senator portman over there as works with this staff and my staff and have worked very hard to do that. i think we have a good foundation for this bill but private investment in r&d is the lifeblood of the nation we need more of that. .. >> i think senator isakson came to the conclusion doing it bigger makes it easier than the little fix. i think that is true with tax reform i appreciate the work you have put into it. look at our tax code would be hard to intentionally as a nation to create a tax cut that is more unfair unfair, complex, expensive to comply with, and frankly more anticompetitive to our own business interests in america than what we have got. the factory to the extender bill is a prime example. we have a lot of good thought that has gone into how to reform the cody and you are one who has put forward that is before a strong proposal and i want to say i look forward to working with you on this legislation that i agree should be the last extender but of their broader and a much more powerful objective to reform the tax code. we have got to do it and get a right if we canno

portman: i'd like to ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. portman: i would like to speak in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. portman: i was not able to be here a while ago. the senator from virginia, mr. warner was able to introduce the data act, something he had been working on over the past couple of years. it is a good bill, about good government. i'm delighted we were able to pass it this afternoon in the senate. i now hope it will go to the house for passage and we can get it to the president's desk because it will help to give all of us as taxpayers a better view into our government. specifically it improves federal financial transparency and data quality, both of which are going to help identify and eliminate wasteful spending, certainly something we should be focused on given our huge debts and deficits and the pressure on our spending. it will ease the compliance burden on those people who are working with the federal government, recipients of federal funds

senator portman. >> mr. chairman thanks very much and i just had a couple of questions to follow up on how the international code specifically as it relates to caliper log. you talk early about the vacuous companies are competing globally at a disadvantage given the fact that we have a relatively high rate and we are taxing on a worldwide basis rather than a territorial basis meaning if you have active income earned abroad its tax that u.s. rates. what does that do to accompany caterpillar as an example that any u.s. company that wants to take advantage of the international marketplace and that wants to be competitive in terms of acquisitions as they come up? 80% of the purchasing power is outside of united states in 90% of the consumers are outside of the united states. we want that purchasing power to create more jobs here. >> that's correct. >> with regard to caterpillar in particular do you have many -- any ideas how many other us-based employees are dependent on some extent on their international sales

senator portman. >> mr. chairman thanks very much and i just had a couple of questions to follow up on how the international code specifically as it relates to caliper log. you talk early about the vacuous companies are competing globally at a disadvantage given the fact that we have a relatively high rate and we are taxing on a worldwide basis rather than a territorial basis meaning if you have active income earned abroad its tax that u.s. rates. what does that do to accompany caterpillar as an example that any u.s. company that wants to take advantage of the international marketplace and that wants to be competitive in terms of acquisitions as they come up? 80% of the purchasing power is outside of united states in 90% of the consumers are outside of the united states. we want that purchasing power to create more jobs here. >> that's correct. >> with regard to caterpillar in particular do you have many -- any ideas how many other us-based employees are dependent on some extent on their international sales

chairman. >> senator portman, i agree with senator portman about the need for tax could be totally reformed, now let's talk about the tax strategy which caterpillar used to save $300 million a year. that is ongoing. what caterpillar offered this deal to anybody but related company? >> would they have offered this license to anybody but a related company? >> that wasn't what we were asked to opine on. >> in your judgment. you read have done a lot of this for decades. is there some reason -- i am just asking you a simple straightforward question. caterpillar has created this very strong company, 90 years to build up. it turns over to its own -- to itself as the tax haven 85% of future profits on parts. okay? doesn't get any compensation, any consideration for it. let me finish. the deal is future parts, you over it there, wholly-owned subsidiary you are going to get 85% of the profits on these parts and i am going to keep 15%. i am asking you a very simple question based on your experience. is there any way in heaven that caterpillar would transfer its rights to those profits to a company tha

senator portman. >> this is not an expense because senator brown's amendment is actually paid for by an act from the new americans tax credit that argues. as i recall it is one to 3% of that allocation so it's a relatively small amount targeted to areas where help is needed. it goes to the same treasury agencies so it's not creating a bureaucracy and it goes to the same community development entities that have to be qualified under new markets tax credit. this is a good amendment and i would encourage my colleagues to support it. >> i strongly support it. senator stabenow. >> i would like to ask that my name be added as a co-sponsor and i indicate my strong support. >> i too support the amendment and i support the offset in the underlying provision. i think it's important to clarify the inequity in the tax code and it's clarified. see all those in favor will say aye. although suppose will say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes have it and the amendment is passed. passed by voice vote. the next set of amendments are senator toomey three through nine that i gave there he will not

portman had to respond to their heavy loss to real madrid, and they did just that in saturday's late kickoff. look at the other scores from the weekend's games. stuttgart won a crucial clash. frankfurt won their local derby. nuremberg also lost. the friday night kickoffs all hamburg beat their opponent to-one. disaster for one coach, who was fired by the clubhouse board. what see what happened. the terrible rondo form has caught up with the coach. the finish coach was sacked after the defeat against hamburg on friday. his team fell behind after just three minutes. they fired into the bottom corner to continue his excellent season. but they equalized after halftime, thanks to a goalkeeping howler. renee misjudged the effort and the teams were on course for a draw. hamburg hit back, securing three vital points three powerful volley. the win moves them up to 16th. they now take over as the coach until the end of the season. the players know him well. he worked alongside the players just last year. >> and we see how the results affect the bundesliga table. they missed their chance to go

. >> when they used rob portman in an ad. >> rob portman, listen then leading. >> three commissioners they are republicans. because the ads did not repeat the candidate's message verbatim they did not. despite complaints from election watchdogs you can expect to see far more b-roll made by political campaigns than 0 oh, so unexpectedly repurposed. it doesn't take much effort to make the raw material. anyone can do it. ♪ >>> joining me now federal elections commissioner ellen weintraub. commissioner, am i wrong to say the ftc is a completely dysfunctional and useless body at this point? >> is that what you brought me on to ask me, chris? >> i am asking honestly. here you have an obvious violation. an obvious violation. facially a violation of coordination t. says you cannot reproduce content. three of the commissioners say, yes, this is a violation. . three say no. you guys are deadlocked on everything. when is the last time you got a majority to say anything? it's not a working body? >> we it get a majority in 2007. it was a unanimous decision that this kind of republication did have

now that senator portman and senator manchin, i think senator portman is next. are there scheduling conflicts i should know about, senator manchin with you? >> not now. >> okay, senator portman. >> thank you, madam chair. that u thank you for holding this hearing. i really appreciate it. this is focus of this panel on cybersecurity but we also talked about reliability real quick and i know the next panel will focus on that. i appreciate moving forward to this hearing so quickly after your taking the chairmanship. i like to ask reliability questions because we have great experts on this panel that will give us a preview what we'll hear next and compare and contrast what we'll hear from some. industry folks. first i guess, chairman lafleur i would like to hear from you a little bit what you think we ought to be doing in terms of reliability and price spikes. at a ferc technical conference last week you were quoting having said, i'm also very concerned about the price. both absolute magnitude of the price spikes an creases we saw this wouldn'ter and variability whe

senator portman is a former director of the office of management and budget and one of the real experts that has been key to identifying appropriate pay-fors, which are critical. and senator murkowski and senator kirk worked to include an examination of the work suitability standards across the states so we can be better-informed and better-prepared when we have to deal with further reforms to our unemployment compensation system. this agreement incorporates many good ideas from my colleagues, and it importantly builds upon ththe reforms that this congress undertook in 2012. i will discuss these later in the week. but as i said again, most importantly it will help people who have worked, who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own, who are desperately searching for work and must search for work in a difficult economy, and it will help our economy overall. with that, madam president, i would yield the floor. madam president, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas. mr. pr

your last movie, black swan won the natally portman award for oscar.ations on that. >> thank you. >> stephen: now your new movie is noah starring russell crowe, released tomorrow. why did you do a biblical movie? did you get a message from god or-- or someone more powerful like paramount pictures? why do a bible movie. >> it was my 7th grade english teacher, actually. >> stephen: really? >> i had a magical teacher. >> stephen: magical, like-- like with wings and a wand. >> no, she just was very inspirational, wearing all pink, pink eye shadow, drove a pink mustang, and she said one day take out a paper and pen and write a poem and i ended writing something on noah, a poem and ended up winning a contest and it sent me down the path of being a creative storyteller. >> stephen: how is the story of noah about peace, because it is-- i mean you're known for doing some dark tales. but all of mankind is killed except one family. >> yeah, yeah, yeah. >> stephen: and it's a little dark. how is that a story of peace. god kicking ass and taking names in this movie

i recognize you because you have to preside at 12 and then we will follow-up with portman and mention and close out this hearing. let me just submit for the record though the price of electricity, currently, today. from a high of, well, the high is new york, 16 cents per kilowatt hour. new jersey, 14, to the lowest in the country which are in louisiana, arkansas, wyoming, all states here it i would like to submit that for the record. i'd also like to submit the epa proposed utility air toxic rule managing compliance and reliability, eia. this graph is a little frightening to me because it doesn't show a mix of rules which i think we need although it does show the potential of natural gas which i'm excited about. i'd like to submit that for the record. mr. hill, let me ask you, senator manchin and i have had many discussions about the role of nuclear, coal and gas. could you just reiterate what your thoughts are about gas as a base load? you know, fuel for electricity production. and what is making that possible? is a government rule and regulation or is it just technology, the market,

we are now joined by senator rob portman from ohio who also serves on the finance committee. senator. >> i'm delighted to be here today to support what atr is doing. back in my home state of ohio and whether doing nationally to make sure every rational tax policy in this country unfortunately we are not seeing that now. the president has already raised taxes $1.6 trillion. and he like to raise them under the $1.3 trillion. as we approach tax to our people see got an administration and democrats in congress it would like to raise taxes at a time of historically weak recovery, and economy that is faltering, takeover is going to a if they want to tax people more. the average family is going to be about $25,000 in federal taxes this year. that's already too high and yet they want to take it i. the argument is made we are somewhat undertaxed. that's just not true. one thing aid your has done what i think is a lengthy historical perspective. we are actually, the situation even without the tax increases that the president and democrats are proposing, taxes and the burden on the econ

half million times but the bowen here by the end of the lambing season in may the female edt time on portman has farmed in north county dublin. he is hoping to have up to five hundred and sixty new lambs born before the end of the season it's that big john. we could use all the happy content. as hard or that it's fallen tree do don davis was written from sixteen to eighteen hour days six weeks or so what are the same time it sends his great results at the end of it something that's always price of a spy it's a magical time on our farms as the weather improves and the tilt of two point six million lambs take to our fields full of the joys the ground paste to be down after a very wet march but it's far better than last year when problems associated with cold weather killed so many. one of the biggest threats this year with the adults. the kids and their two dogs into it. it is shaped like this. he could use torture to party. that's because some of the dusk is the placement of ditches and i'm hoping for from his mother. and the diamonds to do is to be responsible for their own. had some major g

the third is, what was just referenced by rob portman and by rand paul. that is going to a territorial system. andt now, the united states north korea and not many other people have a worldwide tax system. if you earn money in france, we tax you on top of what the french did. if you are french, the french will lead you alone. we take some, you can take it back to france. that encourages repatriation. we discourage repatriation in the united states. we are now joined by one of the leaders in the fight for tax reform. whoesentative kevin brady is on the ways and means committee. >> thank you, grover. thanks very much for your leadership on limiting the size of the government, growing the economy and creating a progrowth tax code. the biggest problem facing our country is a federal government living beyond its means. spending cuts can get us halfway back to a balanced budget. to finish the job, start paying down our national debt, we need a much stronger economy. right now our broken tax code is a real drag on america's economy. it is too costly, too complex

the third one was just reference by rob portman and rand paul.hat is going to a territorial system. if you earn money in france, we tax to on top of what the french did. we take some. you can take it back to france. that encourages reprieves she and -- reprieves shish and -- repratiation. introduce kevin brady. >> thank you. >> thanks very much for your leadership on limiting the size of government in creating a program of tax code. the biggest problem facing our country is the federal government letting the arms our means. spending cuts fingers back to a balanced budget. we need a much longer economy. our broken tax code is a real on america's economy. it is too costly. it is unfair to america that we are no longer competitive around the world. that isa tax code simpler, fairer, flatter. there is a top to bottom rewrite. a discussion draft on progrowth tax code. it has some strong topline increasing economic growth by more than $3 trillion, creating almost 2 million new jobs. simplifying code by about a quarter in allowing nine out of 10 america

>> no direct senator portman? >> thank you and thank you for holding this hearing. i know that this is a focus of this panel on cybersecurity and we have also talked about reliability and i would really appreciate your willingness to move forward and i would like to ask a couple of reliability questions because we have some great experts here who could maybe give us a preview of what we will hear and also for us to hear from industry folks. the first, mr. chairman, i would like to hear from you about what you think we ought to be doing in terms of reliability and price spikes of last week. you were quoted as having said that i'm also very concerned about the price and when you see these spikes it is a simpson that is causing this issue. can you elaborate a little bit on the two and is that an act of quote? >> it was in the context. they said we are mainly here worry about reliability and not price. and they are closely related because when you see this in january and february, that means the grid operates with very unusual things and that usually goes into the custo

maybe me law could -- m lie a could -- mila and natalie portman. my theory is the guys are the ones behind this. >> i am not sure to spend that money to look like someone else is really ridiculous. how many thousands of dollars was it? >> one of them was $25,000 to do essentially -- >> to look like somebody you are already told you look like is ridiculous. do they have a plastic surgery savings account? >> there is obviously some problem. you have had work done. you asked to look like a combination of doogie hower is md. >> wow, that was like 5* triple entendre. do you hinge these women are mentally ill? >> it is sad. i think that is the best word for this. this is sad. i feel sorry for the women. if it makes them feel happy and they can afford it and their families are okay, it is none of us business, but we should still make fun of them. they don't look like the people they are supposed to look like. that's the worst part. they spent all of that money and don't look like them. >> you know what they should have done? you go to the surgeon and tell

now i think that senator portman is next. are there scheduling conflicts that i should know about? >> not now. >> senator. >> thank you, madam chair. i really appreciate it. i know that this is a focus with this panel on cyber security, but we have also talked about reliability. and of the next panel will focus on that and i appreciate your willingness to move for an hearing so quickly after taking the chairmanship. i would like to ask a couple of reliability questions because we have some experts on this panel who may be can give us a preview of what we will hear next but also for us to the will to compare and contrast what we will hear from some of the industry folks. first, i guess, chairman alan like to hear from you a little bit about what he think we ought to be doing in terms of reliability and price spikes. you are quoted as having said, i'm also concerned about the price, but the absolute magnitude of the price and the variability. nbc's price spikes of the symptom that protecting the liability is causing this issue. can you elaborate? is that an accurate quote? you never

brown: i understand that s. 2262 introduced earlier today by senator shaheen, portman and others is tefrbg. i ask for its first reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bill for the first time. the clerk: s. 2262. mr. brown: i ask for a second reading and object to my own request. the presiding officer: objection is heard. the bill will be read for a second time on the next legislative day. mr. brown: i ask unanimous consent when the senate completes bits it adjourn until tuesday, april 29, 2014. the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the leaders to be reserved for their use later in the day. that following leader remarks, the senate be in a period of morning business until 11:00 a.m. with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each, with time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees with the majority controlling the first half, the republicans controlling the second half, and at 11:00 a.m. the senate proceed to executive session under the previous order. further, that following the votes

>> let's go to senator portman with respect to the brown amendment on the health care tax credit, and senator rock rockef, stab now, and then the final vote. mr. chairman? >> i offered the amendment on the health care tax credit and told it was not germane at the time, but we'd take up in future vehiclesment i think this is the appropriate vehicle to take it up. it did expire on the same day as the other credits we talk about today, despite what you hear earlier. it is appropriate to be in the markup, and this is for folks who are over 55 and pensions were terminated and being administered, and it affects a lot of us in our states, and senator brown has a letter that five members of the committee signed, a bipartisan issue in that sense, and it's particularly important to the salary retirees who lost health care and lost up to 70% of their pensions in the gm bankruptcy. in this case, frankly, mr. chairman, the government picked winners and losers, and one was the salary for the employees. the others get a bailout, and others did not, and while some employees received full pensions and

i'll be filing that proposal as an amendment to the portman-shaheen bill. as we can remember, madam president, late last year it was filed as an amendment to believe that bill, when that bill was on the floor previously wand apped there was general agreement after some back and forth that it should and would get a vote. that was reported in "the hill" september 17, that senator reid agreed to a vote on the amendment in the context of that bill. senator portman agreed to this concept, the same time, september 18, on the senate floor. and senator shaheen on september 18. so i'm refiling it as an amendment to the same bill. i look forward to this important debate. i look forward to a vote. and, obviously if an alternative in the near future like a stand-alone vote is presented, i'll be happy to accept that as well. i look forward to coming back to the floor madam president,. the presiding officer: the senator's time has expired. mr. vitter: to debate this important issue. thank you madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mr. schumer:

republican party has been individuals seeing people come out in their own families and people like rob portmanow living this out on a more personal level. you've dealt with this on the campaign trail and dealt with a lot of republican politicians who were ar dent opponents of marriage equality and learned that for instance, their own children were gay. which do you think is the trump card here? pragmatic numbers or these personal revelations that seem almost inhe ha almost inevitably driving people -- >> i was not pragmatic at all in 2010. i came out full support of full rights for lgbt citizens because it's the right thing to do. increasingly you are seeing a few republican mainstream republican politicians like kasich come out in support of gay marriage and seeing for the first time, two openly gay republican candidates for congress, which is a new and exciting development. i do think that the change overall in the party is going to take a long time just a cause worth fighting for but change takes time in part because those who believe that marriage should only be between a man and woman, th

people like rob portman that will talk to him about extending unemployment insurance benefits.re hurting. and so i'm hoping that he will finally see the light and move on. it's going to help some of his targeted members. >> would this be retroactive? would this go all the way back to the beginning of the year if these folks? >> yes, the senate bill it would. and hopefully that will, again -- you know, the best deal would be to pass whatever the senate passes, to do that in the house of representatives. if he starts fooling around with another bill and all kinds of additions, but yes, it would be retroactive in the senate anyway. >> some in the house said they wanted to wait and see what the senate does. which makes me believe if they do get 60 votes over there, they're going to have to do something about it. how much influence will the seven republicans have on boehner? >> i think they will have influence. these are people they want to keep. we need 17 seats to take back the house. some of those people are in very vulnerable districts, swing districts where there's a lot of dem

additional police and oh just to get her nasties previous film was black swan which starred natalie portman as a belly dancer who cracks under the pressure of being faithful to the craft. in a very demanding role in nola stars russell crowe has a ton more or less cracks under the pressure of having been cast on deleting he's been cast by the creator in the role of hard nosed patriarch in charge of rescuing a bunch of innocent animals from a lot of water it's not about whether the job description includes ensuring the continuation of the human race. once that work in groups. it's a big big job that i have a lot of debate about how i checked the film. we need to worry about how authentic this movie is and is not because it's a disclaimer at the end of the film. all the characters are fictitious and the bear any resemblance to actual people locations arrogance that's completely for two days and why does this matter because if you are one of your sons with me he had like no it didn't like it was late and evan girlfriend. well that is like totally a coincidence that there is no point in trying t

by the time that portman enters the picture, this is him, his name is charles, who is a decorator forb. altman and company. b. altman said will do the decorating for free. all the labor history. all we will charge for is the cost of materials, which was a pretty good deal, right? they saw a marketing tie-in pretty well back then, too. but when charles height who assumed he would be given a generous budget for the decorating met with the commission, he was in for a coldwater chat. he was told we have $210,000 left. and that comes down to about $1590 per room. that's for everything the furniture, drugs, wallpaper, everything. and he said quote i can sprinted to a $10,000 the best it could be spent and all things will not make a penny that it is not enough. and it wasn't. winslow room 1000 sure do what was look like in the early 1800s and the press office released this florida press release that declared that the white house would be the regression -- an american interpretation of the georgian hiccup. the truth was that most of this furniture were colonial reproduction pieces from drexel

senator rob portman and is he buying that line? president obama ever. the white house selfy smackdown coming up. >>> some people are saying that this may, in fact, wind up with a republican-controlled senate and it will be because of obamacare. >> first, i'd say we believe we're going to keep the senate. i do think the republican actor of repeal is a political loser. what they're arguing is that the 7 million people who signed up through the exchanges and the millions more who got it through medicaid, they'll take health care away from all those people. >> that was dan pheiffer saying he's confident the democrats will keep the senate. >> how is the gop planning to use obamacare going into november, if at all? joining us from ohio, senator rob portman, welcome. >> thank you. good to be on. >> you know the numbers. you're office of management and budget. is it a political loser in november? >> the polls are very clear. i saw something that said 111 consecutive polls said that obamacare is viewed unfavorably and there is a good reason

that is why people like senator portman and other republicans have been joining with democrat to pass butme if i am didn't fewer republicans vote this time around for this bill in the senate, each only means a republican-controlled house it is not going to pass? >> again, two weeks ago, people told me, people like you, who i have great respect for, told me he would never get through the senate, and now monday it will get through the senate and we will continue to move forward because the american people want action. folks want us to move forward. that is why the president is moving forward supporting the minimum wage, immigration reform, infrastructure that would grow the economy. it is ironic where people say where are the jobs reform. it immigration reform will create jobs, and the shutter picks up the pace of growth -- infrastructure picks up the pace of growth. when you give people the lifeline with emergency unemployment compensation, that requires them to do the basics and that requires them to do the work. >> secretary thomas perez, you have laid out the elements you would like

senator rob portman is with me now in ohio.ve a big job trying to win back the senate for republicans. that may get to that in a moment. the headline from washington state is pretty interesting. there is no exact quote given to her saying it is going to stick around. so we reached out to her office moments ago, here is the statement. the headline is an accurate portrayal of what the congresswoman said in the interview, what her voting record reflects is what she believes. she will continue to work on repealing every opportunity moving forward and replace it with patient centered reforms. that brings us to you, all republicans wav waiving the rigt flawhiteflag and surrendering wl fighting it? >> it is a bad law. the obamacare work, why do we find of the 8 million people they say they signed up, only 25% were previously uninsured. why do you look at what the congressional budget office says which is after 10 years of this law over a trillion dollars in spending, all the mandates still 30 million americans are still uninsured. so

host: a poll says it is more portman for the u.s. not to get involved in the situation with russia and ukraine than to take a firm standing. you walk the line between knowing there is a war weary nation and still trying to appeal and deal with these crises we are having? guest: more than any other issue the public opinion on foreign policy is very malleable. you see those numbers change significantly. where the an issue presidential bully pulpit has a role in affecting public opinion. if president obama was giving speeches on a weekly basis, talking about the need for the u.s. to give more support to nato or give more -- relief the energy russia that europe is facing and get a regular set of speeches about the crisis that is emerging in russia, i think you would see public opinion move more toward the interventionist i'll. the president's instinct has been not to get involved. he has been trying to fight as many diplomatic options as possible to avoid ramping up the crisis. change.ategy may that instinct from the white house has shap

first with senator heller, then with other colleagues, senator collins, senator murkowski, senator portman, senator kirk, to listen to their suggestions, to incorporate those suggestions and to move forward as we hoped this senate would do on so many different bills, to reach a bipartisan consensus, reach a vote, get it to the house and then put all our efforts in getting the house to pass it and signed by the president. and getting the relief, the support, the assistance to these americans, who, again, i have to emphasize, only qualify for this program because they lost their job through no fault of their own and they're continuing to look for work in a very, very difficult economy. but the one other inning i wanted to mention, and it is very important, is that we are building on significant changes to the unemploymentcompensation law that we passed in 2012. at that time, the chairman of the ways and means committee in the house of representatives, chairman david camp of michigan, that said we passed historic reforms in 2012. now, our goal -- many times over the last few weeks and months

senator portman, my colleague from ohio, has had similar proposals. on the democratic side, there's no higher-ranking democrat i can possibly cite than president obama. he's included this reform, exactly this reform, in his last two budget proposals. i've never heard any articulation from any democrat or any member of the senate why this reform doesn't make sense. and the majority leader, while objecting to my even being able to present this amendment for a vote offered no such rationale. he talked past it. he talked about the koch brothers and he talked about e.p.a. and he talked about obamacare instead of talking about my germane, commonsense, bipartisan reform amendment to this bill, which has been included, this proposal, in president obama's last two budgets. so i really find this very unfortunate, but i'm going to continue to fight for a vote on this amendment. it will improve the bill. whatever you think about the bill, this will improve it. this will save about $1 billion over ten years. this will clear up the double dipping which was never in

simultaneously senator warner and senator portman introduced a senate bill, its companion, senate s. 994, the bill before us today. the house acted quickly again and approved h.r. 2061 by a vote of 388-1. knowing that the legislative calendar was short, house and senate sponsored work with senator carver and senator coburn to preconference a process that ensured the bill would be taken up by the full senate and which anticipates our passage here today. we also were able to bring to the table those reformers in the administration, both political appointees and career civil servants, to offer technical improvements to the bill and they're incorporated in this legislation. while the bill does not contain all reforms the house advanced in its two previous votes on the data act, the bill before us today does contain the core elements of the two prior versions of the bill and maintains the most important step, common data standard and recipient reporting. the data act is more than just better tools to fight waste and fraud. requires agencies to report their financial information in standar

i also want to thank senator collins, portman, murkowski and kirk for their continued willingness to come to the table to craft a bill that would garner enough support to pass here in this senate. i also, as i just mentioned, want to acknowledge the contributions of both senator coats and senator ayotte, who though not cosponsors of this particular version of the bill, they've been essential in these negotiations, as well as senator isakson and senator hoeven, who've also been engaged in this matter in recent months. mr. president, last december federal unemployment insurance benefits were allowed to expire, leaving millions of job-seeking americans wondering how they would recover -- how they would cover their mortgage, pay their utilities, fill up their car with gas, put food on the table for their families. my constituents who write to me, who call my office and the people i speak with when i'm home in nevada have shared many heartbreaking stories with me. i've heard from individuals all across the spectrum, from every sector, from every industry. and i'd like to share one of thos

that is why i worked closely with senator murkowski to introduce an amendment to the shaheen of portman bill to support combined heat and power district and energy and other distributed generation technologies. i know that senator murkowski has a lot of constituents in her state, in the areas that are far away from a centralized grid and she really understands the importance of the issue. ms. lafleur, what is ferc doing to support deployment of combined heat and power, district energy systems and other energy systems that operate in island mode? >> well the, our responsibility is primarily for the interconnected interstate grid. we work in partnership with state regulators who have more responsibility at the distribution level within a state. what we've primarily done to support the growth of distributed generation is to make sure that our market rules in the 2/3 of the citizens that are served by competitive markets, that these, these distributed facilities can compete fairly and get paid for their electricity. we have a, put out a rule in 2013 on small solar installations. we've done

senators rob portman and jay rockefeller introduced the medical device parody for service members, compared to the bill i introduced with congressman tim ryan of ohio this year. most know that incoming soldiers must pass a physical and mental evaluation which is the case but there is no similar evaluation for mental health competency. madam speaker, according to recent studies, nearly half of all soldiers who committed suicide, many of those were individuals who were never deployed in a combat role. these studies give us insight into the mental well-being of our military, but what they also show is that we must know more. the bipartisan meps act will require a preliminary mental health assessment for military recruits prior to joining the service which will dramatically improve the way the military identifies and assesses mental health issues. the bill has no budget impact and support from a large number of veterans groups. i thank my senate colleagues for introducing this bill and encourage my colleagues in the house to join the support. thank you, madam speaker, and i yield back the balan

senator rob portman will answer that. a ten-year-old boy who sang his way to freedom.xtra boost! oh and did we mention it's only 50 calories? need a lift? could've had a v8. in t juice aisle. need a lift? could've had a v8. in front of our house again. it's a free country dad. our house. our spot. those are the rules. ok who wants sweet rolls? i do! me too! are those king's hawaiian rolls? thanks, carol! people go pupule for the sweet, fluffy deliciousness of king's hawaiian. find us in the deli or in-store bakery. is levy using our clippers? >>> welcome back. for years we've been telling you about this organization based down in washington, d.c. called media matters. their intent is to destroy fox news, among other things. clearly they've got a political agenda. what's interesting is it was about a week or two ago, sheryl atkissson who for years worked at cbs said media matters had actually contacted her and helped her produce some of her segments on cbs, which is extraordinary for cbs to be taking the stuff, propaganda, from this way lefty outfit. media matters found

who are going to weighed in with a variety of different theories and explanations what becomes of portmana moment like this is the reporting you're doing is broader reporting on the situation yeah i mean if people want to make charges about harry reid make them publicly come forward on t.v. event you know that's that's here and out you know then at the same time if this thing is getting to a point where there's a real. discussion of disregarding the rule of law then i do think that the political players and media players surrogates of this ought to speak up now to say you know they think this john of the koch brothers have you know a tremendous interests in the commons as it were their their refineries put waste products into the commons their paper companies put waste products into the commons into our rivers in our air they i understand at least i don't have the specific documentation but i i believe that their oil companies to do or would like to drill on federal land that they may have an involvement in some cattle ranching on federal lands and some uranium mining on federal lands if

was meant as a campaign on twitter to boost the department's image ended up a publicity disaster portman's got the story. twitter has empowered millions blazed revolutions and generated successful brands but for america's largest police department hash tag activism has turned into an embarrassing epic failure ah. on tuesday the n.y.p.d. invited citizens to upload pictures with police officers tagging the photos my and y. p.d. within twenty four hours some one hundred ten thousand people responded the hash tag was trending and my n.y.p.d. turned into a virtual arcata of snap shots showing the department's finest using excessive and little force. the p.r. disaster has ignited a copycat movement document in heavy handed police tactics in los angeles chicago and albuquerque i think it was initially a good idea but something that i can quickly backfire especially with the reputation the police have in new york there's always been there is just the people is not open and they are to realize was going on i think now they're thinking that like we said in the did this because it wasn't a good idea

heller, senator merkley, senator sherrod brown, senator durbin, senator sue so susan co, senator portman, senator murkowski, and senator kirk, republicans appeared democrats alike who have hammered out a compromise, done the difficult work and are pushing to move this forward. i also want to thank people from new jersey who've shared their stories with me, who've been active and engaging from online posts, letters, phone calls, all of them fighting to find work. i've heard from republican new jerseyans and democratic new jerseyans. i've heard from military veterans and single moms. i've heard from folks who are so hungry to work. while they're working or looking to this body, to all of congress, to help them meet the basic minimum needs so that they can continue to have some stability, not swallowed up by the quicksand of economic crisis, to be able to continue to find a job. they are living examples, each and every one of these millions of americans are examples of what's at stake if we do not act. i've heard painful stories of people facing real crises from homelessness to skipping med