mr. wyden: mr. president, let me, before he leaves the floor -- the presiding officer: the senator from oregon is recognized. mr. wyden: thank you, mr. president. before he leaves the floor, let me thank senator leahy for those kind and gracious thoughts. i know senator hatfield was very fond of you as well. you have, i think, represented his values very well today, and i thank you for those remarks. mr. leahy: i would ask that my remarks follow the two senators from oregon. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. wyden: mr. president? mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: mr. president, my home state of oregon has many towering and majestic places, such as our iconic mt. hood and our beautiful state tree, the douglas fir. senator mark o. hatfield, who passed away on august 7, stood head and shoulders above all of them. last night the senate passed senate resolution 257, a resolution in respect of the memory of senator hatfield. this afternoon senator merkle

mr. wyden: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: my hope is we are moving into the homestretch of being able to pass the trade adjustment assistance legislation. i strongly support efforts to promote more exports. the president has set a laudable goal of increasing exports. we know that in the export sector, there's an opportunity to make things here, to grow things here, to add value to them here and then ship them around the world. and to promote these export markets and to generate the economic growth that our country wants, we've got to make sure that our workers have the latest, most updated skills to make sure that they can get those jobs in exports and get american products around the world. as i indicated yesterday, madam president, there's no doubt that the american brand is a hit around the world. 90% of the consumers are outside the united states, and they want our products. and my hope is, as i indicated, that we're moving towards being able to pass this legislation, the trade adjustment assistance, pass legislatio

mr. wyden: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: mr. president, under the leadership of chairman baucus, i have the honor of chairing the senate finance subcommittee on international trade. and that's why i wanted to take just a few minutes, mr. president, to outline some of the issues that i think are relevant to this important debate by going to bat for workers under the trade adjustment program. now, in my home state, mr. president, about one out of six jobs depends on international trade. the trade jobs tend to pay better than do the nontrade jobs. and so what i said is my philosophy about international trade is what we ought to do is everything possible to grow things in oregon and in the country, to make things in oregon and across america, add value to them here and ship them somewhere, because this is an extraordinary opportunity we have in front of us in terms of expanding exports. the fact of the matter is, mr. president, that the american brand, the bra

mr. wyden: mr. president? sproeup the senator from oregon. -- the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: mr. president, i rise in opposition. our exporters face major challenges in global markets. we're faced with surging imports from china. china has a regime in place that is cheating american innovators and forcing them to share their intellectual property. instead of dedicating the scarce resources of the international trade commission to look into these issues and identify other foreign trade barriers that impede our exporters, we would essentially pass the international trade commission to tell us what we already know. for example, we know that in the case of the pending agreements, we had an opportunity to get a better deal for our companies that export automobiles and to promote human rights in colombia by reducing violence. we're on the precipice of considering these agreements. let's not turn back the clock. instead of using scarce resources to have an armchair debate about what we alr

mr. wyden: mr.dent, i'm going to take just a few minutes this morning to take on the naysayer caucus that has developed on the issue of tax reform. the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. mr. wyden: i ask unanimous consent to vacate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. wyden: mr. president, i will just take a little time this morning to, as i indicated, make some remarks with respect to this issue of tax reform and particularly try to lay out why the naysayers, those who say oh, tax reform isn't going to make any difference any time soon or there hasn't been a lot of groundwork laid, those are the two major arguments they are making. mr. president, i'm going to try to lay out why those arguments are wrong. to start with, they reflect a misunderstanding about markets and about free enterprise and about what drives the american economy. one of the major reasons that consumers are not spending and businesses aren't hiring workers is uncertainty about taxes. enac

mr. wyden: would the senator yield for a a unanimous consent request? i think because 5:00 is coming, i think we need to get it done. mr. hatch: i will yield without losing my right to the floor. mr. wyden: i thank my colleague, and certainly when i'm done, you're next to continue your comments. i ask unanimous consent that the pending mcconnell amendment 626 be modified with the demint language which is at the desk and senator hatch or his designee then be recognized to offer amendment 641, that the time until 5:00 p.m. be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees for debate on the mcconnell amendment as modified, that at 5:00 p.m. the senate proceed to executive session to consider the following judicial nominations. calendars 169 and 170, that there be 50 minutes of debate equally divided, that upon the use or yielding back of time, calendar 169 be confirmed and the senate proceed to calendar 170, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table, no further

mr. chairman? senator wyden, truly worked hard on a complex piece of legislation that has the potential for bipartisan support and does have some very fine parts of it. i congratulate you senator wyden for trying to come up with some ideas that can make this country better. >> i thank senator sessions for that observation. i add my voice to that. this session as senator sessions started with senator gregg who was the ranking republican on this committee. he and senator wyden work together in a very collaborative and intense efforts to look at the tax code, which is a monstrosity by anyone's definition. we appreciate the work. let's go to the witnesses. alice rivlin really needs no introduction before this committee. welcome, please proceed. >> thank you mr. chairman, senator sessions and members of the committee. i'm delighted to be back here and want to reinforce what has been said, that there is a chance for why partisan cooperation now. this is a critical moment for this committee to focus on employment and j

mr. chairman? senator wyden, truly worked hard on a complex piece of legislation that has the potential for bipartisan support and does have some very fine parts of it. i congratulate you senator wyden for trying to come up with some ideas that can make this country better. >> i thank senator sessions for that observation. i add my voice to that. this session as senator sessions started with senator gregg who was the ranking republican on this committee. he and senator wyden work together in a very collaborative and intense efforts to look at the tax code, which is a monstrosity by anyone's definition. we appreciate the work. let's go to the witnesses. alice rivlin really needs no introduction before this committee. welcome, please proceed. >> thank you mr. chairman, senator sessions and members of the committee. i'm delighted to be back here and want to reinforce what has been said, that there is a chance for why partisan cooperation now. this is a critical moment for this committee to focus on employment and j

mr. chairman? senator wyden, truly worked hard on a complex piece of legislation that has the potential for bipartisan support and does have some very fine parts of it. i congratulate you senator wyden for trying to come up with some ideas that can make this country better. >> i thank senator sessions for that observation. i add my voice to that. this session as senator sessions started with senator gregg who was the ranking republican on this committee. he and senator wyden work together in a very collaborative and intense efforts to look at the tax code, which is a monstrosity by anyone's definition. we appreciate the work. let's go to the witnesses. alice rivlin really needs no introduction before this committee. welcome, please proceed. >> thank you mr. chairman, senator sessions and members of the committee. i'm delighted to be back here and want to reinforce what has been said, that there is a chance for why partisan cooperation now. this is a critical moment for this committee to focus on employment and j

mr. chairman, senator wyden has truly worked hard on a complex piece of legislation that has the potential for bipartisan support and does have some very fine parts of it. i congratulate you, senator wyden, for trying to come up with some ideas to make this country better. >> i thank senator sessions for that observe eags. i add my voice, actually this effort, as senator sessions knows, started with senator gray, twhofse ranking republican on this committee. he and senator widen -- wyden worked together in a collaborative and intense effort to look at the tax code which is a monstrosity by anyone's definition. we appreciate the work. let's go to the witnesses. alex rivlin really needs no introduction before this committee. welcome. please proceed. >> thank you, mr. chairman. senator sessions and members of the committee, i'm delighted to be back here. i want to reinforce what has been said, there's a chance for bipartisan cooperation now and i hope the congress seizes it. this is a critical moment for this committee to focus on employment and job creation and for the congress to take actio

mr. president, alana but senator ron wyden i've introduced a bill that 24 of ourh sides ofhe colleagues on both sides of theo- all have already co-sponsored. been our bill has been endured by 292dividual impleader organizations and individualusinesses. businesses. 292 businesses and organizations representing the employers. how that shows you just how worriedut our job creators are about the impact about their roles.of their letters sums up the impact of the role played and it says these rules place at risk tens of thousands of high-payingn cnot manufacturing jobs that our nation cannot afford to lose. i ask unanimous consent thatseme thisnt l endorsement letter and "thelighti wall street journal" articlenghe highlighting the job study be the printed in the record at the the conclusion of my remarks.em ..the presiding officer: without objection. ms. collins: mr. president the boiler regulation are exactly the kind of significant rules that my regulatory time-out act is intended to reach. the moratorium applies to rules issued by independent regulatory agencies such as the national labor re

mr. chairman? >> thank you, senator bingaman. senator wyden. >> thank you for your leadership on this.an important topic and i commend you and senator crapo for the work you are doing. i want to zero in on the jobs issue with respect to this topic and i will start with you, as i -- if i can, dr. feldstein. i am very sympathetic to the kinds of proposals you are putting forward in this area. when we look at the bureau of labor statistics within the two years after the 1986 reform bill, the country created 6.3 million new jobs. i keep the zeroing in on that almost like a record player that just never stops. 6.3 million new jobs. and it seems to me, the study you did on the 1986 bill, which to a great extent has affected my thinking over these years with the bipartisan bill i had with senator gregg and now with senator coats is really based on that. the witches, look to lower marginal rates while keeping progressivity and you are on a path to stimulating the economy and creating family wage jobs. d u feel the same? >> absolutely, yes. >> the second question, maybe we can get mr. kleinbard

mr. wyden: mr. president, i rise in opposition to the hatch amendment. in a time of surging chinese imports, high unemployment and widespread economic pain, the hatch amendment would make it harder for workers, companies and farmers to be -- to obtain trade adjustment assistance and be better positioned to compete in the global economy. the hatch amendment would take us back to the standard for qualifying for t.a.a. benefits. chairman baucus and chairman camp put together a reasonable t.a.a. agreement that is bipartisan. that bipartisan agreement ought to be preserved which is why the amendment by the senator from utah should be rejected. i strongly urge a "no" vote on the amendment. mr. hatch: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from utah is recognized. mr. hatch: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber who wish to vote or to change a vote? if not, on this vote, the yeas are 4