. >> we begin the program with senator rob portman of ohio. senator, thank you for being with us. one of the republicans who voted for the small compromise on the budget, although you said it wasn't nearly sufficient. let me ask you this to start. was this a one-off marriage of convenience? or is this the start of maybe something -- some kind of

. >> we begin the program with senator rob portman of ohio. senator, thank you for being with us. you were one of the republicans who voted for the small compromise on the budget, although you said it wasn't nearly sufficient. let me ask you this to start. was this a one-off marriage of convenience? or is this the start of maybe something -- some kind of collaboration? >> you know, it's been analyzed both ways, al, and i hope what it is, is a first step toward further collaboration, because our country's in trouble. you know, we have a fiscal crisis looming. we still have an economy that's too weak, and we need to work together to solve these problems. so i like to view it as a very small step, a baby step in the right direction. it did reduce the deficit a little bit. it did it without raising taxes. it kept us from going into a government shutdown in january, but also in september of next year. and finally, it put the united states congress back on track to do appropriations bills. >> let me get to some of the things you want to do in just a minute, but, first of all, when you g

. >> we begin the program with senator rob portman of ohio. senator, thank you for being with us.e of the republicans who voted for the small compromise on the budget, although you said it wasn't nearly sufficient. let me ask you this to start. was this a one-off marriage of convenience? or is this the start of maybe

. >> we begin the program with senator rob portman of ohio. senator, thank you for being with us.were one of the republicans who voted for the small compromise on the budget, although you said it wasn't nearly sufficient. let me ask you this to start. was this a one-off marriage of convenience? or is this the start of maybe

and also rob portman of ohio, who is the doctor of silver spoons. what would you expect from bush's former budget director? on sunday, rand paul said he would have no problem cutting off unemployed americans. >> when you allow people to be on unemployment insurance for 99 weeks, you're causing them to become part of this perpetual unemployed group in our economy, and it really -- while it seems good, it actually it does a disservice to the people you're trying to help. i don't doubt the president's motives. but black unemployment in america is double white unemployment. and it hasn't budged under this president. >> well, it's not going to. because you folks haven't passed a jobs package and the democrats have tried to do that. but, of course, you don't believe in investment. the doctor of denial, rand paul. first, we should point out that the nonpartisan congressional budget office says extending unemployment benefits would actually help the economy. another report from the white house shows extending unemployment benefits would save 240,000 jobs. b

of georgia, isakson of georgia, collins of maine, mccluskey of portmanron johnson, ron -- rob portman of ohio. we want to point out to you that we mentioned at the top of the segment is the panel recommendations on the nsa's data collection programs. that is the lead story in "the new york times." panel of outside advisers urged president obama to employ major oversights and restrictions on the national security agency. the most significant recommendations was that mr. inma restructure a program which the nsa systematically collects logs of all american phone calls and a small group of agency officials have the power to authorize the search. you can read more on that story in several of the papers today. left inabout 15 minutes this segment to talk about ben bernanke's legacy at the federal reserve. steve from haymarket, virginia. republican line. caller: the bottom line is that these ridiculous games we have been watching -- the poor have gotten poorer. andunions and the tea party two or three other groups need to get together and form a second party. with this budget deal, we now know we ha

of the top stories in the news. after passing the first budget in two years, senators left washington to return to their hometowns today. senator rob portman flew back to ohioformer director of the withe of budget sat down political capital's al hunt. me that isappointed reluctantly just -- supported because i wanted to avoid another shutdown. it didn't address the underlying problems. thirds of the spending is on autopilot. it will bankrupt the country if we do not address it. incredibly important programs like medicare and social security are not sustainable. we have to get at those. the only way we have gotten that those is with the debt limit discussion. limit, not todebt spook financial markets, but to give them more insurance -- assurance. , let's addressd medicare. obama has been receptive to that in a general way. would you be receptive to closing tax loopholes? >> let's look at the logic. to say that we need to close tax loopholes, which is generally viewed as raising taxes on the wealthy, to do something that actually reduces benefits for the wealthy doesn't seem to be logical. why would we have to raise taxes at a time when the economy is ?wo-wee

ohio. mr. portman: i want to thank our colleague for their work on this issue. municipalities including the state of ohio were shocked to hear about this and i appreciate joining my colleague from new york on a letter to the e.p.a. and cash strapped cities in new york, ohio and other states are happy to know they're not going to have to take on this burden. it makes sense to stop, take a look at this, be sure we're not forcing these hydrants to be repaired and replaced, it's not something that's in these budgets that these cities have and so i appreciate the gentleman's work on it and look forward to ensuring this does not move forward as a regulation but we figure out a more sensible way to deal with the issue. mr. schumer: i thank my colleague from ohio and appreciate his good work on this. we've now saved municipalities millions of dollars as well as ensured safety in our communities because the fire hydrants that are in stock will be able to be used. i yield the floor, madam president. mr. sessions: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. sessions: on the last vote

of the year? >> the democrats in the house and the senate, but we have to look at players like other senators like from ohio, rob portman who was a budget expert having controlled the budget for president bush. one of those things you have to look for is in the tax rules and regulations, will there be an offset in taxes versus revenue? that is where the democrats have their sticking point is they love to spend money that we don't have and republicans are insistent if we have any spending constraint it has to be found in tax savings or tax increases but you cannot have one without the other, that is the real sticking point here. you have immigration. adam: the business community wants some sort of immigration bill to get through congress. any chance we would see this happening or would this be continued delay, delay, delay? >> this would be after the congress in january because it is too big. in order for immigration to succeed it will not be an ominous bill like we had with obamacare. we need incremental bills on immigration talk about security pathway to citizenship, taxation and those type of things in order for immig

ohio. a senator: i rise to speak on the nomination. the presiding officer: the senator is recognized. mr. portman: mr. president, i'm glad to have this opportunity to come to the floor of this great body and spend a few minutes talking about issues that are of great concern to the people of ohio that i represent and to our country. we're facing a lot of challenges right now. certainly health care costs are on the rise, as we've seen, but jobs are also hard to come by, and there's a middle hiv-class s squeeze going on out there with health care costs are up and wages are down and the american dream is on the decline. people think that future generations are not going to be as well off as we are. this is sad and there are things we can and should do to address this. it starts by dealing with some of the gridlock here in washington actually and getting some things done, and one of my concerns about what the majority has done in terms of taking away the rights of the minority to be heard on nominations is creating a -- a very tough environment to break through that gridlock and get things done. i think about the judiciary. today we're talking about a court judge who is up

of obama. i do not see this move away to a third party. a few people might say it, but i do not see that. aboutthere was this talk when the senator from ohio -- >> portman? >> portman on gay marriage. the tea party people were going to, in a sense, go against him. >> look at the tea party leaders in congress. who have been the most prominent leaders of the tea party in congress, people like michele bachmann and jim demint, who is now at the heritage foundation, ted cruz? they are all social conservatives. they are all pro-life and anti- gay rights. i do not see any evidence that they are libertarians. even rand paul, who kind of floats with libertarianism -- on social issues, he's very conservative. he is not a libertarian. he is pseudo-libertarian. >> one more. anybody? >> i was hoping i would get a chance -- i am from the university of akron. this question is for alan. basically, you were talking libertariansthe are the available voters. in thes a 15% group data. 15% that were basically targetable, that could move up or down. that was in your slide. >> i do not think there is a 15% libertarian cohort out there. >> that might be the first paper. >> i d

of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. portman: i rise along with my other senator, senator shaheen, to talk about the industrial competitiveness act. this is good for the country. it's bipartisan. it's part of an energy plan for america that can help bring the jobs back, help fix our trade deficit, help make our manufacturers more competitive, help save taxpayers money and actually to clean the environment. that all sounds pretty good, doesn't it? and it does so without a single mandate. it does so without any new spending. it's fully offset. in fact, i would make the strong argument it's going to save taxpayers a lot of money. why? because by putting energy efficiency in base in the federal government, the biggest user of energy in the world, we're going to see a lot of savings to all of us as taxpayers. over the past several months, we have been working to clear a few last hurdles that stand in the way of passing th