mrs. boxer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. boxer: mr. president, for the benefit of all senators, we are moving forward today. i thank all colleagues on both sides of the aisle. senator vitter and i have tried to allow all kinds of amendments. we did, unfortunately yesterday there was an objection to one contentious amendment, and senator landrieu was -- i mean, she really took one for the team and withdrew her amendment because she wanted to make sure this wrda bill moves forward. and i appreciate that because it's a very important issue about flood insurance, and it's complicated, and i know how strongly she feels. i know she'll be back. so we have a number of amendments, and we'll be debating them a minute a side. i did want to address my friend from oklahoma because, let me tell you, we've been on oppose sides on -- we've been on opposite sides on his amendment and i don't like that very much. when we do work together, we win big. when we don't, it doesn't work out well for either of us. i'm sorry to say that my friend's two amendmen

mrs. boxer: i wanted to read what c.r.s. says. it does not restrict firearms at corps facilities like dams or specifically designated areas. i'll be happy to yield. mr. coburn: i'll get you the actual strawt. federal structures are covered under another statute. the reason we didn't specifically represent that, they are covered and we did not exclude those structures. we said corps lantd. we did not specifically say that and we will get you the code where federal structures are excluded. mrs. boxer: if i could just say to my friend through the chair, fine, get me the code, but you said your amendment specifically excluded it, and it does not. i am-reaching now that part, but there is no question, there is no explicit prohibition here. you're getting to a circumstance where you have one federal law that says one thing and another federal law that says something else and we know where that leads, folks. that leads to court. so i think that my friend wanted to exclude being able to carry weapons near levees and dams, he ought to like

mrs. boxer: mr. president, i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mrs. boxer: mr. president, in the interest of all senators and frankly in the interest of the people of this courages we are moving forward -- of this country, we are moving forward on a water resources development act. the question is, will we be able to clear a list of amendments, some by voice vote, and a further list of more controversial amendments by recorded vote? i'm hoping that is the case. senator vitter and i hope that is the case, that we can get clearance on these packages of amendments. if we do not, we have to decide whether to invoke cloture, which will bring gite a close. and i would already bring debate to a close. and if we have to go that way, we have to go that way. but i am very optimistic that we can get these amendments cleared because almost every senator has a stake in this very important legislation. because we have ports that are sometimes on the c

mrs. boxer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. boxer: mr. president i thank my colleague for his very warm remarks. i ask unanimous consent that not withstanding the previous order the brown amendment number 813 as modified with the changes that are at the desk also be in order and that there be no amendments in order to the brown amendment prior to a vote in relation to the amendment that, at 5:45 today the senate proceed to a vote in relation to the brown amendment number 813 as modified. and further that all other provisions of the previous order remain in effect. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mrs. boxer: mr. president if. the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. boxer: thank you, mr. president. i just ask unanimous consent to vote on a brown amendment. i'm going to be supporting that amendment ofamendment. i think it is an important amendment of i just want to say to colleagues, we are making progress. it is not as fast as senator ritter and ivitter and i would like, but considering the sen

mrs. boxer: colleagues -- the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. boxer: colleagues, i want to tell you what the plan is for tonight and tomorrow on the wrda bill and thank everyone so much for their cooperation on both sides of the aisle. senator vitter andry so happy -- and i are so happy to we're able to have this open process. this will be the last vote this evening. we will continue late-morning and complete our work. right now we will have the sanders amendment with two minutes equally divided and both senators from vermont would like to be heard. the presiding officer: under the previous order, there will now be two minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote in relation to amendment number 889 offered by the senator from vermont, mr. sanders. mrs. boxer: the senate is not in order. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: this amendment impacts vermont today, but it can impact any and every state in this country, if you experience a major flood or a natural disaster. we all know that f

mrs. boxer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. boxer: mr. president, i think everybody who is listening to this understands there's been a disagreement here. a pretty tough one. but i have to praise senator landrieu for saying, look, i'm going to bring this fight back another day. and she has told me she would be willing to support a new, modified request, the same one i made about ten minutes ago, and take out johnson ohm 891 and landrieu amendment 888, and i believe that that new request will be acceptable to all in the senate. so i would renew any request with that change, the change of johnson 891 and the landrieu 888. and i ask unanimous consent that we move forward with this agreement at this time. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. rubio: thank you, mr. president. we were all scandalized o.i.f. the last 72 hours to learn that the internal revenue service of the united states, employees within the internal revenue service, were targeting fellow a

she said -- mrs. boxer: for purposes of a little colloquy on what we are about to do here because it involves his amendment we're about to pass. mr. blunt: i am certainly interested in my amendment, and chairman i am interested in your bill. i can yield for a short discussion of that. mrs. boxer: well, what i need to do is just lay out what we're going to do. it's going to take me about six minutes at the maximum. mr. blunt: i will be here when you are done. mrs. boxer: thank you, because we are about to do your excellent bill which we're very pleased about. okay. i understand we have a number change, so i will -- i will start my six minutes and say this, that i have good news for the senate. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: thank you. i'm glad you don't object to good news because there is not always good news. what we have seen on this wrda bill is that we have handled a number of amendments both through the managers package that we substituted for the original text and individual ame

mrs. boxer: before my friend from new jersey leaves the floor, i want to thank him for leading a letter regarding this important nomination. we need a secretary of labor. we had a wonderful secretary of labor, hilda solis. the reason it is so essential is we now see that the middle class is essentially collapse, even though we are coming out of the worst recession since the great depression because of the leadership of our president and those of us who have tried to help him. we need a head of the department of labor to make sure that everybody gets a fair chance. and i want to thank my friend. he makes a really important point about republican obstructionism. after the election, they sat around, all of them, and said oh, my goodness, we have to do better with hispanics. we have to do better with women. so who are the two people they're holding up with all their might at this point? and i hope they end it. it's mr. perez. it's gina mccarthy, a woman who deserves a promotion, just like mr. perez

mrs. boxer: i ask unanimous consent the harkin amendment which is at the desk be agreed, to the bill as amended be read through times and passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid on the table with no intervening action or debate. othe presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 149, which was submitted earlier in the day. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 149, designating the week of may 1 19-may 25, 2013, as national public works week. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mrs. boxer: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10:00 a.m. on tuesday, may 21, 2013. tha

mrs. boxerm president? the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. boxer: madam president, what is the order? the presiding officer: the senate is in a period of debate prior to votes in relationship to s. 601. mrs. boxer: madam president, could you tell me how much time is going to be controlled by senator coburn and how much time will be controlled by the opposition to his amendments and the same for senator whitehouse? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma controls 40 minutes. the majority controls 75 minutes. mrs. boxer: thank you. and as far as senator whitehouse is concerned? the presiding officer: there is no specific time agreement for senator whitehouse. mrs. boxer: thank you very much. i wanted to get the order squared away so i could share the information with colleagues before senator coburn is heard on his amendments. madam president, i have 11 unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of th

mrs. boxer: i ask the quorum quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: i would ask what the order is at this time. the presiding officer: s. 601 is pending. mrs. boxer: i ask unanimous consent we go into a period of morning business for 30 minutes and that then we return to s. 601. with senators permitted to speak up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. ms. stabenow: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: thank you, madam president. i'd like to speak for a few minutes today about the importance of getting a budget done this year all the way through the entire process. senator reid, our majority leader, last evening spoke again about the fact that we've had 15 days now of trying to just come together to create a conference committee to work out differences between the house and the senate on a budget, and for some reason, after talking i think at least thr

mrs. boxer: i ask that it be vitiated. on 11:30 a.m., may 8, the senate resume consideration of s. 601 and the following amendments be the first amendments in order to the pending boxer-vitter substitute. suburban, number 804 on ammunition. coburn 805 on arm corps plants and guns. and whitehouse number 803 on oceans. that there be no second-degree amendments in order to any of these amendments prior to votes in relation to the amendments, that the coburn and whitehouse amendments be subject to a 60-vote affirmative vote threshold and that time until 2:00 p.m. be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees for gate on the amendments. that senator coburn control 40 minutes of the republican time, that at 2:00 p.m. the senate proceed to votes in relation to the coburn and whitehouse amendments in the order listed, that there be two minutes equally divided in between those votes and all after the first vote be ten-minute votes. further, that upon disposition of the coburn and whitehouse amendments, the substitute

mrs. boxer: thank you. mr. cruz: if we went to conference committee and it came back on reconciliation to raise the debt ceiling by $10 trillion and under reconciliation rules, 51 senators, only the democrats, could vote to do so and the republicans would be utterly silenced from participating in anything there. now, it may well be -- mrs. murray: does he expect the republican majority in the house of representatives would not participate in that vote? mr. cruz: what i expect is that each of us is obliged to carry out our responsibility to defend the interests of our state, of the -- i have 26 million texans who i am not willing to go to and say if they ask me why did you go along with a procedural game to raise the debt ceiling, to allow republicans in the senate to be shut out, to give up any ability to force pro-growth reforms, to get jobs back, to get the economy back, to get people working, why did you give up -- mrs. murray: madam president, would the senator yield for a question? does the senator expect

quorum call: quorum call: quorum call: mrs. boxer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. boxer: mr. president, i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations, which the clerk will report. the clerk: william h. orrick iii of the district of columbia to be judge for the northern district of california. department of health and human services, marilyn b. tavenner of virginia to be administrator of the centers for medicare and medicaid services. mrs. boxer: mr. president, what ised order in terms of the time for the votes i votes? the presiding officer: the time until 4:30 is equally divided. box obama will there be a vote at -- mrs. boxer: will there be a vote at 4:30? the presiding officer: there will. mrs. boxer: thank you very much. there will be two votes, i understand. well, there is this is a very good day for me because we not only had a vote on our water resources

mrs. boxer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. boxer: mr.president, for the interest of all senators, i want to thank everyone for cooperating with us. we have handled a number of amendments, one quite controversial and nongermane but we dealt with it. it's not on this bill. i'm happy to say we're trying to keep this bill, a water infrastructure bill. there may be a few exceptions, but for the most part, that's what we want because it will increase the chances of passage all the way through to get it to the president's desk. the bill we are dealing with, the water resources development act, was last authorized in -- i believe it was 2005 -- 2007, 2007. it is high time we did a follow-on bill. and what we're talking about here is flood protection, projects we need all over the country to protect our people from the ravages of floods. we need to make sure that our ports are operational. i know my friend in the chair certainly deals with all these matters in his great and beautiful state of hawaii. we need to make sure our ports are deep enough

mr. president, i've been working with senator vitter today. i talked to him a short time ago. senator boxer a couple times today. we hope by noon tomorrow we can have a consent agreement finalized to do away with the cloture vote. if we can, we'll have a cloture vote tomorrow at noon. senator vitter and senator boxer worked hard to come up with a universal agreement that will include, i understand, about a dozen amendments. some of those can be accepted by voice, and we'd have to have a number of roll call votes. i hope we can do that. if that is the occasion we can probably finish the bill tomorrow or at the latest maybe wednesday morning. mr. president, i now ask unanimous consent when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until 10:00 a.m. tuesday, may 14. that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for use later in the day. following any leader remarks, the sen bin a period of morning business until 11:00 a.m. with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minu

i thank senators boxer and vitter for their diligent work on this important issue and look forward to their moving this bill through the senate. mrpresident, i'm sure my colleagues are familiar with the old adage: be careful what you wish for, because you may get it. for two years my republican colleagues have said they wish for a return to regular order. they asked for amendments. they got amendments. they asked for consideration of bills out of committees. they've gotten that. they asked, and then asked again for the senate to pass a budget resolution, even though we already had a budget law signed by president obama. well, they got what they wished. the dog finally caught the car. but it turns out republicans were more interested in demagoguery. by calling for regular order than actually operating under regular order. although the senate passed a budget resolution under regular order after scores of amendments, scores of votes, republicans now refuse to allow us to go to conference with our colleagues in the house of representatives. this is a new concept. for centuries, mr. president, centuries, we've had regular order where