ms. collins: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: madam president, i just want to commend the senator from pennsylvania for his remarks. i think it's obvious that both of us have reached out to employers in our state and asked them, what would make a difference? what would allow you to create new jobs, preserve the ones that you have, pay your workers more? and to a person, they identified provisions in the tax code, the uncertainty that occurs when they expire, the difficulty to plan, to hire new workers when you don't know what the tax code is going to be. and that formed the basis for our bipartisan bill. we listened to what employers were telling us, and i hope more of our colleagues will help us bring this bill to the senate floor. every day that i am talking to an employer in maine, i'm asked, are these provisions that expired at the end of last year going to be renewed? will they be retroactive? can we count on them? and they've put their hiring plans on hold until we give them the certainty that they deserve. so, agai

ms. collins: close. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senator from pennsylvania and i be permitted to engage in a colloquy as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, the ongoing debate on unemployment compensation shines a spotlight on the underlying problem and that is extremely sluggish job growth in our still lagging economy. putting people to work is my number-one priority. as american families continue to struggle to get the jobs they need at the wages they deserve, it is more important than ever for members on both sides of the aisle to come together on legislation to promote economic growth and job creation, and that is exactly what the senator from pennsylvania, senator casey, and i have done. we come to the floor today to discuss our bill to do exactly that, to create jobs, to promote our small businesses. the name of our bill is "the small business tax certainty and growth act," which we introduced last ye

collins, and ms. gabbert, all of whom served with distinction in iraq. this threat is evolving. earlier this week, the central leadership declared that those operating in western iraq and syria were no longer an affiliated group. we will see how this power struggle develops. the independence is a reflection of its unprecedented resources including weapons, personnel, cash, and the resulting operational strength. this is a threat to iraq and also us. they have been actively recruiting individuals capable of traveling to the u.s. to carry out attacks here. al qaeda and iraq has been empowered by prison breaks and by the syrian civil war, it has been fueled by the alienation of much of the sunni population from the shia dominated government in baghdad. skilled atecome very exploring this sect. rest. the power grab has given them much ammunition. this is a point that elliott and underscoredd and with president maliki when he visit last fall. the u.s. moves to send military equipment to help the iraqis fight these terrorists. appropriate intelligence can be shared as well. iraqis sho

ms. montgomery. >> thank you. chairman nelson, chair landrieu, ranking member collins, and senator scott. thank you for the opportunity to testify on sba's work to serve america's encore entrepreneurs, new and aspiring small business owners over the age of 50. we commend you for highlighting this important topic and are grateful for your ongoing leadership and support. we all know the facts. small businesses employ half of the private sector workforce and create two out of every three net new private sector jobs. what many people don't realize is that americans between the ages of 55 and 64 comprise the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs in the country. according to the kauffman foundation, encore entrepreneurs start new firms at a higher rate than any other age group. moreover, about 7.4 million self-employed workers are 50 and older. research shows that one in four americans between the ages of 44 and 70 are interested in starting a business or a nonprofit. that is why at sba we are committed to ensure that encore entrepreneurs have the tools they need to turn great ideas into succe

ms. montgomery. mr. yancey. >> thank you. chairman nelson, senator collins, chairman landrieu, senator risch, senator scott, my name is kenneth yancey and i'm at ceo of score. thank you for the opportunity to offer testimony regarding the advantages and challenges of senior entrepreneurship and scores experience in serving this important and growing segment of our population. first i would like to thank senator landrieu and senator risch for sponsoring and introducing senate bill 2008. score for small business act of 2014, a reauthorization bill seeking to strengthen the resources for entrepreneurs by improving the score program. additional funds provided by this bill will allow us to continue to improve the services offered by our volunteers come improve our efficiency, improve our outreach in both rural and underserved communities to include senior and encore entrepreneurs. as you know, score's resource partner with the u.s. small business administration were celebrate our 50th year this year. today, score has over 320 chapters in more than 11,000 voluntee

collins and ms. gabbard, all of whom served with distinction in iraq. this threat is evolving. earlier this week al-qaeda's central leadership declared that those operating in western iraq and syria were no longer an affiliated group. we will see how this power struggle develops, but isis' independence is a reflection of its unprecedented resources including weapons and personnel and cash and its resulting operational strength. this is a threat to iraq but also to us. isis has reportedly been actively recruiting individuals capable of traveling to the u.s. to carry out attacks here. while al-qaeda in iraq has been powered by prison breaks and by the syrian civil war, it has also been fueled by the alienation of much of the sunni population from the shia's dominated government in baghdad. al-qaeda has become very skilled at exploiting this sectarian rift, and maliki's power grab has given them much ammunition. this is a point that ranking member elliott engel and myself raised and underscored with president maliki when he visited washington last fall. this committee will play a

ms. andrea bernstein and mr. tom bernstein. >> mr. laura ross and mr. james ross. mr. eliseo medina. mr. and mrs. irwin jacobs. mr. jason collins. mr. brunson green. >> i'm just having fun and enjoying tonight. >> the honorable patrick f kennedy and ms. m. elizabeth swope. vic torry ofble new and and dr. robert kagan. and dr.ria nuland robert kagan. mr. raymond mcguire. ms. crystal mccleary. mr. bruce mosler. i will announce you. rummlerrable kathleen and justice elena kagan. mr. and mrs. stephen colbert air -- colbert. the honorable jay carney and ms. claire shipman. the honorable gene sperling. mr. rick sperling. greet french president hollande is her life coverage of the state visit continues. [background sounds] [background sounds] [background sounds] ♪ ♪ ♪ >> and so the guest of honor has arrived. french president francois hollande greeted by the president of first lady from the north entrance of the white house. this is the seventh state dinner or official visit for the obama administration the first of the second term and later we will take you to the south on pavilion. it has turned into a springlike display of french culture

ms. took his girlfriend for an intruder. the trial is underway on monday in south africa. >> jason collins the first openly gay athlete in the major sports in the united states, specifically, the nabs had a special meeting in denver meeting with the family of the late matthew shepherd following brooklyn's win over the nuggets and what he tweeted say i am so fortunate to have met matthew shepard's parents and brought at the nets win. he presented them with a 98 jersey. he wears 98 in memory of matthew shepard would was murdered in 1998 in a anti-gay hate rhyme in -- crime in wyoming. >> v showed off the moves in a video to promote "let's move," initiative. >> prime minister are you -- mr. president, are you ready to move? >> absolutely. let's move. >> at least they are not in jackets. this video of the president and vice president running the white house halls. the first lady wants you to share your moves on twitter. the president and vice president made it back to the oval office and rewarded themselves with a drink of water. >> all for a jog but you hey want to put this morning's jog on hold. >> we will check with mike on w

ms. andrea bernstein and mr. tom bernstein. >> mr. laura ross and mr. james ross. medina.eo >> mr. and mrs. irwin jacobs. >> mr. jason collins. mr. unson green. >> i am just hanging out and having fun. thank you. >> the honorable patrick f kennedy and ms. elizabeth swope. >> the honorable victoria newland. and dr. robert kagan. >> mr. raymond maguire. ms. rachel mccreary. >> mr. bruce muller. -- mosler. >> the honorable kathy rummler. justice elena kagan. and mrs. stephen cole there. -- colbert. the honorable jay carney and ms. claire shipman. the honorable gene sperling. mr. rick sperling.

ms. montgomery. let's just go down the panel. >> thank you for that question ranking member collins. at the sba we understand the small business owners or entrepreneurs have the challenge with accessing capital which is why are we are committed to opening up doors to access additional capital for them to start their businesses. the sba has a number of loan products designed to encourage lenders to provide access to funds to underrepresented and underserved communities such as our encore entrepreneurs and loan products that started a lower a marked we have a small loan and vantage point and manned additionally our microloan programs that are used by nondepository lenders such as community development financial institutions and those loans can go as low as about $500 up to about 200 or $350,000. what we do through our research partners at the sba is to help individuals in our encore entrepreneurs identify and know where those resources exist. a lot of times people don't know about microlending programs and cdfi's so our volunteers at the small business development centers in whitman's

ms. lee, very much. is there any further -- >> we had a request from a mister can college. i don't know if he is been able to make it today. >> mr. collins? spinning and he did say he might not be able to make it and it doesn't look like he did. and our final public comment is from ms. sarah zac. from arlington. >> good afternoon, your honor. my name is sarah zac. thank you for the opportunity to address assistance response panel today. i'm a retired navy commander and a graduate student on leave of absence from university of southern california school of social work. i'm not a stakeholder and i'm not looking for employment. i am not a victim of sexual assault, and i'm not an expert in any of the professional fields that are currently addressing this problem. i am an independent, self supported concerned citizen who has come to the d.c. area to learn about the military sexual assault problem and what is being done to fix it. first i would like to offer my thanks to the panel for all the work that has been done to find a solution to this problem. i can't imagine all the time and energy that has gone into it from your part. i certainly hav

elisabeth collins cook is counsel in the regulatory controversy and regulatory and government affairs department in the washington, d.c., office of wilmer hale. ms. cook previously served as the republican chief counsel on the supreme court, nominations for the senate judiciary committee and assistant attorney general for legal policy at the department of justice at the end of the bush administration. she served as a number of the board of governance at the terrorism screening center and law clerk to justice laurence silverman of the united states court of appeals for the d.c. circuit and judge lee rosenthal for the southern district of texas. she holds a b.a. from the university of chicago and a j.d. from harvard law school. james dempsey is vice president of public policy at the center for democracy and technology, a nonprofit focused on privacy, surveillance and other internet issues. mr. dempsey previously served as deputy director of the nonprofit center for national security studies and special counsel to the national security archive. prior to that, he was assistant counsel to the house judiciary committee subcommittee on civil and consti

elisabeth collins cook is counsel in the regulatory controversy and regulatory and government affairs department in the washington, d.c., office of wilmer hale. ms. cook previously served as the republican chief counsel on the supreme court, nominations for the senate judiciary committee and assistant attorney general for legal policy at the department of justice at the end of the bush administration. she served as a number of the board of governance at the terrorism screening center and law clerk to justice laurence silverman of the united states court of appeals for the d.c. circuit and judge lee rosenthal for the southern district of texas. she holds a b.a. from the university of chicago and a j.d. from harvard law school. james dempsey is vice president of public policy at the center for democracy and technology, a nonprofit focused on privacy, surveillance and other internet issues. mr. dempsey previously served as deputy director of the nonprofit center for national security studies and special counsel to the national security archive. prior to that, he was assistant counsel to the house judiciary committee subcommittee on civil and consti