mrs. murray: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, there's a number of women who are going to be joining me here today. they are leaders in this capitol who are working each and every day, both here and back in their home states, to give more and more of their constituents a chance to succeed. so today we are here to talk about one small idea that stands to make a huge difference in the lives of our constituents and for women, in particular, and that is the idea that if you are putting in 40 or 50 or 60 hours of work per week, you should be able to put food on your table and pay your bills and you won't be stuck below the poverty line. mr. president, this idea could change the lives of millions of americans if congress simply acted and raised the minimum wage. we need to act now because right now one in four women -- one in four women -- is making minimum wage today. that is 15 million american women who are making the equivalent of about two gallons of gas per hour. are we prepared to tell them that that should be enough t

mrs. murray: thank you, madam president. i want to start my bye expressing my thanks and appreciation to senator mikulski for her once again tremendous leadership in the fight for equal pay and foe bringing the paycheck fairness act to the forefront of the debate this session. the role of women in families and in our economy has really shifted dramatically over the last few decades. today, 60% of families rely on earnings from both parents. that's up from 37% in 1975. 60%. women today make up nearly half the work force. and more than ever women are likely to be the prime mayor -- primary breadwinner in their families. women are making a difference in our economy, in lecture halls and small businesses. but despite the important progress we have made, since the equal pay act passed now 50 years ago including passing the lily ledbetter act thanks again to senator mikulski in 2009 to give more women tools to fight pay discrimination, women's wages not have caught up with the times. across the country today, women still earn 77 c

mrs. murray: mr. president, i want to thank the senator from minnesota for a really important statement, and i want to come here today to gi join her to tak about this one small idea that stands for a huge difference in the lives of all of our constituents and as she pointed out for women in particular, and that is of course the idea that if you are putting in 40 or 50 or 60 hours of work her week, you're able to put food on the table and pay your bills and woandwon't be stuck below the py line. this idea could change the lives of millions of americans if congress simply a unanimous consented and raised the minimum wage. but we've got to act now because right now one in four women in our work force is making the minimum wage. that is 15 million american women who are making the equivalent of about two gallons of gas per hour. are we prepared to tell them that that should be enough to support themselves and their kids? in fact, as we've heard several times in this chamber, nearly two-thirds of those wh

mr. murray, will each control 20 minutes. -- mr. murphy, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new jersey. mr. garrett: again, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and also to submit extraneous materials for the record on this bill, h.r. 627, as amended, and currently under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. garrett: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. garrett: mr. speaker, i rise today in support of h.r. 627, the national park service 100th anniversary commemorative coin act. introduced by the gentleman from minnesota, mr. paulsen. mr. speaker, this legislation seeks to authorize the minting and sale in 2016 of gold, plat coin to commemorate the national park service. american landscape so important to all of us. the idea of federally recognizing and preserving certain sites began in the late 19th century with the official establishment of a select grou

mrs. murray: thank you, madam president. i want to start my bye expressing my thanks and appreciation to senator mikulski for her once again tremendous leadership in the fight for equal pay and foe bringing the paycheck fairness act to the forefront of the debate this session. the role of women in families and in our economy has really shifted dramatically over the last few decades. today, 60% of families rely on earnings from both parents. that's up from 37% in 1975. 60%. women today make up nearly half the work force. and more than ever women are likely to be the prime mayor -- primary breadwinner in their families. women are making a difference in our economy, in lecture halls and small businesses. but despite the important progress we have made, since the equal pay act passed now 50 years ago including passing the lily ledbetter act thanks again to senator mikulski in 2009 to give more women tools to fight pay discrimination, women's wages not have caught up with the times. across the country today, women still earn 77 c

mark murray, thank you for joining us. mr.eed, she's going up against al gore in the last day of the elite eight. go to rundown msnbc.com to vote for the final four. turning from our tourney to the nba, where the playoffs are about to start. $250 million two hedge fund managers decide to spend over half a billion to buy the team. the fans in milwaukee doesn't need to worry about the team leaving or being contracted. the new owners have pledged to keep the team in the city and contribute money for a new stadium. i don't know if i agree with that. we'll be right back with more tdr. e one of the biggest financial services companies in the country? hey. yours? not anymore. come on in. [ male announcer ] by meeting you more than halfway. it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. salesgets up to 795 highwayal is the passamiles per tank.sel [ male announcer ] by meeting you more than halfway. salesperson #2: actually, we're throwing in a $1,000 fuel reward card. we've never done that. that's why there's never been a better time

mr. lewis, you're just touching on things. it seems like conservatives like charles murray and think tanks, what they are doing is projecting on to or people all of the corruption and wickedness that they themselves are guilty of. fifteen years ago in the summer of 1999, roger ailes was a guest with brian lamb and it was instrumental with cnbc and rush limbaugh and all that. and then the specialist firm, accorsi blew off my question. within five years later the knee late something close to $250 million with fines on the specialist firms for frontrunning pÂtÉ. in one and you can address those questions. the country would be surprised to know that our nation is run by cocaine snorting frat boys. [laughter] and so it's really a crime if it's turned into a motion picture. so i think that liar's poker would be even better than the willful wall street. >> host: we have a lot of callers, let's leave it there. thank you. >> guest: i will start by recommending hollywood and listen to what you said. but one morning i have for the story that i just told, it is cause an uproar and more of an uproar than anything i have ever had in my life

mr. ryan: as the ryan of the ryan-murray agreement, look, i wish that the murray side of the agreement would have agreed to those out-year numbers. that didn't happen. that agreement is a two-year agreement. so to compare this budget and the baseline against that, that's not accurate. here's the problem, mr. chairman. we're spending money we don't have. we're going through the budget program by program, line by line, and trying to reform these programs so that they can better deliver on their promises. we're looking at certain programs, say like food stamps, and saying, some states have some pretty innovative ideas on how to better deliver these services. there have been some wasteful and fraudulent activities that need to be gotten at so we don't waste taxpayer money. we think it's important to encourage able-bodied adults who do not have dependents to go to work. when we do that in welfare reform in the 1990's, it worked, people went to work, and by the way, child poverty dropped double digits. single moms went to work. it helps reduce poverty. we want to replicate that kind of success wit

mr. ryan agreed with on -- agreed on with senator murray in the other body. it's not something i would have done. but it was a real agreement. only a two-year agreement, but a real agreement. and against a lot of criticism, mr. ryan incorporated. ok, if that's going to be the settled law of the land, that should be part of our budget. he put it in there, i'm proud of him for doing that. finally again it reduces not spending but the growth of spending. we're not -- we're going to hear a lot of talk about flashes and -- slashes and not investment. if you look at the ryan budget, federal spending still grows. it grows by about 3.5% a year. the difference is the democratic alternative or ex keys new the current course is like -- excuse me, the current course is like 5.2%. that's not a great deal of difference. we could really restrain our deficit in the short-term and ultimately bring ourselves into balance not by slashing everything but by simply making some of the simple commonsense reforms that my friend mr. ryan , to great criticism, has advanced and put on th

durbin, casey, coons, rockefeller, levin, cantwell, nelson, whitehouse, murphy, murray, udall of new mexico and king. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. without objection. mr. reid: might have to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in faye say aye. all -- all in favor say aye. opposed nay. the motion carries. mr. reid: i now move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 587. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. opposed nay. the ayes have it. the motion is agreed to and the the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: manish s. s. shah of illinois to be united states district judge. mr. reid: i send a cloture motion to the desk, mr. president. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion. we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of manish s. s. shahf illinois to be united states dis

mr. lewis, you're just touching on things. it seems like conservatives like charles murray and think tanks, what they are doing is projecting on to or people all of the corruption and wickedness that they themselves are guilty of. fifteen years ago in the summer of 1999, roger ailes was a guest with brian lamb and it was instrumental with cnbc and rush limbaugh and all that. and then the specialist firm, accorsi blew off my question. within five years later the knee late something close to $250 million with fines on the specialist firms for frontrunning pÂtÉ. in one and you can address those questions. the country would be surprised to know that our nation is run by cocaine snorting frat boys. [laughter] and so it's really a crime if it's turned into a motion picture. so i think that liar's poker would be even better than the willful wall street. >> host: we have a lot of callers, let's leave it there. thank you. >> guest: i will start by recommending hollywood and listen to what you said. but one morning i have for the story that i just told, it is cause an uproar and more of an uproar than anything i have ever had in my life

i recognize senator murray since senator murray didn't have a chance last time. >> thank you very much mr. chairman. this is such an important hearing that you are having and i appreciate all the thoughts and the discussion on this. it's so telling when we have so many people in our country today who are spending all of their extra income paying back the student loan and they are not buying clothing, houses and cars and contributing to our economy. it is really prohibiting young people i'm even thinking about a future in college. i think it's extremely important and i appreciate all of you for being here. one of my priorities during the negotiations last winter on the bipartisan budget act was to maintain our investments in student aid and not ask our students to contribute even more towards deficit reduction. unfortunately as you know congressman ryan and i were able to work together to provide release to struggling borrowers and the wiele did it was by reducing the collection fees that guarantee agencies charged on defaulted loans. i'm really glad you were here in our want you to talk a

mr. lewis you were just touching on it but the conservative like charles murray and the conservative think-tanks what they are doing is they project onto poor people all of the corruption and wickedness that they themselves are guilty of. 15 years ago in the summer of 99 roger ailes was a guest with brian lamb and i called him up and roger ailes of course was unsure mental and starting "fox news" and cnbc and rush limbaugh's career and all that and i asked mr. ailes about the specialist firms that was fronting the tape. of course he lieu off my question but then five years later the ftc levied something close to 200 $80 million worth of fines on the specialist firms for front running the tape. i was wondering if you could address the questions of conservatconservat ives projecting -- i think the country would be surprised another nation is run by cocaine snorting frat boys. it's really a crime if myers coker isn't turned into a major movie. >> host: shone we have a lot of callers on the line. let's leave it there. thank you. >> guest: so, can i run in one particular direction with this? it would

mr. speaker, i'm pleased to present to this house the first of what i hope are many appropriations bills for fiscal year 2015. because of the ryan-murray budget agreement late last year, the appropriations committee has been able to move expeditiously and report these two bills for consideration by the whole house. in fact, this is the earliest that appropriations bills have been considered in this house since 1974. in addition, mr. speaker, both of these bills enjoy strong bipartisan support. both were reported out of committee by voice vote. and take into account updated priorities for the coming fiscal year. i'm proud, for example, that we are able to provide additional funding for our veterans who have given so much in service to our country. i'm also proud that these bills maintain the fiscal discipline this country so desperately needs. the milcon-va bill spends $1.8 billion less than fiscal year 2014, and the legislative branch bill provides for level funding. mr. speaker, i want to commend chairman rogers for beginning this process in earnest and look forward to consideration of additional appropriations measures at the appropr

murray agreement. i assume that also means that it will adhere to the firewall division between defense and nondefense discretionary spending as well, is that accurate, mr. leader? mr. cantor: i'd say for that fiscal year he's correct. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for that information. i tell my friend, the majority leader, "the wall street journal" had an editorial about , 14 paragraphs. i disagreed with the first 13 paragraphs but i did agree with the last paragraph. it said, but the ryan outline does the service of showing the policy direction in which republicans would have if they regained control of the senate next year. and then it goes on to say, senate democrats don't want to declare themselves without any votes but they favor higher taxes, much more spending, for anything other than defense. voters will have to decide on the direction they want congress to go. so, mr. leader, as i said, we welcome debate on this budget. we do believe it expresses the priorities of your party and as you know we differ with those priorities in many instances so i think the american people will get a spirited, informative and educational debate on the ryan bu

murray agreement. i assume that also means that it will adhere to the firewall division between defense and nondefense discretionary spending as well, is that accurate, mr leader? mr. cantor: i'd say for that fiscal year he's correct. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for that information. i tell my friend, the majority leader, "the wall street journal" had an editorial about , 14 paragraphs. i disagreed with the first 13 paragraphs but i did agree with the last paragraph. it said, but the ryan outline does the service of showing the policy direction in which republicans would have if they regained control of the senate next year. and then it goes on to say, senate democrats don't want to declare themselves without any votes but they favor higher taxes, much more spending, for anything other than defense. voters will have to decide on the direction they want congress to go. so, mr. leader, as i said, we welcome debate on this budget. we do believe it expresses the priorities of your party and as you know we differ with those priorities in many instances so i think the american people will get a spirited, informative and educational debate on the ryan bud

bill murray's character, doing the same thing over and over again, to push a bolder upper mountain only to see it karine to the bottom and start all over again, we've seen these proposals before, mr. speaker. yet, once again, my friends across the aisle try their best to throw up smoke screens right and further right. once again, my friends, led by chairman paul ryan, present reforms that are not common sense but actually nonsense. once again, republicans' proposed budget process, changes that are nothing more than gimmicks. to eliminate spending on ssential services and to reduce taxes for the wealthy. we need to consider dynamic scoring and whether we should factor in inflation when accounting for future spending instead of dealing with the important issues of the day. the need for immigration reform isn't going anywhere. the need for investment in our infrastructure isn't going anywhere. the need to provide health care for our veterans is not going anywhere. nd when i tell you that your budget gimmicks aren't going anywhere either and you know it. you can pass these gimmicks all day long. you're in the majority and you can pass them all day, 24 hours a day and twice, three tim

murray agreement. i assume that also means that it will adhere to the firewall division between defense and nondefense discretionary spending as well, is that accurate, mr. leader? mr. cantor: i'd say for that fiscal year he's correct. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for that information. i tell my friend, the majority leader, "the wall street journal" had an editorial about , 14 paragraphs. i disagreed with the first 13 paragraphs but i did agree with the last paragraph. it said, but the ryan outline does the service of showing the policy direction in which republicans would have if they regained control of the senate next year. and then it goes on to say, senate democrats don't want to declare themselves without any votes but they favor higher taxes, much more spending, for anything other than defense. voters will have to decide on the direction they want congress to go. so, mr. leader, as i said, we welcome debate on this budget. we do believe it expresses the priorities of your party and as you know we differ with those priorities in many instances so i think the american people will get a spirited, informative and educational debate on the ryan bu

mrs. murray: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: mr. president, pursuant to section 904 of the congressional budget office of 1974 and the waiver provisions of applicable budget resolutions, i move to waive all alickable -- applicable sections of that act and applicable budget resolutions for purposes of the pending amendment. i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: without objection. is there a sufficient second? mrs. murray: mr. president? the presiding officer: there appears to be. the yeas and nays are ordered. mrs. murray: mr. president, i ask consent the vote occur at the time set out under the previous order. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. hirono: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. ms. hirono: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent for extension of time of six minutes to be divided equally between myself and senator stabenow. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. hirono: i'm going to keep

mrs. murray: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: last october families and communities across our country were forced to endure a completely unnecessary government shutdown. coming after years of budget uncertainty and constant crises the shutdown hurt our workers and threatened our fragile economic recovery and it shook the confidence of people across the country who expected their elected officials to come together to avoid such a needless and self-inflicted crisis. it was a dark time here in congress and i think many of my colleagues regret letting a teept minority push us into that. mr. president, when the shutdown finally ended i sat down with house budget committee chairman paul ryan in a budget conference that many of us had been trying to start for months. we worked through the issues, we compromised and we reached a two-year budget deal that rolled back devastating cuts from sequestration, we prevented another gown shu

mrs. murray: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: mr. president, i come to the floor today to introduce the military and veteran caregiver services improvement act. mr. president, this is a bill that will make really critical improvements to how we support our why i am and injured veterans -- our ill and injured veterans and their caregivers. and i am especially pleased to be joined by our former colleague, senator elizabeth dole, who has come here on the floor and has been such a tremendous and invaluable person in working to bring these caregiver issues to national attention. and i really appreciate her being here and being such a champion on this and a leader. she has brought people from all over the country together to make a difference for our caregivers and for our veterans. we also have many of the very caregivers this bill is design

mrs. murray: in my home state of washington, we have a bipartisan judicial selection process that allows us to recommend nominees who are supported by republicans and democrats alike. we don't always agree on every nominee, but that process has really served our state well for a long time. as the senate votes today on mr. bastian's nomination, i'd like to inform my colleagues that during the bipartisan process to select him, his support was unanimous. that means every republican and every democrat who helps select judicial nominees in our state supports putting mr. bastian on the federal bench. in today's political atmosphere, that is as strong an endorsement as i can think of. he has nearly 30 years of litigation experience. he's a fellow in the american college of trial lawyers. he is chairman of equal justice coalition. and throughout his career, he served the washington bar first as a member of the board of governors and eventually as president. he has practiced in both state and federal cour

follows -- reid of nevada, mikulski, murray, durbin, yibled, schatz, heinrich, baldwin, boxer, stabenow, hirono, hagan, landrieu, mccaskill, shaheen, feinstein, klobuchar. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. bennet: mr. president, thank you very much. for that recognition. i come to the floor today to talk about jobs and about one sector in particular, -- maybe we should should have a job sector to fix this desk but that's not what i'm here to talk about. one job sector that's created tremendous job growth in colorado and across the united states and that's wind energy and the jobs that it's brought to our state. during last thursday's markup in the finances committee, we worked in a bipartisan fashion to include a two-year extension of the production tax credit known as the p.t.c. any -- and the investment tax credit known as the i.t.c. for wind energy. the wind credit has enjoyed broad bipartisan basis over a number of years ranging from its original champ, cons to be a c