mrs. boxer: mr. president, i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: mr. president, a couple of us are going to come down here to the floor and talk about an action that was taken in the house yesterday with all the issues that we have to confront, whether it's continuing this economic recovery and job creation, dealing with immigration, like we're trying to do here in the senate, dealing with going to conference on the budget, which chairman murray has been pushing for day after day after day, you would think that the house would take up one of those matters. but, instead, what do they do? they take up an extreme anti-choice bill. clearly, house republicans have learned no lessons from last year when voters resoundingly rejected their efforts to defund planned parenthood, restrict women's access to birth control, and slash preventive control for women and families. so the debate that they had in the house yesterday echos of last year, wh

mrs. boxer: i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: i ask unanimous consent that michael london, a law clerk with the finance committee, and kate glaisbrook and jonathan diem with the finance committee be allowed on the senate floor the remainder of the 2013 calendar year. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: thank you very much. i take to the floor today in strong support of comprehensive immigration reform. and the action that was taken yesterday by the house of representatives really underscores how critical the work we'll do in these next few weeks is to the future of our nation. what did the house republicans do yesterday? they voted to deport hundreds of thousands of young people who we refer to as dreamers. these young people were brought to this country through no fault of their own and they are contributing greatly to our society and our economy. some of these young people were brought here at 2 years old, 4 ye

we're very close to coming up with an agreement on the next batch -- mrs. boxer: the senate's not in order. mr. reid: mr. president, we're very close to coming up with an agreement the managers have developed along with our able staff to have a series of amendments in order and as things are now contemplated, we would debate those tonight and in the morning and have some votes starting at 2:15. hopefully tonight and in the morning we will be able to add to what we're going to agree to later so we'd have even more amendments. it's my understanding that there's already contemplation of some important work in the morning and so in short, i don't think we'll have any more votes tonight after this one we're going to take up on fromon. we'll start votes tomorrow at 2:15 on four or five, and continue working on this important legislation. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, executive office of the president, michael froman o

mrs. boxer: mr. president, a couple of us are going to come down here to the floor and talk ab >> mr. president, number of us are going to talk about an action that was taken in the house yesterday with all the issues that we have to confront, whether it is continuing the economic recovery and job creation, dealing with immigration, like we're trying to do here in the senate, dealing with going to conference on the budget, which chairman murray has been pushing for it day after day after day, you would think that the house would take up one of those matters. but instead, what do they do you an extreme anti- choice bill. clearly they have not learned anything when voters rejected their efforts to defund planned parenthood, restrict women's access to birth control, and/or event of care for women and families. so the debate that they had in the house yesterday echoes of last year when republicans talked about "legitimate rat pregnancy as a "gift from god." the incident from premises of pe was "very low,

mr. president, the world is dying to know is it boxers or briefs? [applause] >> usually briefs. had his own boomer obnoxiousness even when his dad was in office ms > it's the annual george herbert bush. >> to everybody in horseshoe and, i accept the award. >> michael moore had fun with this one. >> i hit every shot. people said it didn't work. chris: and we had fun with this. i don't know. this is not a campaign ad. this is like a reel from hell. we hate these guys. any thoughts, kathleen? you still like boomers after that appearance? >> i never did like us. >> and that was kathleen parker. chris: that's tall highlights we have for today. but we're back next week with part two. we'll pick up with the clintons and look at the most fascinating characters of the last 11 years. that's the show. thanks for watching. we'll see you >>> good even, i'm terry mcsweeney. win fin with the worsening condition of nelson mandela. he is in critical condition tonight. doctors are doing everything they can for him, but in the past 24 hours, he has taken a turn for the worst. he has had respirator

. >> thank you, senator boxer. mr. chairman, in your testimony you mentioned the recent investigations have quote further taxed the csb's already overstretched staffing and resources, and that you're facing a backlog of cases to investigate. can you tell me how you prioritize your work, and what can be done to ensure that the use of csb's limited resources result in maximum safety improvements? >> thank you, senator. when i started my job at csb, as chair in 2010, i was faced with a backlog of 20 to investigations that were already in the pipeline. we have added at least five major ones during my stay, and we're finished nine, and currently our backlog is 15 investigations. congress frequently calls on the csb to investigate root causes, some of the most complex tragedy and social actions in u.s. for example, the water horizon is in the pipeline. chevron, we finished our report, and you know, in the last two months we have the request to deploy out west and that williams. that this is a really ripple effect on all inve

mr. reid: i raise a point of order that the boxer amendment is also no longer in order. the presiding officer: the point of order is well taken. the amendment falls. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the next two votes be ten minutes in duration. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. reid: madam president, during these votes, we're going to try to work out a time to finish our work today. as i mentioned earlier today, whenever the final vote is, whether it's tomorrow afternoon or if we can work something out today, whenever that is, i want everyone to be here a few minutes before the final time expires so we can start the vote. the vote will not start until senators are in their assigned seats. if they're not here, we'll have a live quorum, and all that will do is slow things up. but we're going to do that. this legislation has been worked on for many, many years. we have people who believe strongly in this legislation and people who don't. it's a very important piece of legislation. it's historic in nature. we should be here to vote, and we're

mr. president, i rise to speak on my amendment, hirono number 1504, cosponsored by senators murray, murkowski, boxer, gillibrand, cantwell, stabenow, klobuchar, warren, baldwin, mikulski, landrieu, shaheen and leahy. i ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendment. mr. leahy: i would object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. ms. hirono: thank you. so noted. to continue, mr. president, the immigration bill clearly if inadvertently disadvantages women who are trying to immigrate to the united states. s. 744 reduces the opportunities for immigrants to come under the family-based green card system. the new merit-based point system for employment green cards will significantly disadvantage women who want to come to this country, particularly unmarried women. many women overseas do not have the same educational or career advancement opportunities available to men in those countries. this new merit-based system will prioritize green cards for immigrants with high levels of education or experience. by favoring these immigrants, the bill in effect cements into u.s. immigration law unfairn

mr. hermann had child molester charges. >> hermann is no santa. he's in there on a kidnapping charge. he's not a child molester, which even hardened felons consider reprehensible. with the accuracy of an experienced boxern lands 13 punches and finishes him off with a know to the chest, then goes back to finish his juke box. hermann spends the next 20 minutes washing his wounds, be every the next inmate unleashes a bizarre of blows to his dheft. >> it's bizarre and there is nothing in his booking card about wild i child who leftation. >> morris comes back with a vicious kick to the head, followed by heavy swings and a fourth inmate hermann reyes enters the melee. rick hermann is terrified. >> i didn't know if i was going to live or die. it was apoint inning to get over with. i didn't think i was going to live through it. >> the pummelling lasts 30 minutes. at no point does he call for help for fear of being labeled a snitch or a tattle tale, none of the other witnesses does anything to help either. >> what they should have done is bang on the door to alert the attention staff. if the door was opened the assault was over, the vast majority of them said they were asleep or saw nothing or they know nothing

mr. president. i come to the floor today to discuss h.r. 1797, a number of my colleagues, senators murray and boxer, have been here this morning to talk about the bill passed yesterday in the house of representatives that would prohibit all abortion beyond 20 weeks with very, very limited exceptions. this topic is critically important to the women of connecticut and our country, and the bill is yet another example lamentably and regrettably, another example of legislation that feigns concern for women's health when actually it would endanger the lives and well-being of women across this great country. the bill would take decisions regarding health care away from women and their doctors and would force the doctors to decide between incurring criminal penalties and helping their patients. that choice is unacceptable professionally and morally. the decision to have an abortion is a serious decision that a woman should make in consultation with her doctor. when those decisions are made later in a pregnancy, they most often result in serious health risk to the mother or discovery that the fetus is not vi

boxer. for the opportunity to testify today on epa's risk management program an emergency planning and the right to know issues. thank you to mr. white for being here. the west texas fire and explosion highlighted the importance of properly managing the risks told by chemical facilities and the need for effective right to know program. the clean air act provides the for the risk management program. those regulations apply to the owner or operator producing processing, storing more than a threshold quantity of a substance. it includes flammable gases and liquids and 77 toxic chemicals. many of the substances are included on the emergency planning and community right to add to know. 12,800 facilities are covered under epa's risk management program. facilities must develop and submit a risk management plan that includes facility hazard assessment including worst-case release and alternative release. : understanding would have been first supreme court decision that interpreted the voting eration of the rights act the court's congress a s to cut wide swath in interpreting whether the legislation it appropriate. >> could we say in t

mr. president, i rise to speak about an agreement i have reached with senator graham on the hirono-murray-murkowski amendment number 1718 which has been cosponsored by senators boxer, gillibrand, cantwell, stabenow, klobuchar, warren, baldwin, mikulski, shaheen, leahy, franken, menendez and schumer. and i ask unanimous consent that senator landrieu be added as a cosponsor. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. hirono: i have been speaking on the senate floor and talking with my colleagues about my concerns that the immigration bill that we are considering inadvertently disadvantages women who are trying to emigrate to the united states. i believe that the new merit-based points system for employment green cards will significantly disadvantage women who want to come to this country, particularly unmarried women. many women overseas do not have the same educational or career advancement opportunities available to men in those countries. this new merit-based system will prioritize green cards for immigrants with high levels of education or experience. by favoring these immigrants, the bill essentially cements unfairness against women into u.s. immigration law

boxer, barrasso, murvey and cardin -- murphy, and cardin in introducing a resolution on the matter. it's simple and straightforward, expresses continuing concern about her selective and politically motivated detention. mr. president, let me close by saying i was in ukraine last year. i met with prime minister izeryov and president yenokovic. they were generous hosts and very kind. they told me something would be done in a positive way about her imprisonment. that was a year ago. nothing has happened. i was optimistic then. i'll remain optimistic but i want the ukraine government to know we are going to hold them to the standards of democracy. you don't imprison your political opponents. you beat them in an election, you move on to lead. you're held accountable by the people who vote. i hope the decision will be made in the near future to release miss tymenshenko, and i yield the floor. the presiding officer: morning business is closed. mr. durbin: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. grassley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i ask that the calling of the quorum be suspended. the presiding offi