mr. murray: with your vote. mr. cruz: with our vote, but also to defend the ability to have our vote matter, to have it make a difference, because if this procedural trick is allowed to go forward, what it would mean, this fight right now is the fight over the debt ceiling, because what it would mean if we go to a conference committee that as sure as night follows day, we would find ourselves in a month or two with a debt ceiling increase coming back and the democrats in this body voting to raise the debt ceiling with no conditions whatsoever, which is what the president has asked for. mrs. boxer: would the senator yield for a question? i thank you so much. listen, let's cut through what's happening and tell me where i'm wrong, and i -- i really would respect your answer. he represents a lot of folks. i represent 38 million, so we're two big states and we owe a lot to our people, that's for sure. what's happening here today is very clear. the republicans, except for senator mccain and senator collins who were here,

mrs. murray: no revenue. mrs. boxer: that's like you saying i will go to the conference except i don't want to see any more cuts in after-school programs or senior citizen programs or veterans' programs. in other words, we don't take our priorities as individual senators into the conference, it is a team approach where we will have to compromise. so isn't senator mcconnell by laying out his conditions completely side stepping regular order? mrs. murray: the senator would be correct and i would add one other thought. what he is asking us to do is now go back and vote on votes that we already took when we went through the budget process, did not pass, and he's saying, well, my amendments didn't pass but i'm not going to let you go to conference unless, you know, i get my way. we have a majority, we have a minority, we go through hundreds of amendments, some of them passed, some of them did not. it is the process we go through and then we take what we passed here, the house, by the way, passed a very different budget

mrs. murray: mr. president? mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i have been listening to this debate, not just now but for 61 days as we have been working extremely hard to get the budget passed and then go to conference to work with our house colleagues, who, by the way, are majority republicans. and we are working to do that because the american people have been very loud about not managing by crisis. and we all know that what will happen if we don't go to conference is exactly what the senator from utah has been saying he doesn't want. if we go to conference, we will have an open conference committee to discuss the differences between the house and the senate budgets that will then give the instructions to conference on how to move forward on our appropriations bills that we are now looking at and how we're going to deal with sequestration. it will be an open debate that will come back here. but if we are not

mrs. murray: madam president? the presiding officer: under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid on the table, the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action, and the senate will resume their legislative session. the senator from washington. mrs. murray: madam president, i just wanted to talk for a moment. you know, i've heard a lot from my constituents that they are very tired of the dysfunction here in washington, d.c. they're tired of political gridlock that impacts their businesses, their children's schools, their paychecks. and after spending last week with families and businesses that are impacted by sequestration in my home state of washington, i know this is especially true right now. madam president, when i became chair of the senate budget committee, i said, i hoped that democrats and republicans would be able to work together to end the cycle of governing from crisis to crisis and the attempts to negotiate budget policy through brin

mrs. murray: madam president? the presiding officer: is there objection? mrs. murray: madam president, reserving the right to object, what the senator is requesting us to do is to take up the house-passed budget -- remember, we have passed a senate budget here. we had 50 hours of debate, over 100 amendments were offered. we voted on all of them way into the wee hours, 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning. as everyone here will rightly remember. he is asking us to disregard all that action in the senate, take up the house bill, and have 50 hours more of debate, unlimited amendments, sitting here for weeks at a time again to go through all the amendments, a, madam president, that's a waste of taxpayer money, it's a waste of our time. we have done that work. it's time to go to conference, and therefore i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. inhofe: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: it is my understanding colloquy is in order between senator blumenthal and senator lee. i ask unanimous consent at the conclusion of

mrs. murray: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to speak for up to ten minutes as if in morning business and following me the senator from rhode island to speak for five minutes as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: thank you. madam president, i want to thank the senator from delaware who just spoke about the fact that we are now 53 days since passing the senate budget, and we are pushing very hard as democrats to keep this process moving and get our budget to a conference committee, and i appreciate his coming out and explaining why that's so important, and i agree with him. we really believe that with all the urgent challenges that we face today, there is every reason to get to work right away on a bipartisan budget deal, and there is no reason to delay this until the next crisis. but, mr. president, we have come out here now seven times and asked for consent to go to conference to work on the budget with the house, and seven times the senate republica

mrs. murray: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: mr. president, reserving the right to ofbility i woulobject.i would just pointt the senator is requesting is for us to redo the budget debate where those amendments were considered in the senate, defeated in the senate and it's now time for us to go to conference and work out our differences with the house. there's no need to go back through another 50 hours of debate and a hundred-plus amendments to be considered. this body needs to go to work. we've been told time and time again we need a budget, we need a solution to this. we don't need to manage by crisis. there is no need to relitigate the budget in this side. we need to go to conference and litigate our differences with the hous house republicans. so i would object to the senator's request and urge that we move to conference and allow senator warner from virginia's unanimous consent to go forward. the presiding officer: is there objection to the senator from virginia's request? mr. mcconnell: i object. the presiding officer: objecti

mrs. murray: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: mr. president, it has now been 59 days since the senate and the house passed our budget resolutions. the american people are now expecting us to get together and do everything possible to bridge the partisan divide and come to a bipartisan deal. and on this side, senate democrats are ready to get to work. but unfortunately, despite their focus over the past two years on the need to return to regular order, republicans have been refusing to allow us to move to a bipartisan budget conference. now, many members, including the ranking member on the budget committee, senator sessions, had been very clear up until recently that after the senate engages in an open and fair budget markup process -- quote -- and this is his words -- "the work of conferencing must begin." minority leader mcconnell said in january that if the senate budget is different than the house budget, then -- and i quote -- "send it off to conference. that's how things used to work around here. we used to call it legislating.

mrs. murray: thank you. madam president, i come to the floor today because i believe the great strength of our military is in the character and dedication of our men and women who wear the uniform. it is the courage of these americans to volunteer to serve that is the pentagon's greatest asset. i know it's said a lot, but take a minute to really think about that. our service members volunteer to face danger, to put their lives on the line to protect our and all of its people. when we think of those dangers, we think of i.e.d.'s, we think of battles with insurgents, many of whom are so cowardly and evil that they refuse to even wear a uniform themselves and they seek to kill innocent civilians. but there are, unfortunately, other dangers as well, dangers that cannot be accepted, and none of our courageous service members should ever have to face and that, what i'm speaking about, is sexual assault. and that continues to plague the ranks of our military services. it is absolutely unconscionable tha

mr. sessions: well, look, i don't deal with senator patty murray very much. i bet you she has an opportunity to call paul ryan if that's what she wants. mr. van hollen: well, she has and she's said, mr. speaker, she wants to go to conference right away. and that's why we're waiting for the speaker and the house to go to conference. mr. sessions: and when paul ryan and patty murray works out the differences that that can happen. mr. van hollen: i don't understand. you want them to work out a budget behind closed doors? mr. sessions: you know what, i would remind the gentleman, i'm not involved in those conversations, and i do know that this is part of your job as the ranking member. and i respect that and i would be in favor of it because, you see, i, too, want us to have more of a unified budget, a clear understanding, an opportunity for us to understand what we're trying to do. and so regaining my time, i would say to the gentleman and to this body, i have every reason to believe that there can be opportunities for our two bodies to work together. last point,

senator murray. >> thank you, mr. chairman.of the imagination. this is very much about the si fute of our country. it's about whether we believe the laws of our country to protect workers and employers alike should be enforced. it's about the future opportunities we have to have good jobs in our economy, protect or shrinking middle class and provide opportunities to prove conditions and smooth relations between workers and employers to make sure we have efficient operation of our economy. a person claim this is a better hearing. the nlrb in hearings protect all private sector workers regardless of whether they are in a union for exercising their rights of those rates have led to many significant improvements across our economy. higher pay and better benefits, safer working conditions, fewer injuries and death and the strongest economy in the world. it is no shock collective bargaining in the unionization rate and wages and economy has struggled many of these problems arose around the time a prolonged attack on the nlrb commence

murray. mark, obviously, we're keeping an eye on mr. holder here. he said it in regards to his recusal.guess it might have been helpful to have written it down. he said he recused prior to the ap subpoena and the white house had no knowledge, he said. >> tamron, he's trying to walk this tight rope saying he had recused himself but at the same time being up to speed and trying to answer questions. it is a tricky situation for him. of course, this is a hearing that comes into this. we're going to be having a lot more congressional hearings not only on this matter, but also the investigation on the irs, singling out conservative sounding groups. and the congressional testimony goes on. >> but you pointed out in "first read" that this is sidetracking from a number of issues. i would imagine that we normally perhaps would be talking about the markup of immigration reform and some other things. work does continue, but to deny that this has certainly taps the brakes would not be honest. >> well, it has tapped the brakes. and oftentimes, events get in the way of the best laid plans. to me, the

murray was in deep financial and legal troubles. because of this he gave the singer whatever prescription drugs he wants, in turn for large sums of cash. >>> finally for you, some sources from beyonce's mrsrter world tour revealed her dive virginia-like demands. hand carved ice balls, red toilet paper and titanium straws used to drink special water at 21 degrees. >> i'm richard lui, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day on your nbc stations. >>> leading the news this in the los angeles times, jerry brown okayed funds to seize guns held illegally. california governor approved $24 million to confiscate weapons from people who can no longer own them due to criminal restrictions, restraining orders or mental illness. >>> and in "the washington post" obama prods liberals to give and take on senate immigration bill. the president and other democratic leaders are working behind the scenes to get liberals to back senate leaders there. >>> here's other stories. three friends of the boston marathon bombing suspect dzhokhar tsarnaev are in custody on accusations they tried to protect tsarnaev by disposing his fireworks filled backpack three days after the attack. the 19 year ol

mr. ryan, who i'm sure is very competent here, and our chairman, senator murray, who i know is very competent, get them in the room with their conferees and let's let democracy work. this is the way a bill becomes a law. they have stopped us from appointing conferees for a budget conference, and i could tell you that having been here for a while, it is essential that we get to conference, whether it's this wrda bill that we're so anxious to do because it's so important for jobs or whether it's the budget or whether it's an appropriations bill. don't be afraid of the process. this is a democracy. we take our differences into a conference room, and we work together. now, if you don't like the outcome of that, that's fair enough. i could truly say i haven't liked the outcome of a number of conferences, but i don't stop people from going to the conference. because that's stopping democracy. that is a dictatorship. i decide something's going to happen in the conference that i don't like. now, what if i say what could well happen in the conference is they make the sequester permanent. that could ha

mr. chairman, votes are 13 yays, 5 nays. >> it passes. >> now that immigration reform bill has passed a senate committee, we look at what's next. nbc's senior political editor mark murrayjoin us with the first reading. but there are a lot of people that do ride the bus. and now that the busses are running on natural gas, they don't throw out as much pollution to the earth. so i feel good. i feel like i'm doing my part to help out the environment. your children's health can affect their gpa. yes, exercise and education go hand in hand. so make sure your kids are active 60 minutes every day. you'll help them feel good and even perform better in school. the more you know. >>> as mentioned, the white house confirmed president obama will travel to oklahoma on sunday to survey damage done by monday's deadly tornadoes. preliminary estimate put the total cost of the damage at at least $2 billion. homeland security secretary janet napolitano is already on the ground, helping with efforts for clean-up and get fema assistance for those whose homes were destroyed. the mass destruction on the ground, there are a lot of people taking a hard look at building codes in the state of okl

mr. griffin thank you for your comments in your state of the minor act that you did with senator murray on that piece of legislation. do either one of you -- you both for publicly nominated for your position in december for the january employment. is that correct? >> that is correct, senator. >> the paper work hadn't even got to the committee to go through the confirmation process by january 4th when you were appointed, is that correct? >> i don't know the status of the paper was. we have completed all of the forms we were responsible for. >> i think i'm correct on those statements. assuming that i am to you know any reason why the president chose when he could have waited ten more days and gone through the regular order to go ahead and make a recess appointment given the fact you were nominated on the 11th of december? >> i wasn't consulted but the one thing that i would point to is because the members appointment was up on january 3rd, the board couldn't function, it was down to only two board members so for the board to function as necessary for the president to act so there would be a