mrs. mccaskill: mr. president, you know, we just had a vote. imagine for a minute you had a government that was spending too much money. and imagine for a minute that we needed to spend less money. we needed to change our tax code to a tax code that was fair, simpler, didn't pick winners and losers. imagine for a minute that this was a crisis. and imagine for a minute that this crisis was being wielded like a political two-by-four, by a majority of the republicans that serve in the senate, this debt crisis. then imagine for a minute that you had the most profitable corporations in the history of the planet, and they were booking $30 billion in profit every quarter. over $130 billion in profit year after year. it didn't matter whether the economy was bad, good, or indifferent. amazing profits. and then imagineor

mr. chairman. >> thanks, senator webb. senator mccaskill, i really apologize. i think senator blumenthal in terms of original arrival is on the list first. >> i'll wait. >> if senator mccaskill has another -- >> absolutely not. go ahead. >> thanks. senator blumenthal. >> thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. i want to add my thanks to both of you. and the men and women under your leadership for your really extraordinary service which i had the privilege to see a bit firsthand during my second trip to afghanistan last february with senator mccain and senator graham and others of my colleagues. and as i mentioned to you, admiral mcraven, i was particularly impressed by the really remarkable achievements of our special operators there. the numbers tell a powerful story, but so do the more anecdotal information, particularly about turning over a lot of this work and training the afghans themselves, which i think is a really unprecedented achievement in our military history in terms of special operations. and i hope that we all keep sight of that work and also, genera

mrs. tracy schneider. sentaor mccaskill. mr. joseph shepherd. mr. hunter biden. mrs. kathleen biden.mrs. catherine -- the honorable hilda -- the secretary of labor. the honorable anthony miller. mrs. carol miller. mr. rory mcilroy. mr. connor ridge. sir richard branson. >> what do you think -- >> i think it is wonderful. i think our relationship has never been stronger. we thought it was incredibly strong. it is very flattering. >> [inaudible] >> it is lettering to be invited. i'm looking forward to it. my wife is at home. >> what expecting? -- are you expecting? >> it is my favorite. >> mr. tom bernstein. mrs. andrea bernstein. lady ruth rodgers. mr. rodgers. mrs. virginia -- mr. nick booth. the honorable matthey bargain -- matthew barden. mrs. brooke barden. the honorable heather a. higgenbottom. mr. daniel -- the honorable mark grossman. ms. mildred patterson. mr. david phonet. mrs. deborah -- mr. lauren schneider. mr. joseph faulk. mr. mark scott. mr. chad griffin. mr. jerome fallon. mr. andrew sullivan. mr. aaron tone. ms. april holmes. ms. courtney. mr. richard wold. f. dr. pau

mrs. tracy schneider. senator claire mccaskill. mr. joseph shpherd. mr. hunter biden. mrs. kathleen biden. the honorable chris -- mrs. catherine thompson. the honorable hilda -- mrs. rebecca -- the honorable anthony miller. mrs. carol miller. mr. rory mcilroy. mr. connor ridge. sir richard branson. >> what do you think -- >> i think it is wonderful. i think our relationship has never been stronger. we thought it was incredibly strong. it is very flattering. >> [inaudible] >> it is lettering to be invited. -- flattering to be invited. i'm looking forward to it. my wife is at home. >> what expecting? -- are you expecting? >> very good food. brussel sprouts are my favorite. >> mr. tom bernstein. mrs. andrea bernstein. lady ruth rodgers. mr. rodgers. mrs. virginia -- mr. nick booth. the honorable matthey bargain -- matthew barden. mrs. brooke barden. the honorable heather a. higgenbottom. mr. daniel -- sepulveda. the honorable mark grossman. ms. mildred patterson. mr. david phonet. mrs. deborah -- mr. lauren schneider. mr. joseph faulk. mr. mark scott. mr. chad griffin. mr. jerome fallon. mr.

to get into that with rush limbaugh, but 2006, you did an ad for claire mccaskill, running for senate, and wheler take a look at mr. limbaugh's reaction to the ad, as it may be. >> they say politics is local, but it's not always the case. what you do in missouri matters to millions of americans. americans like me. >> in this commercial, he is exaggerating the effects of the disease. he's moving all around and shaking and it's purely an act. this is the only time i have ever seen michael j. fox portray any of the symptoms of the disease he has. he can control himself enough to stay in the frame of the picture, and he can control himself enough to keep his eyes right on the lens, the teleprompter, but his head and shoulders are moving all over the place. this is really shameless, folks. this is really shameless of michael j. fox. either he didn't take his medication or he's acting. >> yeah, i thought that was great, he really did a good thing there. >> again, i don't want -- my tendency is to want to make jokes about it, he says remain in the frame of the picture. look at rush. remaining in the frame of the picture,

mccaskill. she was oning for senate. we will look at that and mr. limbaugh's reaction to that ad, as it may be. >> they say all politics is local but it's not always the case. what you do in mississippi matters to millions of americans -- americans like me. >> in this commercial he is exaggerating the effects of the disease. he is moving all around and shaking and it is purely an act. this is the only time i have ever seen michael j. fox portray any of the symptoms of the disease he had. he can control himself enough to stay in the frame of the picture and enough to keep his eyes right on the lens, the teleprompter but his head and shoulders are moving all over the place. so this is really shameless, folks. this is really shameless of michael j. fox. either he didn't take his medication or he is acting. >> i think that was great. he did a good thing there. >> my tendency is to want to make jokes about things so i have to laugh when he says remain within the frame of the picture. you know, but, you know, when i set out to support politicians that sup

mr. president, i rise today to offer the regulatory relief act which is amendment 1660 to the highway reauthorization bill. i'm very pleased to have senator alexander, senator pryor, senator toomey, senator landrieu, and senator mccaskill joining me as cosponsors of this amendment. mr. president, last year i introduced the legislation very similar to this amendment to provide the e.p.a. with the time that the agency itself says that it needed to rewrite the proposed boiler mact rules, to better serve the public interest and protect vulnerable manufacturing jobs. the legislation had the support of 41 of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and an identical bill, nearly identical bill, passed the house of representatives with broad bipartisan support this fall. the e.p.a. regulatory relief act is straightforward. it will help ensure that the final boiler mact regulations will be achievable and affordable, and that manufacturers will have adequate time to bring their facilities into compliance, thus preserving jobs. mr. president, we hear over and over again that the top priority of the senate should be to create an environment where jobs are created and preserved. well, this, mr. president, this amendment is all abo

mr. president. i heard the remarks from my senior senator from missouri, claire mccaskill, who sits next to me. i was intrigued by her response to the vote that had just taken place on -- from my colleagues who preach every day about deficit reduction. they had, as senator mccaskill said, they had an opportunity to pick the lowest-hanging fruit there there is, take away the tax breaks and the tax dollar subsidies that go to the oil doctorinterests in this country. taxpayers are spending hard-earned tax dollars coming from workers in dayton and springfield and akron and canton that go directly to the most profitable industry in the history of the world perhaps, and that's -- particularly the big five oil companies making billions afned billions and billions of dollars. yet we are just simply saying that's okay to give them those kind of tax breaks and tax subsidies. that's even putting aside the fact that every time there's a pipeline outage, every time there is a fire at a refinery, every time there is turmoil in the middle east, the oil companies appeared speculators use it as chance to spike

mr. senator murray, senator boxer, also intorg the bill are senator collins and snowe and senator mccaskill, stabenow and gillibrand. the bill is led by senator leahy and senator crapo so we're here to pledge our support for this bill and ask our colleagues to move forward for this bill. the violence against women was a landmark bill when it first became law in 1984. back then it started a sea change in it is a tiewdz and sent a strong message to the country saying that sexual assault and domestic violence are serious offenses that will not be tolerated. we heard that message loud and clear in my state, and i'm proud to say that our state has always had a strong tradition of standing up against these crimes. in fact, no conversation in our state about domestic abuse would be complete without mentioning former senator paul wellstone and his wife sheila, who we miss dearly. the wellstones put so much time and energy into bringing these issues out of the shadows into taking a subject that many people considered at the time a family matter and saying, you know, what? domestic violence isn't jus

mr. senator murray, senator boxer, also intorg the bill are senator collins and snowe and senator mccaskill, stabenow and gillibrand. the bill is led by senator leahy and senator crapo so we're here to pledge our support for this bill and ask our colleagues to move forward for this bill. the violence against women was a landmark bill when it first became law in 1984. back then it started a sea change in it is a tiewdz and sent a strong message to the country saying that sexual assault and domestic violence are serious offenses that will not be tolerated. we heard that message loud and clear in my state, and i'm proud to say that our state has always had a strong tradition of standing up against these crimes. in fact, no conversation in our state about domestic abuse would be complete without mentioning former senator paul wellstone and his wife sheila, who we miss dearly. the wellstones put so much time and energy into bringing these issues out of the shadows into taking a subject that many people considered at the time a family matter and saying, you know, what? domestic violence isn't jus

mr. senator murray, senator boxer, also intorg the bill are senator collins and snowe and senator mccaskill stabenow and gillibrand. the bill is led by senator leahy and senator crapo so we're here to pledge our support for this bill and ask our colleagues to move forward for this bill. the violence against women was a landmark bill when it first became law in 1984. back then it started a sea change in it is a tiewdz and sent a strong message to the country saying that sexual assault and domestic violence are serious offenses that will not be tolerated. we heard that message loud and clear in my state, and i'm proud to say that our state has always had a strong tradition of standing up against these crimes. in fact, no conversation in our state about domestic abuse would be complete without mentioning former senator paul wellstone and his wife sheila, who we miss dearly. the wellstones put so much time and energy into bringing these issues out of the shadows into taking a subject that many people considered at the time a family matter and saying, you know, what? domestic violence isn't just

i think senator bloom in all >> a senator mccaskill has another commitment, i'd be happy -- thank you. >> thank you. senator blumenthal. >> thank you, mran. i want to add my thanks to both of you and the men and women under the leadership for your relaxed with her service, which i have the privilege to see a bit of firsthand during my second trip to afghanistan with senator graham and others in my colleague. nothing mentioned to you, admiral mcrae then, i was particularly impressed by the really remarkable achievements of our special operators they are. the numbers tell a powerful story, but so do circuit of organic dodo information, particularly about turned over a lot of the work in training and the afghans themselves, which is an unprecedented achievement in our military history, in terms of special operations. and i hope that we all keep sight of that work can also general, the work that all of our men and women there are doing, despite the incidents that may sometimes cloud the clear picture that we should have been the appreciation that we should always maintain that the service and sacrifice in the achievements, our real success

mrs. mccaskill: mr. president, i ask the quorum call be set aside. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. mccaskill: i ask to speak in morning business for up to five minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. mccaskill: i rise to speak about a new program for at-risk students in st. louis. it's about my friend, judge jimmy edwards and his school. before i talk about the school and the incredible work judge edwards has done in the community, i would like to spend a minute talking about his childhood roots. judge edward grew up on the north side of st. louis in the shadows of a public housing complex. the residents of this housing project faced many challenges, including drug and gang activity, violence and sometimes acute poverty. but through discipline, hard work and determination, judge edwards rose above these circumstances. he earned both his bachelor's and law degree from st. louis university before being appointed to the state bench in 1992, and for four years, he has served as the chief judge of the st. louis family courts