mr. murray to come back next week or not. either way the committee can consider the war memorial budget as part of the entire budget. >> i know this is an outstanding issue and we would like to move this $400,000 into the general fund for to be able to reallocate that money. i also want to make sure we are being respectful of the fact that the department is stating there is an error and over the next week that will be figured out. i don't know -- >> since we are not making a decision, it doesn't matter. it's been noted an it's out there. either there was a mistake or there wasn't. >> you can make the reductions today which isn't an argument and we can simply outline the choice here and the issue here and the committee can consider this choice of whether to leave it in fund balance or take it to the general fund with that information in hand as part of next week and part of your final deliberations. >> why don't we do that. everything is tentative right now anyway in spite of public comment. ms. breed? >>supervisor london bree

mrs. murray: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be lifted. and i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: madam president, i am here today to talk about the helping working families afford child care act, which is a bill that my colleagues, senators shaheen, boxer, gillibrand and i, introduced today. it will update the child and dependent care tax credit to offer working families more relief from the rising costs of child care. you know, when the child and dependent tax care tax credit was enacted originally, kids were playing with rubix cubes and listening to 8-track tapes. well, as we all know, a lot has changed since then and one of the most important changes our country has seen since that time is the rise of women in the labor force. since the mid-1970's, women's participation in the labor force has increased by 23%. and now most women

mrs. murray: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: mr. president, i come to the floor this morning to join with the senior senator from colorado and i want to thank him for his excellent statement and his leadership on this issue as we kick off this really important debate on our bill, the protect women's health from corporate interference act, or, as you just heard, "the not my boss's business act." and i want to start off by asking our colleagues a few basic questions. first of all, who should be in charge of a women's health care decision? should it be the woman making those decisions with her partner and her doctor and her faith? or should it be her boss making those decisions for her based on his own religious beliefs? well, to me and to the vast majority of people across the country, the answer to those questions -- that question is obvious. women should call the shots when it comes to their health care decisions, not their boss, not the government, not anyone else. period. but, mr. president, we are here today because five men on t

mrs. murray: thank you, mr. president. i actually come to the floor today to talk about the bring jobs home act, which is a bill that would stop big corporations from getting a tax break for sending jobs overseas while rewarding businesses that invest in bringing jobs here, back home. and i want to thank my colleagues, senator walsh and senator stabenow for leading the way on this important legislation. and i'm glad we now have the opportunity to debate it. i hope that our republican colleagues will take a serious look at the bring jobs home act and work with us in the coming weeks and months on other efforts to create jobs and long-term economic growth. mr. president, our economy has changed a lot over the last few decades. prices have risen for everything from college tuition to health care, and the shifting realities of the global economy have really made it harder to find the kinds of jobs workers use to raise their families on. and as we all remember for far too many families, the financial crisis and the recession th

mrs. murray: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to reserve the last three minutes of the debate for my time and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: without objection, and the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mrs. murray: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: mr.president, last month we saw five male justices give their blessing to c.e.o.'s and corporations across america to go ahead and deny legally required health care coverage for their employees. when that news broke, i was outraged, and i know i was one of millions of people across the country who were shocked and angry. mr. president, these women are looking to us. they are demanding a change. and today as women across america took to social media for a digital day of action, their message was delivered loud and clear when they echoed my personal health care choices are not my boss' business. period. and it wasn't just women who were speaking out on social media today. in fact, we heard from several men who understood that if bosses can deny birth control, they can deny vaccines or h.i.v. treatments or any other basic health care service for their employees or their dependents. i heard from conrad in my home state of washington on twitter today who said he really doesn't want his boss kn

mrs. murray: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: madam president, i wanted to just come to the floor for a few minutes today to talk about the absolutely devastating wildfires that are currently burning through farms and communities and public lands in our home state of washington. madam president, as a lifelong resident of washington state and the pacific northwest, i have always been aware of the annual risks and dangers that wildfires pose to our region. every summer, it's a combination of rising temperatures and months of dry weather and our state's, obviously, abundance of forests and fields have resulted in wildfires capable of threatening homes and businesses across our state. and each summer, we have worked to become better and better prepared to help protect our communities. but, madam president, one wildfire burning this year is the single largest we have seen in washington state, and since last tuesday, massive wildfires covering hundreds of thousands of acres have ravaged our farm lands and our agricultural areas

mrs. murray: i ask unanimous consent all available debate time with respect to the nominations in this series be yielded back. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. hearing no further debate, the question occurs on the akuetteh nomination. all in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the question occurs on the nomination. all those in favor say aye. opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it, and the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the question occurs on the kennedy nomination. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. and the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motions to reconsider are laid on the table -- made and laid on the table, and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action, and the senate will resume legislative session. ms.

mr. chairman, i thank you and yield. >> thank you. senator murray. >> mr. chairman, thank you very much for holding this hearing as we all know this is a critical time for the department. the v.a. is still struggling with major systemic problems. there are many vacancies in key leadership positions and most importantly veterans are still waiting too long for care. secretary zpwibson as we talked about yesterday i really appreciate your stepping up during this crisis. the department needs strong leadership right now because the v.a. is facing serious challenges. identified several of these issues which we've also been discussing here for some amount of time, a crosive culture has developed in the department one that is unworthy of v.a.'s many dedicated and talented medical providers who do only want to help veterans, management failures, lack of communication is a problem at all levels and v.a. needs more providers more space and modern i.t. systems. as we continue to work in the conference commitee to craft a final bill i hope an agreement will be reached s

mrs. murray: madam president, i just came to the floor for the last minute of this debate to support shaun donovan's nomination to be director of the office of mapght and budget. i have worked very closely with him and i know he has the skills and experience to work with congress in creating jobs and tackling our long-term budget challenges fairly and responsibly. in his role as secretary of housing and urban development, secretary donovan has approved time and again that he has focused first and foremost on strengthening our middle class by expanding opportunities for feamenfamilies and communities. for his work following the housing market to reinforcing the age agency's role in providg affordable housing, to ensuring communities that are hit hard by natural disasters have the resources they need to get back on their feet, secretary donovan has been a highly effective and responsive leader and a great partner to news congress, democrats and republicans alike. and, madam president, secretary don

mr. murray.plause] i want to begin by contextualizing this panel, because it's somewhat interesting that we have to ask the question whether we can stop big government. because it was only 20 years ago that a democratic president, bill clinton, said that the era of big government was over. we have defeated the soviet union, we have protected civil liberties or civil rights in the 1960s, achieved women's suffrage in the early 20th century, and yet we see threats to liberty on all sides today. our national debt in the united states is higher than it's ever been before. people are forced to purchase goods whether they decide they want to or not. the government routinely discriminates against people because of their sexual orientation and imprisons others for nonviolent drug offenses. and at the same time, we have to fear the american government going to war every where from the ukraine because of the actions of russia's president putin to iraq once again as we've just left the country from a war we

mr. murray, when you hear the question is america and exceptional country, what is your answer?ler: we used to be. it is not a matter of opinion. in the first century after the beginning of the country, everybody in the world who came here were unanimous in saying there were exceptional characteristics that they agreed on. it is not etched in stone that we always have to be that way. i would argue that we were exceptional in the 19th century. think of the things that made us exceptional. one was the physical setting. the buffer of the atlantic ocean on the east and the frontier to the west. a they had profound influences on american culture. there is the american ideology. was thee it unique degree to which the government was an extremely small presence in american life. close tocountry became the degree in which we had limited government. you can take the culture the united states had. american neighborliness. there are countries that have a history of generous hospitality. very few cultures have people living in proximity to each other who have cooperated the way americans did

mr. chairman i yield. >> senator murray. >> mr. chairman, thank you for holding this hearing. this is a critical time for the department. the va is scheduling with systemic parties and there are openings in positions and veterans are waiting too long for care. secretary gibson i really appreciate you stepping up during this crisis. the department need strong leadership right now. rob neighbors' review identified several of the issues which we have been discussing here for some time. a corrosive culture has developed in the department and one that is unworthy of many va dedicated providers that do only want to help. lack of communication is a problem at all levels and va needs more providers, more space and modern it systems. as we continue to work in the conference committee to craft a final bill i hope an agreement is reached so we can send it to the president and make the changes so the veterans get into care and we create transparency and hold people accountable. the bill will be an important first step but as more is found we will need additional steps and we cannot lose s

mr. burr. senator murray. >> thank you so much for holding this hearing. as we know this is a critical time for the department. the va is still struggling with major systemic problems. there are many vacancies in key leadership positions. and most importantly, veterans are still waiting too long for care. secretary gibson as we talked about yesterday, i really appreciate your stepping up during this crisis. the department needs strong leadership right now because the va is facing serious challenges. rob neighbors' review identified several of these issues. a corrosive culture has developed in the department, one that is unworthy of va's many dedicated and talented medical provide who do only want to help veterans. management failures, lack of communication is a policemen at all levels of the vha. and va needs more providers, more space, and modern i.t. systems. as we continue to work in the conference committee to craft a final bill, i hope an agreement will be reached so we can send it to the president and start making the changes needed at va so veterans

mr. chairman i thank you and i yield back. >> thank you senator burr. senator murray. >> mr. chairman thank you for holding this hearing. this is a critical time for the department. the va is struggling with systemic problems. there are vacancies in key leadership -- secretary gibson as he talked about yesterday appreciate your stepping up during this crisis. the department needs strong leadership right now because the va is facing serious challenges. rob neighbors reviewed several of these issues which we have been discussing for some time. a corrosive culture is developed in the department one that is unworthy of va's many dedicated and talented medical providers who do want to help veterans. management failures, lack of communication is a problem at all levels of vha and va needs providers, more space and modern i.t. systems. as we continue to work in a conference committee to craft a final bill i hope an agreement will be rich reached so we can send it to the president and start making the changes needed at the ace of veterans get into care to create transparency and hold

mrs. josh murray. come on out, guys. that was a quick turnaround. >> getting out of the car. >> hi. >> how are you? >> this must feel good to be out together. >> yes. >> so good. >> does it? >> it feels so good. >> things starting to set in. >> finally. >> just got off a plane. >> just got off a plane. red-eye. >> you are a better-looking couple than even in bad life. >> not bad. >> right back at you, sister. andi, i want to start with you. i sort of guessed it right away. did you? did you know right early on? >> i definitely knew like there was that chemistry and attraction with him. i'm definitely an overthinker so it took me to the very end but there was something special with him for sure. >> yeah. >> how about you? you were the last guy to get out of the limo. >> i was. i was so nervous. >> did your first impressions of andi, did they pan out now that it's all over and can be told? >> yeah, no, they definitely did. i mean i was -- i through she was very intelligent but she is so funny and beautiful. i was intimidate

mr. chairman, i thank you. i yield. >> thank you. senator murray. >> mr. chairman, thank you so much for holding this hearing. this is a critical time for the department. the v.a. is still struggling. there are and most importantly veterans are still waiting too long for care. secretary -- son, as we talked about yesterday, i appreciate your stepping up during this crisis. the department needs strong leadership right now, because the v.a. is facing serious challenges. rob nay bores' reviews identified several issues which we have been discussing for some time. a corrosive culture has developed, one unworthy of v.a.'s many dedicated and talented medical providers who do only wand to help. management failing injures, lack of communication is a problem at all levels of the vha, and v.a. needs more provider, more space and modern i.t. systems, as we continue to work in the conference commit year, i hope an agreement will be reached so we can send it to the president and start making the changes needed at the v.a. so veterans get into care. the compromise will be the important first step, as more problems are foun

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator portman. we will proceed with opening remarks based on how early people came. we'll start with senator murray. >> mr. chairman, thank you so much for holding this hearing. just last week we heard about the current state of va health care and the department's efforts to address the many challenges before it. and i -- so i just want to take a moment to thank acting secretary gibson who stepped up during this crisis and took immediate action to help increase transparency around the wait times and planned an external audit of scheduling practices and began procurement of modern scheduling system. as acting secretary, he identified as we heard about $17.6 billion in critical funding needs to increase veterans access to care including 10,000 more medical supporters and providers and clinic space for patients to receive care. the actions that he laid out before this committee are very important but they're first steps and even with some of the policy changes and additional funding it's going to take some time to see improvement in veterans still waiting for health care too long. and as we know the d

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator. we will proceed with opening remarks based on how early people came. we will start with senator murray. mr. chairman, thank you so much for holding this hearing. it was just last week that we heard about the current state of v.a. health care and the efforts to address the many challenges. i wanted to start by taking a moment to thank acting secretary gibson who took immediate action to help increase transparency around the wait times and plan an external audit and begin the procurement of a modern scheduling system. as acting secretary, he identified about $17.6 billion in critical funding needs including 10,000 more medical providers and support staff, improved i.t. systems and additional clinic space. outactions that he laid before the committee are important. even with some of the policy changes and additional funding, it is going to take time to see improvement and veterans are going to still be waiting too long. as we know, the ability to carry out this mission is going to remain hampered as long as there is a number of key leadership vacancies. even while we work to break down th

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator murray. senator isakson. >> following up on the question about referrals into the private sector. i wrote down from your statement, you made 543,000 referrals for private veterans for private care? what percentage of those would you guess were mental health referrals? >> i'm sorry. i could hasten a guess, but i would take that one for the record. >> reason i asked that question is i got into the atlanta v.a. starting in august of last year when we had two suicides and a drug overdose. when we dug down, they were using a community-based provider for mental health. v.a. would see the patient, refer them to the community-based provider with no follow-up between the referral and the appointment, and during that period of time, when the perm was determined to be a risk for themselves and their own life, in two cases they took their own life because they didn't get timely services on the referral. i think -- mr. matkovsky made an interesting observation about coordinated care. as we expand options

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator. we will proceed with opening remarks based on how early people came. we will start with senator murray. >> mr. chairman, thank you so much for holding this hearing. it was just last week that we heard about the current state of v.a. health care and the efforts to address the many challenges. i wanted to start by taking a moment to thank acting secretary gibson who took immediate action to help increase transparency around the wait times and plan an external audit and begin the procurement of a modern scheduling system. as acting secretary, he identified about $17.6 billion in critical funding needs including 10,000 more medical providers and support staff, improved i.t. systems and additional clinic space. the actions that he laid out before the committee are important. even with some of the policy changes and additional funding, it is going to take time to see improvement and veterans are going to still be waiting too long. as we know, the ability to carry out this mission is going to remain hampered as long as there is a number of key leadership vacancies. even while we work to break

murray. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. mcdonald, i was really troubled to hear doctor shinseki say that he felt like he was misled by leaders to the department, they can't function if the sector is not getting on this information from the field and taking appropriate action. if you're confirmed how are you going to create a better team and build trust and transparency? >> senator murray, i think an excellent question. on day one what i've got to do is authenticate out and got to meet as many employees as again. i've got to understand how they think about their role in the department. one of the things i pointed out is i think we have a pretty good strategic plan when i looked at the strategic plan on the internet. again, i'm all looking at publicly available information, but the behavior of every employee in the department is not consistent with that strategic plan. we've got to develop a way to make sure the department of -- that the behavior of every employee and that the expectation on their performance each year ties b

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator murray. >> following up with a question about referrals and the private sector, i wrote this down from your statement. he said 543,000 referrals for private care. what percentage of those would you guess or mental health referrals? fifth. >> i'm sorry. i could hasten a guess, but i will take that one for the record. >> the reason i ask that question is to my got into the atlantic va in august of last year when we had two suicides and a drug overdose. when we dug -- they were using a community based provider. va with see the patient, refer them to the community-based provider with no follow-up. and in that time when the person was determined to be at risk, in two cases they took their own life because they did not get timely service. i think there was an interesting observation about coordinated care. as we expand private options and veterans' health care, which we may or may not do. i hope we do. care coordination will be one of the secrets to making that work, not just in reducing wait times but the quality of care -- or increasing the quality of care for veter

i have a funny feeling that senator murray and mr. ryan will not be coming forward with this proposal again. >> i think that's a safe bet. >> yeah, i think it's completely true that you cannot understand this problem outside the contexts of the entire budget. we have a friendly process and the budget control act is a perfect example of all of that. it's declined by 3% over the next ten years. in a world where our trade with the rest of the world doubled in the last ten years is probably going to more than double. the world population is going to grow by a very substantial amount in the next year. and we'll somehow unburden ourselves is totally unrealistic. all of the growth in the federal budget over the last 25 years, has been in that program. social security,medicare and medicaid. and that's basically our retirement system. the defense and nondefense discretionary programs have basically stayed the same. and, yet, we look at a future in which we're expecting all of those things to decline in real per capita terms. and our spending,

mr. chairman. i yield back. >> thank you, senator murray. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i believe that when it comes to caring for our nation's heroes, we can't accept anything less than excellence. i'm very frustrated to be here, once again, talking about these deeply disturbing issues and allegations. it is extremely disappointing that the department has repeatedly fail today address wait times for health care. gail and the inspector general have reported on these problems many times through the years. in last congress, we did a great deal of work around wait times, particularly for mental health care. we learned then that the v.a. has no way of knowing if they are providing timely access to mental health care. and i think the v.a. is starting to see that business as usual is not acceptable. so i'm very glad to be serving on this conference committee. calling for a formal coffin frens committee is a very rare step on veteran's issues and i think that shows how severe the problems facing the vas are and how serious members are about fixing them. there have been major bi

mr. president, i come to the senate floor today in support of the not my boss's business act. i would like to thank senator murray and senator udall for introducing this legislation to help address the recent supreme court decision. mr. president, women have gone to the tops of the mountains and to outer space. women are serving as c.e.o.'s and scientists and starting their own companies. here in the senate we've gone from no women to 20, and that's a great thing many but for all of our progress -- and there has been a lot -- this stubborn fact remains: women still struggle to attain the basic health care services that allow them to plan their families, protect their health, and contribute to our economy. this is fundamentally an issue of fairness and an issue of equality. i've always said that the affordable care act is a beginning and not an end. i'd like to see chaiption to that bill. i've sponsored changes to that bill. but the law does take significant steps forward on health care for women. one that's of particular importance to women is requiring that all health insurance plans cover f.d.a.-approved forms

murray? >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. mr. mcdonald. i was really troubled to hear secretary shinseki say he felt like he was misled by directors. the department just can't function if the secretary is not getting honest information from the field and taking appropriate action. if you're confirmed, how will you create a better team and build trust and transparency? irges -- >> on day one, you have to meet as many employees as i can. i've got to understand how they think about their role in the department. one of the things i pointed out is i think we have a pretty good strategic plan when i looked at the strategic plan on the internet. again i'm only looking at publicly available information, but the behavior of every employee in the department is not consistent with that strategic plan. we've got to develop a way to make sure the department -- that the behavior of every employees and that their expectation on their performance each year ties back to a strategic plan. >> you don't think that was happening prior? itches i don't want to j

mcmullin, as well as players such as mile j - smiley givehart, david murray, jerry, marsh walz, mike mcgee, woodson emens and possibly others. mr. speaker, i now close with these words. to a man, each of my brother wildcats, i am sure feel as i do, that moment of hard work, sweat, pain and sometimes disappointment, all of those things were worth it. and we are all better men because of it. such a common experience even a half century ago bonds us together forever. indeed, we were then as we are today and always, even when we no longer answer that roll call, we'll be known as the meridian high school wildcats, a true band of brothers. mr. speaker, today i want to express a heartfelt tribute to the leaders of our wildcat band of brothers. coaches bob tyler, charles garrett, and all wildcat coaches living and not, and to all of my brother players living and not, for all of you have done for our town, our school, and especially for me. with that, mr. speaker, i yield ack. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced spoifl january 3, 2013, the gentleman from iowa mr. king is recognized for 50 minutes as the designee of th

murray often wrote 675-word columns. >> years ago we had a conversation with david mccullough and mr. halberstam.you said at the time that your favorite book was "friday night lights." >> it is a great book. aim out the same year as my baseball book, "men at work." it is about high school football in midland, texas. heartbreaking story about expectations raised and dashed. high school young men doing what high school young men will do, envisioning a high trajectory of athletic achievement and being disappointed. it is still one of the best sports books. >> what is the best writing you read in the last year or so? >> the best writing -- >> or the best new columnist you have seen. columnist,ic "national affairs" magazine, . there is an enormous amount of young commentator talent. >> what has happened to your writing over the years? how has it changed? >> i think i write more complicated columns now because i am more understand in constitutional law. all of our disputes sooner or later become related to the constitution. the constitution read through the prism of the declaration of independence. i f

murray is way overstating it. you say what? >> and i say they're lying to the american people. mr.bama himself said that electric rates will skyrocket. what they are doing has nothing to do with the environment, neil. for the last 15 years, earth temperatures have stabilize. it has not heated at all. their regulations on greenhouse gases would only affect 0.2 of 1% in terms of carbon dioxide affecting the temperature. '9" has nothing to do with the environment. it's a political power grab of america's power grid. >> you know what's interesting, when democrats running for office feel the heat and are now distancing themselves and the president on this, do you think this is boom ranging back on them? >> i hope that it is for the sake of america, neil, because i'm scared to death. i really am. >> do you think that it's going to mean, as you say, much higher utility bills? i think the figure mentioned is 35% higher electricity bills in the not so distant future. >> the utility companies themselves just bid the price of electricity up double in 2017 and 2018. these regulations are goin

and that senator murray be in control at the final two minutes prior to the vote. that's my request. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. carper: thank you. mr. vitter: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. vitter: thank you, madam president. madam president, i rise today to discuss the growing crisis of unaccompanied daily children streaming across our southern border. it has been called a mounting crisis, including the security crisis it is. there are some 52,000 who have come across in the last several months according to recent reports up from just a few thousand a year ago. and the threat is that that will grow significantly. it is continuing to grow. this has been called a humanitarian crisis, and it is. these are in most cases vulnerable children who were taken through by human smugglers, by drug cartels, by other folks who do not, absolutely do not have their best interest in mind. and these children are often mistreated in all sorts of despicable ways through that journey. how do we address this crisis? well, it seems to me, madam president, we need to get our core response ri

hagan, leahy, kaine, king, carper, nelson, tester, murray, mccaskill, begich, whitehouse, heinrich, stabenow, harkin, udall of new mexico and donnelly. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. reid: i now move to proceed to calendar number 438, s. 2244. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: motion to proceed to the consideration of s. 2244, bill to extend the termination date of the terrorism insurance program, and so forth and for other purposes. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i want the record to reflect how much i appreciate the hard work of the senator from north carolina, senator hagan, working on this bipartisan bill. she did it with the ranking member of the energy and natural resources committee, senator murkowski, and they have done good work coming up with this bill. but, mr. president, the senator from alaska spoke this morning about her desire for consideration of amendments. typical, typical, typical of the last six years here. this bill h

mr. buck mckeon, as well as representatives hinojosa and joe heck. and last but not least, senator murray and my good friend, senator isaacson, were both instrumental in our work. finally, madam speaker, we wouldn't be here today without the hard work of our staffs. the majority and minority staffs of the relevant house and senate committees put in more hours than they care to remember. unfortunately there isn't time to recognize them all. however, a few stand out on our side of the aisle that merit mention. julian sullivan, the committee staff director, is a trusted advise who are helped us navigate the choppy waters that arose along the way. brad thomas helped ensure the bill addresses the unique needs of americans with disabilities. james, our former director of education policy, left the committee before this compromise was announced, but his knowledge and expertise are present on every page of this agreement. and finally, rosemary, whose passion and dedicated kept this movement forward when it seemed like it couldn't get done. there aren't enough words to describe her incredible cont

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator portman. we will proceed with opening earlys based on how people came. we'll start with senator murray. >> thank you so much for holding this hearing. it was just last week that we current state of v.a. health care and the department's efforts to address challenges before it. and i want to star by taking a moment to thank acting secretary gibson who stepped up during this chris and is took immediate increase help transparency around the wait times and planned an ex-tecce al audit of scheduling practices and began the procurement of a system.cheduling about 16.6 billion in critical funding, needs to help increase veterans access to care, including 10,000 more medical providers and support clinicand additional space for patients to receive care. the actions that he laid out are veryis committee important, but their first steps, and even with some of the changes and additional funding it going to take some time to see improvement and waiting will still be for health care too long. and as we know the department's carry out its mission is going to remain ham perfected as long as there's a n

murray for offering this legislation. i urge my colleagues to support this effort to protect women's health care and religious freedom. thank you, mr. president and i yield the

mr. speaker, for bringing us together. thank you for your leadership. thank you to 0 the chairman. ranking member miller. senator harkin and patty murray depetting it to this place where we can come together in a bipartisan and overwhelming way to support this jobs training bill. it is the recognition that the american people are very talented. it is the recognition that the private community works with the work force to provide the training. we have the talent. our workers have many skills. they have specific training to meet the needs that the speaker talked about. this is really important in making sure we have a work force for the 21st century. skilled and trained to meet the needs of the private sector and entrepreneurial spirit of america. now we have to create more jobs to be filled by this trained workforce. but today is really a good day. i thank you, mr. speaker, and i yield to mr. klein. >> thank you for bringing us together here. this has been a good week for america, a good week for this institution. it shows what happens when we come together and work toward a common goal. in this case, a common goal of helping americans

murray for offering this legislation. i urge my colleagues to support this effort to protect women's health care and religious freedom. thank you mr. president and i yield the floor. >> mr. president. >> the senator from texas. >> mr. president i rise today to speak that when the saddest developments in the united states senate. namely, the all-out assault on the first amendment being led by senate democrats. it's important to clarify what the issue before this body is not about. the issue before this body is not about access to contraceptives. despite a whole lot of politicking by senate democrats to suggest to the contrary. in this body the number of people who would do anything to restrict access to contraceptives to anybody is zero. that may repeat that. there is no one in this body and no one that i'm aware of across the country who is advocating restricting anyone's access to contraceptives. mr. president my wife and i are blessed with two little girls. i'm very glad we don't have 17. nobody, nobody, nobody is talking about restricting access to contraceptives. what are we talking about? what we are talking about is the fede

murray of the american enterprise institute. onhington journal is live c-span every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. >> my first reaction was surprise because i had worked for mr sterling. i coached the clippers in the year 2000. he invited me to his daughters wedding. i had no idea what exactly was going on. i know elgin baylor and i know what he was complaining about. i was confused not knowing mr.tly which set of facts sterling stood behind and where his words came out, it was so obvious, shocking, just disgusting, all of those things wrapped in one of. but the surprise of it to find that type of sentiment and relies on black americans for so much of his success and public profile is amazing. i just could not believe that someone could have that much bigotry inside and think that it's ok. at racism in sports just after 11:00 a.m. eastern. later, at 830 p.m. eastern, discussion on gun rights and the caponal recovery of giffords difference. like the labor department today announced the unemployment rate dropped to 6.1% as the u.s. 288,000 jobs. the house has passed dozens of job bills that would mean more paychecks and more opportunities for middle-class fami

of nevada, walsh, stabenow, klobuchar, murray, sanders, harkin, durbin, udall of new mexico, casey, murphy, baldwin, tester, begich, whitehouse, levin, coons. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent, mr. president, that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. the senator from california. mrs. boxer: mr. president, i'm very proud to be on the floor this evening with some colleagues who i greatly respect, and we have been working so hard across party lines to call the nation's attention to the problems that we're facing funding our transportation system. now, we all know there are many things in the world we can't control, and many that are causing tremendous frustration. i went home this weekend, and my constituents come up to me, and they said, senator, we can't even look at the television set. the tragedies that are unfolding. and they feel that, as i do -- and i know our president does -- that these tragedies that we are witnessing have been born out of historic animosities, and it's very difficult. if we could wave our wand and make things better in all these areas, we would do s

murray of the american enterprise institute looks at american exceptionalism. "washington journal" is live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> my first reaction was surprise, because i had worked for mr. sterling. i coached the clippers in the year 2000. he invited me to his daughter's wedding. i had no idea exactly what was going on. but i also, because of my elgin baylori know and what he was complaining about and i was confused not knowing which set of facts mr. sterling behind. when his words came out, it was obvious and shocking and just disgusting, all of those things wrapped in one. but the surprise of it to find that type of sentiment in black on relying americans for so much his success and public profile, it was amazing. i couldn't believe that someone could have that much bill on the try inside and think it was ok. >> july 4 on c-span, a look at racism in sports. later, exploring the red planet with mars engineers beginning at 3:40. and later, discussions on gun rights and the personal recovery of former arizona congresswoman gabby giffords. >> the senate is back in session monday at 2:00 p.m. eastern. later in the day, the senate will vote on a judicial nomination for the

murray budget agreement. but we believe that this bill provides the appropriate resources at the time. in addition, mr. speaker, the bill provides for consideration of h.r. 5272, which would prevent the administration from expanding the deferred action for childhood arrivals, so-called doca program. i like many of my colleagues that it has incentivized juveniles with the hope of staying in this country permanently. executive orders like doca only serve to keep that hope alive. i believe it's important to send a strong signal this program should not be expanded. h.r. 5272 does just that. finally, mr. speaker, the rule would send back the original house passed highway bill to the senate. while i appreciate what my friends in the other body have been able to do, i believe it's important to provide members the maximum amount of flexibility to craft a long-term highway bill. by accepting the senate amendment, which would only provide adequate funding of the highway trust fund through mid december, we would be effectively creating a new crisis in the middle of a lame duck session of congress. given the limit

mr. defazio: bipartisan, the so-called bipartisan budget act of 2013, which i oppose for many reasons, but buried deep within it, they were sitting down, crunching numbers, they had the ryan-murray budget deal and they had to meet certain targets. they were short. can't raise taxes around here. well, yeah, maybe you kind of can. things that are taxes that don't look like taxes. so the deal that was cut was a 125% increase in the t.s.a. passenger security fee. now many americans probably wouldn't object too much to a passenger security fee increase if they thought it was going to enhance passenger security, especially with better through put for the long lines at the airports. but no, that's not where the money is going. it's just going somewhere in the federal treasury, maybe it will help reduce the deficit, maybe it will be spent on something else, no one knows. but airline passengers will pay it. a flight from ewe never-before-seen so san francisco used to be $2.50, the tax will now be $5.60. that's a pretty steep increase. and that's what really drove me to support this legislation. i'm tired of, you know, i'm happy to talk about increased taxes and have an upfront debate abo

mrs. murray: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to reserve the last three minutes of the debate for my time and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: without objection, and the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: a senator: mr. president -- madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: madam president, i ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: madam president, in just a few minutes now we are going to vote to proceed to debate on the protect women's health from corporate interference act or as we call it, not my boss's business act. it's straightforward, it's simple legislation that would ensure that no c.e.o. or corporation can come between you and your guaranteed access to health care, period. women across the country are watching. madam president, affordability of care equals access to care, and we know that millions of americans lacked health insurance prior to the affordable care act be

mrs. murray: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: mr. president, i believe when it comes to caring for our nation's heroes, we can't accept anything less than excellence. like many of my colleagues, i've been very troubled by the most recent allegations of v.a. failing to provide veterans with timely health care. the v.a. generally offers very high-quality health care and does many things as well or better than the private sector. but when you are caring for our nation's heroes and you have the backing of the full resources of the federal government, just as good is not enough. we expect more. so i'm very frustrated to be here again talking about these deeply disturbing issues and the department's repeated failures to change. g.a.o. and the inspector general have reported on these problems many times over the years, and last congre

mrs. murray: i came here in april to the senate floor to warn my colleagues of a looming crisis in the highway trust fund. i told them if congress didn't act and the fund reached critically low levels it would cause a construction shutdown in communities across the country. it would cost jobs and threaten our fragile economic recovery and hurt families and businesses that depend on safe and efficient roads and bridges. mr. president, i'd hoped that we could address this issue sooner. i'd hoped those of us in congress who understand the importance of strong infrastructure investments could have come together not just to avoid a crisis but on a long-term solution. we weren't able to do that, but today after four months of warning of this looming crisis, i'm glad to come to the floor as we work to do what should be easy, but too often isn't around here, to avoid a completely unnecessary and damaging crisis. mr. president, this is a step in the right direction and as many of us here know very well, i