as four different entities. >> multiple regulators. and isn't it also true that these banks now have huge capital standards. the industry is generally extremely heavily capitalized. isn't it also true that they have very high liquidity requirements, new requirements that didn't exist prior

mr. toomey mention the the chairman has been working very hard to get a vote scheduled on that and appreciate working with you and your team on the issues related to north korea. a lot of issues i was going to cover have been addressed, but this is the first time i believe you've been before the congress since the passage of the tax bill and by all accounts the president intends to talk a little bit about that this evening. you and i will find plenty to disagree with about the tax bill in general, but in the interest of truth in advertising i do think it's worth pointing out that a couple of things that were said that the plan would do which it did not, and one, of course, is that it ended up providing big tax breaks to very wealthy americans, and you were called because you've been faced with this question before before. back in november 16 and you said any reductions in upper income taxes will be offset by less deductions stow there will be no absolutely tax cut for the upper class, close quotation. that's not true for the final bill. there are net tax reductions? >> there are overall, yes,

toomey: we didn't address it, mr. president. president trump: do you know why? you're afraid of the nra. sen. toomey: no. i dealt with the nra five years ago. president trump: it's a big issue right now. a lot of people are afraid of that issue, raising the age for that weapon to 21. sen. toomey: my reservation about it, frankly, is that the vast majority of 18, 19 and 20-year-olds in pennsylvania who have a rifle or shotgun, they're not a threat to anyone. they're law-abiding citizens. they have that because they want to use it for hunting or target shooting. to deny them their second amendment right is not going to make anyone safer. that's my reservation about changing the age. president trump: i know where you're coming from. and i understand that. i understand that. i think it's a position. it's a position. but i think if we are going to use you as a base, the two of you, i think you're going to have to iron out that problem. i'm asked that question more than almost any other question. are you going to 21 or not? anybody? yes, steve. steve daines: mr. presid

mr. president. >> why? because you're afraid of the n.r.a., right? >> reporter: pennsylvania republican pat toomey. >> my reservation frankly is the vast majority of 18, 19, and 20 year olds in pennsylvania who have a rifle or a shotgun, they're not a threat to anyone. they're law-abiding citizens. >> reporter: president trump also clashed with republicans, including recent shoot shooting victim steve is a lease when they argued gun owners need the right the carry weapons across state lines. >> these are people who are helping us stop crimes. these are people who are well trained who go out there and help prevent crimes. >> i'm with you, but let it be a separate bill. you will never get this passed. if you add conceal carry, you will never get it passed. >> reporter: he was less enthused about a ban on assault rifles. >> you know, the problem, diane, these aren't what you walk enter a store and buy, this is where you hand them a gun and hand them some money. >> oh, no, you can go into a store and you can buy an ar-15, a tec-9. you can buy all these weapons. >> reporter: those weapons, he argued, s

toomey. >> thank you, mr. chairman. secretary azar, thank you for joining us. good to see you again. the, administration's budget in your area i think strikes some constructive balances. you have emphasis on some important priority areas like senator portman has alluded to, opioid abuse research and treatment. i do hope we'll be doing more to understand root causes of addiction as well as treatment of addiction. i think we have a long way to go there. also, ideas about lowering cost of prescription drugs and medical research generally. all good. i also want to commend you for addressing a huge, huge fiscal challenge we have which your budget does address and i will ask you to comment on in a moment, dealing with the unsustainable spending of our entitlement programs. i think we can't underscore enough, you can not tax your way out of a problem. there is no revenue solution to federal government spending programs that are growing faster than our economy. ultimately tax revenue can never for long grow at a rate faster than our economy. it strikes me as long struck me one of the sensibl

red-state democrat joe manchin and republican pat toomey for not including an age limit increase in their background check bill. >> didn't address it, mr. president -- >> you know why? because you're afraid of the nra. >> reporter: at times, wheeling and dealing in realtime. >> if you can add domestic violence paragraphs, pages, into this bill, i'm all for it, but can you add what amy and what ann -- can we add them in? >> reporter: even pushing back against fellow republican steve scalise, shot and nearly killed during a baseball practice last summer when scalise suggested adding a measure involving a concealed weapons permit to a bill aimed at strengthening background checks. >> you look at the concealed carry population -- >> we're talking about a whole new ball game. you'll never get this passed if youcarried, you'll never get it passed. >> reporter: bump stocks, those devices that turn weapons into assault-style firearms. his message to lawmakers, the time to act is now. >> i see some folks that don't say nice things about me and that's okay. because if you turn that into just energy, i'll love you. >> reporter: we reached out to

pennsylvania senator pat toomey who is also at the event has also been pushing a bill to broaden background checks. >> we didn't address it mr mr. president. >> you know why, because you're afraid of the nra. >> no. an issue five years ago. >> just today dick's sporting goods a announced lit no longer sell high powered rifles like ar15 and not sell any guns to anyone under the age of 21. >>> we have breaking news to mercer county we go. we've got skyfox in the air right now. this is hamilton township where police have confirmed they have found a body in spring lake. this is off of sewell avenue. you can see firefighters and police at the scene. officers say someone called just before 5:00 saying that there was a body there. right now investigators aren't releasing many details of what's going on. actually nothing other than what i've told you. we'll stay on top of this and bring you more information as the news warrants. >>> it has happened over and over. traffic problems at a train bridge in radnor. it happened again today it's not because of a normal type of traffic thing a truck once again slammed into the bridge. this ti

toomey from pennsylvania. they asked him about raising the age limit ten he said mr.re is a lot of 18, 19, 20-year-old men and women in pennsylvania that want to use an ar for fun, target, hunting. why should we deny law-abiding people their constitutional second amendment rights. the president said all right, he looked at senator manchin, he said you have to get together on that. that's going to be a critical issue. on the broward county thing, we are looking at information from sources that said people who showed up, the police officers, were told not to go in unless they have body cameras. none of them had body cameras. the emts were told not to go in. one of the emts told fox news everything i was trained on mass casualty event said they did the wrong thing. training since columbine has been first responders, police go in immediately with paramedics. they had a de-escalation policy at the broward county sheriff's department and they had another program called the promise program where they don't arrest students for criminal activity. you get to the point where he

toomey and joe mansion, can you sort of detail your bill? i haven't heard a lot about it, actually. >> thank you very much. absolutely, mr. president. and i do think our bill is the best chance of moving forward. we got 54 votes in 2013, the most that any bill in this space got. it has several components. first title is very similar to what jon cornyn and chris murphy's bill does. it strengthens the reporting of information into the background check system. >> having one bill is nicer than having seven bill. >> right. the second part has a provision that would require background checks on all commercial sales. one of the big gaps in our background check system today is sales at gun shows and sales over the internet are not necessarily subject to a background check and we think they should be. these are commercial in nature and they're on a scale that really matters. our bill would require those background checks. we also have a number of provisions which we'll -- >> do you have support for that, bipartisan support for what you're saying? >> we had 54 votes in 2013. most of those 54 voters are still in the senate. >> and not a lot of

mr. president, that you met with the nra. what matters here is not the nra. what matters here is preventing another one of these mass shootings. so i'm so grateful to hear that senator toomey and manchin's bill not might be -- i would suggest must be a part of this. there's so many things that we can do right now. the only thing i would add, you started mr. president by pointing out there would be differences of opinion. please know that our great differences of opinion on the question of whether having teachers armed with guns firing back at a potential mass shooter is the answer? i don't think it is. many others don't. please also know that there are -- the majority of this people in the country now understand that there are limitations on the second amendment. you cannot an automatic weapon, you cannot on a bazooka. so there's no reason to continue to sell to people a weapon of war like this. i know there's differences of opinion. i just hope that we can act, that we can show the american people and the kids and their grieving families in my district that with presidential leadership, doesn't matter what congress says, you can help push this forward and we will consider

mr. chairman. secretary, good to see you again. let me say at the beginning as senator toomey did as well, thank you for your hard work on the tax reform package. you have helped to accomplish something that hasn't been done in over 30 years. and specifically thank you for helping the irs get the new withholdings done in time for hopefully the february 15th paychecks. my understanding is that somewhere around 8 out of 10 employees will see more money in their take-home pay. that is significant progress for folks who are living paycheck to paycheck. they're going to have a greater appreciation in a tangible way of the success of this administration and, frankly, of your leadership. so thank you for that. i'd also like to say thank you because between the president's executive order last spring and the treasury's report last november, the administration has made solid progress on the issue of nonbank sifi designations. but imagine getting pulled over for speeding in a neighborhood without any speed limit sign. that's kind of how you get designated sifi from a nonbanking perspect

before a call on marco, i would like to have pat toomey and joe manchin, could you detail your bill because i haven't heard a lot about it. >> aiks. thank you, mr. president and our best chance is the bill, we got 54 votes. the first title is a title very similar to what cornyn and chris murphy's bill does. it strengthens the reporting of information into the background checks. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> absolutely. one bill is nicer than having seven bills. >> the second part has a provision that would require background checks on all commercial sales. one of the big gaps in our background checks is sales at gun shows an over the internet are not necessarily subject to a background checks. and we think they should be. these are essentially commercial in nature and they are on a scale that really matters. so our bill would require those background checks. we also have a number of provisions which we'll -- >> you have support for that? >> for -- >> bipartisan support for what you are saying? >> we have 54 votes in 2013. and most of those 54 are still in the senate. >> and you didn't have a lost presidential back-up. >> mr. president -- >> the

toomey, republican from pennsylvania. thanks for coming on and sharing your views. much appreciated. >> thanks, chuck. >> not every republican is on board with limited gun proposals, after mr. trump considered raising the age to purchase an ar-15. thomas massie didn't take long to tweet back at the president. why should a 20-year-old single mom be denied the right to defend herself and her kids? we should lower the age to buy a handgun to 18 instead of raising the age to buy an ar 15. sad in all caps, a tweak at the president's use of the word. thomas massie joins me. welcome to "meet the press," sir. >> thanks for having me onto talk about some serious solutions to these problems. >> let me ask you this. you heard senator toomey, he wants to expand that background check system for all gun purchases. what's wrong with that? >> listen, my heart is breaking for the families in florida. i have kids that go to public school. we had a school shooting here in kentucky. i am a legislator in a position to do something. but if i came home after proposing some of these things that are so unserious and disingenuous that some of my colleagues are proposing as solutions to school shoot

hereby appoint the honorable pat toomey, a senator from the state of pennsylvania, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: orrin g. hatch, president pro tempore. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: this congress and this president have delivered a historic series of achievements for the american people. we took an axe to the red tape holding back our economy. we used the congressional review act a record 15 times to pave the way for job creation. after joars of broken properly -- years of broken promises to our veterans we began giving our heroes the more accessible care, greater choice and workforce training they deserve. we confirmed outstanding judges to the federal bench. we advanced efforts to address the opioid crisis. and of course we passed the most significant tax overhaul in a generation. already tax reform is increasing take-home pay for american workers. already businesses are investing more, expanding more, and creating more good-paying jobs right here at home. over the past year, we have built a record of successes for middle-class families and a stronger, safer country. but among

mr. chairman. sorry, i was in another committee hearings. i do want to start by thanking you and the department for your input on the legislation of the brink act. i think senator toomey mentioned the chairman has been working hard to get a vote scheduled on that. appreciate working with you on that and your team on the issues related to north korea. a lot of the issues i was going to cover have been addressed. this is the first time you have been before congress since the passage of the tax bill. by all accounts, the president intends to talk about that this evening. we will find plenty to disagree with about the tax bill in general, but in the interest of truth in advertising i think it is worth pointing out a couple of things that were said that the plan would do, which it did not. one is it ended up providing big tax breaks to very wealthy americans. -- you have been faced with this question before, back in november 2016, he said " any reductions we have will be soset by less deductions there will be no absolute tax cut for the upper class." that is not true with respect to the final bill, is it? there are net tax reductions for the upper class. sec. mnuchin: ther

mr. president, i rise today to introduce the terrorist firearms prevention act which would prohibit suspected or known terrorists from legally purchasing a firearm. i would like to thank my colleague, senator heitkamp, flake, heinrich, toomey, baldwin, king, nelson, mansion, and kaine for their cosponsorship of this bipartisan bill. i particularly want to recognize the leadership of senator heinrich, who has joined me on the floor this evening as we introduce the bill and explain it to our colleagues. mr. president, often referred to as no fly no buy, this bill represents one of the sensible steps that we can take to reform our nation's gun laws to better protect our people. our bill is based on a simple principle. if you are considered to be too dangerous to board an airplane, then you are too dangerous to buy a firearm. our legislation would grant the attorney general the authority to block the purchase of a gun by a person who was on either the no-fly or the selectee list. remarkably, mr. president, current law does not prohibit a person known or suspected of engaging in terrorism from walking into a gun shop and buying a firearm. the no-fly list and the selectee list are the narrowest subsets of all of the government's

mr. toomey: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, kate steinly didn't have to be shot and killed on a peer in san francisco. a 13-year-old child didn't have to be raped in the city of philadelphia by ramon. they were -- these crimes were committed by people who had committed previous crimes and after having been deported. in both cases the police departments had these criminals in custody shortly prior to the commission of these crimes, but in both cases when the department of homeland security asked for a temporary detention until they could take these people into custody and deport them, that was not allowed because these are sanctuary cities. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. please take your conversations off the floor. senator. mr. toomey: so the sanctuary cities systematically forbid the local police from sharing information or cooperating with federal immigration officials, even in the case of criminals. my amendment is a bipartisan amendment. i want to thank the senator from west virginia for co

mr. president, consistent with that, i would ask consent that at 2:15 today, the motion to proceed to h.r. 2579 be agreed to. i ask unanimous consent that senator toomey or his designee be recognized to offer amendment 1948, and that the democratic leader or his designee be recognized to offer an amendment. further, that the time until 3:30 p.m. be equally divided between the leaders or their designees and that following the use or yielding back of that time, the senate vote on the amendments in the order listed with 60 affirmative votes required for adoption and that no second-degree amendments be in order prior to the votes. finally, that if any of the amendments are adopted, they become original text for purpose of further amendment.

mr. president, consistent with that, i would ask consent that at 2:15 today, the motion to proceed to h.r. 2579 be agreed to. i ask unanimous consent that senator toomey or his designee be recognized to offer amendment 1948, and that the democratic leader or his designee be recognized to offer an amendment. further, that the time until 3:30 p.m. be equally divided between the leaders or their designees and that following the use or yielding back of that time, the senate vote on the amendments in the order listed with 60 affirmative votes required for adoption and that no second-degree amendments be in order prior to the votes. finally, that if any of the amendments are adopted, they become original text for purpose of further amendment. mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. schumer: reserving the right to object. the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: mr. president, i appreciate the process the majority leader agreed to this week, but the proposal he just offered does not address the underlying issues of this debate, why we're here. it doesn't address dreamers nor does it address border security

mr. president, consistent with that, i would ask consent that at 215 thymic today the motion to proceed to h.r. 2579b agreed to an ascii names consent senator toomey or his designee budesonide -- recognized to offer amendment 1948 and that the democratic leader or his designee budesonide to offer an amendment. further that the time until 3:3n the leaders or their designees and that following views are yielding back at that time the senate vote on the amendment in the order listed with 60 affirmative votes required for adoption. and that no second-degree amendments be in order prior to the votes. finally, if any of the limits are adopted they become original text for purpose of further amendment. >> is their objection?ht >> reserving the right to object. >> the democratic leader. >> i appreciate the process the majority leader agreed to this week but the proposal he just offer does not address the underlying issues of this debate, why we're here to get his address dreamers nor does it for security. as i said this morning, the senate must focus on finding a bipartisan solution that addresses those two issues, dreamers and border security. rather tha

mr. president, consistent with that, i would ask consent that a 2:15 today, the motion to proceed to h.r. 2579 b. agreed to. i ask unanimous consent that senator toomey or his designee be authorized to offer amendment 1948 and that the democratically or his designee be recognized to offer anam amendment. further, but the time until 3:30 p.m. be equally divided between the leaders or their designee is an following the use or yielding back of that time, the senate vote on the amendment to the order listed with 60 affirmative votes required for adoption and the secondary amendments be in order prior to theam vote. finally, if any amendment adopted they become original for purpose further amendment.es >> mr. president. >> is there objection? >> observing the right to object. >> i appreciate the process of majority leader agreed to this week, but the proposal you just offer does not address the underlying issues of this debate, why we are here. it doesn't address dreamers, nor does it address bordery. securi. as i said this morning, the senate must focus on finding a bipartisan solution that addresses those two issues, dreamers and border security. rather

mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that the motion to proceed to h.r. 2579 be agreed to, that senator toomey or his designee be recognized to offer amendment number 1948 and that senator coons or his designee be recognized to offer amendment number 1955. further, that the time until 8:00 p.m. be equally divided between the leaders or their designees and following the use or yielding back of that time, the senate vote on the amendments in the order listed with 60 affirmative votes required for adoption and that no second-degree amendments be in order prior to the votes. finally, that if any of the amendments are adopted, they become original text for the purpose of further amendment. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. durbin: mr. president, reserving the right to object. the presiding officer: the stability democratic leader. mr. durbin: mr. president, there have been meetings that have been going on all day on a bipartisan basis to try to resolve the issue before us, which was the president's decision to end the daca program effectively march 5 of this year. i believe progress is

mr. president, consistent with that, i would ask consent that at 2:15 today, the motion to proceed to h.r. 2579 be agreed to. i ask unanimous consent that senator toomey or his designee be recognized to offer amendment 1948, and that the democratic leader or his designee be recognized to offer an amendment. further, that the time until 3:30 p.m. be equally divided between the leaders or their designees and that following the use or yielding back of that time, the senate vote on the amendments in the order listed with 60 affirmative votes required for adoption and that no second-degree amendments be in order prior to the votes. finally, that if any of the amendments are adopted, they become original text for purpose of further amendment. mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. schumer: reserving the right to object. the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: mr. president, i appreciate the process the majority leader agreed to this week, but the proposal he just offered does not address the underlying issues of this debate, why we're here. it doesn't address dreamers nor does it address border security