mr. whitehouse: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: thank you, mr. president. i very much appreciate my friend, the senator from alaska's remarks. this is truly a bipartisan concern. there are senators on both sides who feel very aggrieved by what took place -- senators from alaska and maine on the two sides of the country and a great number of us. the sheet that rests on the front table during the votes to make sure that people coming in know what the measure is that we're looking at describes the last vote as passage of h.r. 152, the disaster relief appropriations act of 2013. not the sandy relief appropriations act of 2013 but the disaster relief are appropriations act. well, we've had disaster. we didn't make this up. this wang something that got -- this wasn't something that got snuck into the bill or that we tried to do an army on. the -- an earmark on. the governors of rhode island, of mas massachusetts, of maine,f new hampshire, of new york, o sx governors petitioned for disaster declaration. they got one. the secret

mr. whitehouse: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island is recognized. mr. whitehouse: thank you, mr. president. i have the greatest respect for the senator from wyoming and considerable affection. indeed, he is my ranking member on the help committee, and he has been kind enough to offer his perspective on this question of the rules change. i'll reciprocate by offering my perspective. we were in the caucus the other day, and our leader reported that during the time that lyndon johnson was the majority leader, which was a very active and disputacous time in the senate, he faced one filibuster and leader reid said he faced 91, i think he used. the senator from wyoming correctly points out that filling the tree is a challenge to the minority, but i believe, if i recall correctly -- i was planning to speak on something else, so i don't have the numbers exactly accurate at hand. i believe the number of times the tree has been filled is something like 70. there's a huge disparity between the number of times the majority leader has filled the tree and the number of

mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i have three unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. i ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to and that these requests be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. whitehouse: i also ask unanimous consent that an army fellow in senator cornyn's office, major malcolm wardrick be granted floor privileges for the remainder of this legislative session and that two fellows in my office be granted floor privileges for the remainder of this congress. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i'd like now to yield the floor to my distinguished colleague and friend from florida, senator nelson, with the understanding that i will be recognized at the conclusion of his remarks. the presiding officer: the ansar from florida. mr. nelson: mr. president, i want to address the issue of g

mr. whitehouse: yes, that is absolutely true. it's hard to amend a judge. mr. merkley: and is it also my recollection that there have been quite a few filibusters on efforts to get to a conference committee after we've already passed a bill and all the amendments have been previously considered? mr. whitehouse: that is also true. in fact, i believe that there have been multiple filibusters of the various steps on the way to a conference committee, even after all amendments have been considered. so the senator i believe is correct. mr. merkley: and i think the same is true on both conference reports and final passage. neither of those involve amendments but extensive filibustering efforts to keep this body from ever being able to complete one piece of business and move on to the next. mr. whitehouse: i think that's true. my belief -- and nobody i think is more alert to this than the senator from oregon -- my belief is that there have been a little transformation in the nature of the filibuster. it always used to be the individual right of individual senators to

mr. whitehouse: i yield the floor. mr. president, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i now ask unanimous consent that following leader remarks thursday, january 31 the senate proceed to calendar number 7, h.r. 325, the following amendments be the only first-degree amendments in order to the bill: portman dollar for dollar cuts, shutdown government prevention, toomey full faith and credit, paul prohibition, f-16 egypt. the only motion to commit in order to the bill be a vitter amendment regarding spending cuts. the time until 12:15 tomorrow be for debate on the amendments, motion on the bill to run equally divided between the leaders or their designees. prior to votes in relation to the amendments and the vitter motion in the order listed. upon disposition of the amendments and the vitter motion the senate proceed

mr. whitehouse: okay, thank you, mr. president.now entering a postfiscal cliff phase of budget negotiations and a troubling but familiar refrain is already beginning to echo through this chamber, which goes something like this: in order to fix our deficit, we must cut medicare and medicaid benefits. this is wrong. this is flat-out wrong. it is factually wrong. it is wrong. a recent "providence journal" editorial touched on the dangers of that misguided approach. the editorial read, "we need a better run on medicare and medicaid, not one that covers fewer people. quality can be improved and costs contained without throwing people off the rolls and into the streets and back into the free care of emergency rooms mandated for the uninsured and into expensive private insurance. in the end, we all pay in some way in quality of life and in money for the gaps we tolerate in our health care system." attacking medicare and medicaid is consistent with a particular political ideology. it has been part of that political ideology for decades now

mr. whitehouse of rhode island. mr. wicker of mississippi. the vice president: please raise your right hand. the vice president: please raise your right hand. do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter, so help you god? the group: i do. the vice president: congratulations, senators. [applause] mr. reid: mr. president? the vice president: the majority leader. mr. reid: i note the absence of a quorum and ask the clerk to call the roll. the vice president: the absence of a quorum having been suggested, the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the vice president: a quorum is present. the majority leader. mr. reid: can we have order, please. the vice president: may we have order in the senate. the majority le

mr. whitehouse: thank you. actually came to speak on another subject, but i had the opportunity to hear the minority leader's remarks as i was waiting to speak, and i would point out in response that our friends on the other side love to characterize the spending that has taken place in recent years as something that was the will and choice and desire of president obama. what they fail to recall is that during that period, we actually had an economic meltdown. most americans remember that economic meltdown. states like rhode island are still in the aftermath of that economic meltdown, an economic meltdown, by the way, that occurred at the end of the last republican administration and was caused by those policies. and the economic meltdown was relatively global, and we have very practical examples of countries that went the path of spending cuts that the republicans recommend, recommended through the whole economic meltdown. you just have to go through -- you take a tour of europe and you see that where the aust

mr. whitehouse of rhode island. mr. wicker of mississippi. the vice president: please raise your right hand. the vice president: please raise your right hand. do you solemnly swear that you will support and dend the constitution of the united states against all enees, foreign and domestic; that you bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligion freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter, so help you god? the group: io. the vice president: congratulations, senators. [applause] >> senators will carry out constitutional duties on friday when they walk over for a joint session of congress. they will count the local college votes. live cove on c-span 1:00 p.m. eastern. more with vice president biden who met with new and re-elected senators in the old senate chamber. the vice president does this at the start of each congress so the senators can have their photos of their swearing in with their families

mr. whitehouse: i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from georgia. mr. chambliss: i rise to speak today about our tax code as well as our economic future. there's a problem with our tax code, one that hits home with nearly all americans, and that is its complexity. in the fast past few years i have met with hundreds and hundreds of constituents who are worried about this issue, individuals, small businesses, farms and large corporations alike struggle with meeting their obligations to the i.r.s. because of the complexity of our current tax code. earlier this month the i.r.s. taxpayer advocate revealed some startling figures in the agency's annual record report to congress. it estimates that individuals and businesses spend 6.1 billion hours each year complying with the i.r.s. tax filing requirements. the complexity of the tax code is so burdensome that the average citizen and nine in ten taxpayers now pay a professional preparer or use often-costly commercial software to assist in tax preparation. then

mr. brennan was there in the whitehouse and some of those leaks came out. we need to know the results of that investigation as well. there are a lot of questions that need to be asked. i look forward to the hearings. i have always believed that a president deservelz the deserves the right to choose his own team but there are significant questions. >> schieffer: let me ask you a couple questions about gun control that's obviously coming to a head here. did you think an assault weapons ban can pass the congress? >> no. >> do you think it should. >> no. >> schieffer: what do you see as the answer to this problem with guns? >> well, my friend across joe manchin has taken an issue. people respect the 2nd amendment rights. we obviously have a situation where crazy people, deranged individuals are having access to guns. now exactly how do you do that. in norway, a country with the most stringent gun laws a guy was able to slaughter a huge number of people there in norway. so i think we need to look at it in its entirety. i think all of us should have this conversa

whitehouse. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i have heard testimony in this hearing that the federal gun crime crossed feet -- prosecutions number 62 a year and that "we do not prosecute any." i was surprised to hear that testimony because i was a united states attorney. in my time, it became a prairie to prosecute fire arms. i went to every police department in my state to talk about what we could do with gun criminals. we set up a special procedure where the attorney general's office, which has criminal jurisdiction in rhode island, view the gun crimes together to make sure they were sent to the place where they could get the most effective treatment. i believe that continues, although i am no longer a u.s. attorney. i pulled up some quick statistics. according to the executive office of united states attorneys, in 2012, more than 11,700 defendants were charged with federal gun crimes, which is a lot more than not doing it, a lot more than 62. the numbers are up at the department of justice since 20001, by more than 3000 prose

whitehouse. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i have heard testimony in this hearing that the federal gun crime prosecutions number, 62 a year, and that "we do not prosecute any." i was surprised to hear that testimony because i was a united states attorney. in my time, it became a priority to prosecute fire arms. i went to every police department in my state to talk about what we could do with gun criminals. we set up a special procedure where the attorney general's office, which has criminal jurisdiction in rhode island, view the gun crimes together to make sure they were sent to the place where they could get the most effective treatment. i believe that continues, although i am no longer a u.s. attorney. i pulled up some quick statistics. according to the executive office of united states attorneys, in 2012, more than 11,700 defendants were charged with federal gun crimes, which is a lot more than not doing it, a lot more than 62. the numbers are up at the department of justice since 2001, by more than 3000 prosecutions. we ma

mr. whitehouse: thank you. mr. president, we all know here in the senate and in the house of representatives about the low grades that congress receives in public opinion polling. everybody knows what theub