mr. whitehouse: i yield the floor. mr. baucus: first, i thank my colleague from rhode island for all his work in many areas, a great senator, great statesman actually, a great representative of the people of the state of rhode island, and also for his works on the resource legislation that he mentioned. i think at this point, i want to add my thanks to all the -- those who worked on the recently passed immigration bill. senator graham made a point of thanking senators. i want to also thank all the so-called gang of eight, senator schumer, senator menendez, senator rubio, senator bennet, senator durbin, senator graham, senator flake, senator mccain for their great work. they worked very hard to get that bill together. and, of course, senator corker and senator hoeven, who came up with a key amendment to put the bill over the finish line. and hat's off to the chairman of the judiciary committee, senator leahy, and, of course, our leader, senator reid, who helped martial all those efforts. i think they've done a -- they did a

mr. whitehouse, who gave me the time to say these things. and i yield back. mr. whitehouse: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: madam president, american summertime is when we celebrate and commemorate the patriots who fought to establish and protect this great republic, from memorial day through independence day and on to veterans day, communities across the country turn out star-spangled bunting and gather for parades and cookouts but also wreath layings to reflect on the heroes and the events that embody our nation's great spirit. june in rhode island is marked by the annual celebration of gatsby days when we recognize and celebrate one of the earliest acts of defiance against the british crown in our american struggle for independence. most americans remember the boston tea party and i know the presiding senator from massachusetts certainly is well aware of the boston tea party when spirited bostonnians, in fact, literally spirited bostonnians, clamored on to the decks of the east india's ships and dumped tea

mr. whitehouse: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: madam president, more specifically. my apologies to the presiding officer. the presiding officer: quite all right. mr. whitehouse: i wanted to come to the floor today. there are a number of my colleagues that are going to be speaking in the next hour about the president's announcement today of his plan to address carbon pollution and the changes that it is wreaking really on our planet. we have just heard from the distinguished senator from oklahoma, a lot about politics and the motives behind the president's decision. but we can disagree about the politics and the motives. i think we should be past the opponent of disagreeing about the facts. and the facts are that in the past 15 years, during which the distinguished senator said we've seen not any increase in temperature, we've actually had the hottest decade on record. i'll get the exact figures in a moment. but i think 10 of the 12 hottest years on record have been in those past 15 years. i'll be more precise. i just he

mr. whitehouse: thank you. i'm here again, i think it's the 36th time, to speak as i do every week on global climate change to remind us that it is time for us to wake up and to take action to protect our communities. the risks that we ignore will not go away on their own. the longer we remain asleep, the greater the challenges we leave for our children and grandchildren. the changes we're already seeing, rising sea levels, floods and erosion, more powerful storms, are taking their toll in particular on our aging infrastructure, which i'd like to talk about today, our roads, our bridges, our sewers and water pipes. this kind of infrastructure is designed to operate for 50-100 years and to withstand expected environmental conditions. so what happens if expected weather and climate patterns change? well, they are. according to the draft national climate assessment, -- and i quote -- "u.s. average temperature has increased by about 1.5 degrees fahrenheit since 1895, more than 80% of this increase has occurred sinc

mr. whitehouse: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: thank you, mr. president. may i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business for perhaps up to 20 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: thank you very much. i rise today for i think the 35th time to again bring the message to my colleagues that it is time to wake up to the threat of climate change. there is simply too much credible evidence that climate change is occurring, and there is too much at risk for us to continue sleepwalking. our oceans face unprecedented challenges from climate change and carbon pollution. oceans have absorbed more than 550 billion tons of our carbon pollution. as a result, they have become 30% more acidic. that is a measurement; that is not a theory. ocean temperatures are also changing dramatically, again driven by carbon pollution. sea surface temperatures in 2012 from the gulf of maine down to cape hatteras were the highest recorded in 150 years. that's another measurement. fish stocks are shifting nor

mr. whitehouse: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: first, i had the chance over the last few moments to listen to the senator from louisiana. i just want to applaud the tenacity with which she approaches her duties here in this chamber. she is a terrific colleague, and when there is something that she thinks is the right thing to do, she will fight very hard to get that done. i'm here to say a word in support of the bipartisan immigration legislation that we are looking at here. in the months that led up to this debate, i have met with people across rhode island to discuss our pressing need for national immigration reform. rhode island, like connecticut, perhaps even more than connecticut, is a state with a proud tradition of immigration, and our many immigrant communities make our state stronger and more vibrant. i've heard from leaders of our latino communities who are the fastest growing share of our state's population and work force. i've heard from leaders of my state's other immigrant communities, including particular

mr. whitehouse: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i see the senator from new york and the senator from colorado on the floor. i don't know if they seek recognition. i know this has been a terrific day for them as two of the principal architects of the immigration bill that we just passed and has been a landmark achievement. i'm prepared to speak for about 15 minutes on my climate bill, but i'm going to be here for awhile and if the senator from new york would tpraoefr proceed, then -- prefer to proceed, i will allow him to proceed. that will also allow me to relieve the presiding officer who i understand needs to go upstairs for a moment. i will yield to senator schumer with the hope that upon the conclusion of his remarks i will be recognized. mr. schumer: i want to thank my colleague from rhode island. as usual, he is gracious and he is thoughtful as well as being an outstanding legislator with a great deal of passion. i know that he wants to go to the floor and speak on the issue that he is ready to speak

mr. whitehouse: thank you. i'm very pleased to be joined on the floor of the senate today by senator warren to introduce some legislation that we've been working on since 2008. astute observers of this body will recognize that that was before senator warren was even senator warren, but she has been for years a renowned expert in consumer law and a leading advocate of reforms to protect families from predatory lending. so it's been a pleasure working with her on this bill and i'm delighted to be working with her as colleague senators now. a little history. during president obama's first two years in office and before the republicans took control over there in the house in 2011, democrats passed two significant landmark bills to protect ordinary consumers from credit card company abuses. the credit card act of 2010 outlawed some of the worst tricks and traps that lenders used to ski squeeze money out of their customers. after that law, big banks can no longer hike interest rates on preexisting balances just becau

mr. obama a his whitehouse that has now managed to stone wall on benghazi, the internal revenue service, assaults on the first amendment. here is the president today naming ambassador rice to the top nationaa security post in his administtion. >> as our ambassador to the u.n., susan has been a tireless advocate n advancing ur interests. >> i'm deeply graftful for your enduring confidence in me. we have much still to accmplish on behalf o the american peole,, and i look forwrd to continuing to serve on your national security team to keep our naton strong and safe. lou: yes, she is the same rice who aggressively spearheaded the obama administratn's stone wall and benghazi. going on five sunday talk show to falsely blame the attacks on protests over an anti-muslim video instead of blaming it on al-qaeda. critics say susan rice outright lied to the arican pblic, and at best, provided misleading information. either way, president obama is losing the trust of the american people. it couldn't be clearer that mr. obama's nomination today means that he's closing raks, preparing for what, well, ma

reid, leahy bennet, schumer, durbin, menendez, feinstein, whitehouse, murray, stabenow casey warner, carper, blumenthal king, coons and murphy. mr. reid: madam president, what are we on now? the presiding officer: we are currently in leader remarks. mr. reid: i would therefore ask -- the presiding officer: no bill is currently pending. mr. reid: i would therefore ask the chair to close the morning business and move to whatever the business of the day is. the presiding officer: under the previous order the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order the senate will resume consideration of s. 744 which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 80, s. 744 a bill to provide for comprehensive immigration reform and for other purposes. the presiding officer: under the previous order the time until 5:30 p.m. will be equally divided between the two managers or their designees. mr. reid: madam president i do have a cloture motion at the desk and i ask that it be reported. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 o

menendez, coons, hirono, feinstein, nelson, cardin, whitehouse, franken, blumenthal, wyden, reed of rhode island, murray, bennet, harkin, schumer, durbin. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum required under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. reid: i now withdraw the motion to proceed. the presiding officer: the motion is withdrawn. mr. reid: mr. president, following leader remarks, the senate will resume consideration of the farm bill. the filing deadline for second-degree amendments to the bill is 9:45 today. at 10:00 there will be three roll call votes, first a motion to invoke cloture on the farm bill and then a cloture vote to proceed to the republican student loan bill and then to proceed to the democratic student loan bill. senate lawyeringberg will -- senator lautenberg will lie in repose in the chamber at 2:15 p.m.. mr. president, i want to just briefly say that i really appreciate, as we all do, the work of the sergeant at arms. terry gainer and his whole staff are making this so very, very pleasant yesterday, at least as pleasant as a funeral