senate. thank you for working side by side with me to improve the lives of south dakotaans and our nation. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: mr. president, i rise today to bid farewell to my colleague and friend senator tim johnson. tim has deep roots in south dakota in the towns of canton and vermillion in particular. he served our state for more than 35 years, first in the state legislature. then after winning a highly competitive primary against two well-known democrat opponents in the halls of congress. in 1996, after a decade in the u.s. house of representatives, tim won his first of three terms in the united states senate. i'm well acquainted with his second election because i came out on the short end of that stick. but i've had the privilege of serving with tim now in the south dakota delegation for over 16 years. today i want to pay tribute to his many years of public service and all he's done for our home state. i'd al

one way that senator staff judged senators is how that senator staff feels about the senator.'s staff loves their senator. and you could easily see why. he's a big man, well over six feet, who's always gentle, soft spoken, considerate and ready to laugh. he once told senator moynihan and i a story about a problem his belued mother and oh, he loved his mother. a problem his mother caused him in the early days of his political career in west virginia. there was labor strife in new york city which normally would have no effect on a west virginia politician. but the work place on the verge of a shutdown was the metropolitan opera and jay rockefeller's mother was on the board of the met. as jay told it, when his mother was cornered by a reporter, she said the musicians were behaving like a bunch of coal miners. senator rockefeller got that a rockefeller was going to have to work harder than any other politician to win the votes of west virginia coal miners. and he was willing to do that. he brought that singular focus that he brought to his work in washington. in every hear, senato

senator dole, senator lott, senator frist. in november, we received a letter of support from the national association of evangelicals supporting it. and i also want to point out, senator dole has worked his heart out on this. you remember, he was here on the floor two years ago this month right before we brought it up, and i thought we had the votes for it. in our constitution, it takes two-thirds. we failed by six votes. but bob dole has never given up on this, never. well, i hope the next senate will take this up and join with the rest of the world in helping to make changes globally for people with disabilities. so i came to congress, the house in 1974 as one of the watergate babies. with my retirement and retirement in the house of congressman george miller and congressman henry waxman, we are the last of the so-called watergate babies. with two exceptions. among all the democrats elected in that landslide year of 1974, there were a few republicans, and one is left, my senior colleague from the state of iowa, senator chuck

senate. same seat his father david held in the senate for 18 years.ark pryor place on his desk the same motto that his father placed on his. it read simply common arkansas comes first. but he made his own decisions and 11 a considerable mark in the senate. halfway through his freshman term, just a new member himself, mark pryor was called to join forces with the lions in the senate. john warner, robert c. byrd, daniel inouye, to forge compromise over judicial nominations that furthered to threat a bigger confrontation. that compromise, mark said, was the result of her spur ration and not inspiration. i disagree. it involves the inspiration of young senator from arkansas who realize that public service often meant trying to work together and reason together and to try to break down in your own individual fashion the dysfunction of washington. i worked with mark on so many things over the years, and as a weapon i would too many times and we talked about difficult things. i always found him to be honest, straightforward, highly principled. we didn't alwa

after 20 years in congress, eight in the house and 12 here in the senate, senator cham bhis re--- senator chambliss retires from his service to georgia and tower nation with a well-deserved reputation as a true statesman. at a time when the coarsening political discourse across our nation and here in congress is a growing concern, senator chambliss is a shining example of expertise and ability combined with civility and respect. and he leaves congress not only with many friends on both sides of the aisle but also with many accomplishments to his credit. his leadership in national security and intelligence in both chambers has been a great asset to our nation. from agriculture to armed services, senator chambliss has been an informed and effective advocate for his constituents and for the american people. now, the golfers here might consider the hole in one he famously scored in a foursome with president obama last year to be worthy of mention. personally, as the founder and cochair of the senate diabetes caucus, i would consider his dedication to the cause of juvenile diabetes to be a tru

fulbright, senator mcgovern, senator gaylord nelson , and others. fulbright, mcgovern, and senator mathias, some of the best people in the senate, had, contrary to how it is always reported, not refuse to bring up the papers it with them.ed each one agreed to bring them out, and then thought better of it over a period of time, so they just could not do it, take the risk, in effect. in other words, you take the risk, but i have an important position here and i cannot run for the waters here. i read -- i did give them to "the new york times," but with no assurance that they would come out in "the times," and for reasons not clear to me, neil acted admirably, and did not tell me they were bringing them out. it was not clear to this day why that was. continued, while they were working to get the papers for publication, in the spring of 1971i was still worrying and trying to see where i could get them out. mccloskey, whote agreed to do it, but then took efforts to keep them from the defense department. he was very supportive of me in my trial. i also tho

he is truly a senator's senator. my colleagues may be surprised to learn that i have known senator levin far longer than most of the members of this chamber. you see, when he was first elected to the senate in 1978, the same year as maine senator bill cohen, for whom i was working at the time, both of them served on what was then known as the senate governmental affairs committee and also on the same subcommittee, oversight of government management, for which i was first the minority staff director and then the majority staff director. so i have known and worked with senator levin for the entire time that he has been a member of this chamber. from the very start, senator levin's diligence as a watchdog for the american people impressed me. ten years after i left the committee, i returned as senator cohen's successor and sought a seat on the governmental affairs committee precisely because, thanks to the example of senator levin and senator cohen, i saw the importance of accountability in government and business pract

the senate to work. what can we do? i tell them, regular order. and a lot of them are very frustrated. some of them feel like even that costs them control of the senate. because they weren't able to separate themselves from the president. because they never voted, their voting record was 98% in line with president obama. who's not very popular. so if they would have had appropriations and lots of votes, they could have said, hey, wait a minute, on that health care bill, i didn't support that individual mandate or i didn't support that medical device tax or i didn't support -- i wanted to make sure you could keep your health care plan. if you liked it, you could keep it. we were promised that. well, that disappeared when the bill was enacted. if they would have had a chance to vote on it, they might have been able to give themselves some protection and maybe passed a better bill and maybe not be so beat up during an election time. >> because the president was an anchor among most of the senators that lot.

senator patrick leahy from vermont and republican senator jeff flake.ave a democratic senator, a republican senator, we have a democratic congressman. senator leahy, i'll start with you, you're the veteran there. you must be pretty thrilled about this decision by the president to normalize relations with cuba. >> i'm very thrilled with it. i've talked with the president many, many times about this over the past few years. like my two colleagues here have gone to cuba numerous times, met with alan gross while he was down there. but what i kept telling the president, obviously we wanted to do everything we could to get mr. gross out. we also have to think, what is in the long-term best interest of the united states? i think normalization with cuba is in our best interest. we look foolish to the rest of the world, the most powerful nation on earth acting as though somehow we're afraid to allow u.s. citizens to go to cuba. they're not going to change overnight. but they certainly aren't going to change if we continue our embargo. >> senator flake, you're a

senator landrieu? >> moderator: address that point, that it was a vote not so much against the veterans hospital as, for example, what david david vitter felt -- landrieu: that is a part of the complex. when he was a legislator. i didn't want say when he was in congress. and now he shows up to take credit for helping veterans. i helped to lead the fight with charles boustany from the western part of our state to build two new clinics from lafayette and lake charles. but, john, i really want to get back to this issue of truthfulness. >> moderator: we're going to have an opportunity in a minute for you to ask a question of one another. let me bring up a pie chart, if we could, of how we spend our money in america. this is, these numbers will change slightly. this is president obama's proposed 2015 budget. social security 20%, defense 19, unemployment 16, medicare and medicaid are 21. i've soon estimates a bit higher than that, but the point is when you get to what we think of as the rest of the governmen

senator dole, senator lott, senator frist. in november, we received a letter of support from the national association of evangelicals supporting it. and i also want to point out, senator dole has worked his heart out on this. you remember, he was here on the floor two years ago this month right before we brought it up, and i thought we had the votes for it. in our constitution, it takes two-thirds. we failed by six votes. but bob dole has never given up on this, never. well, i hope the next senate will take this up and join with the rest of the world in helping to make changes globally for people with disabilities. so i came to congress, the house in 1974 as one of the watergate babies. with my retirement and retirement in the house of congressman george miller and congressman henry waxman, we are the last of the so-called watergate babies. with two exceptions. among all the democrats elected in that landslide year of 1974, there were a few republicans, and one is left, my senior colleague from the state of iowa, senator chuck

senator barrasso from wyoming. senator kirk from illinois. senator ayotte from new hampshire.senator murkowski of alaska. and senator collins of maine have all been supporters of this. and that's as it should be. disability policy has never been a partisan issue in this body in the 30 years i've served here. it's never been a partisan issue. and i'm sorry that the convention on the rights of people with disabilities seems to have been caught up in some kind of partisanship. that shouldn't be. i was hoping that we might bring it up for another vote before we left. asked consent to do so and it was objected by the senator, the junior senator from utah at that time. and so this congress will adjourn once again without ratifying this convention. last evening i was privileged to share an honor by the u.s. international council on disabilities with professor patrick quinn, a citizen of ireland who is very instrumental in drafting the convention on the rights of people with disabilities at the united nations. he pointed out that much of what they did was based on the americans with d

god bless you. >> the senator from oklahoma. yes, the other senator from oklahoma.let me take a couple of minutes to make some comments. unscripted. but sincere and from the heart. i don't want to, and i hope that i am accurate when i say this, that i think in some respect i discovered tom coburn, because i , iember in a little town suspect you and i are the only two that it's ever been to that part of oklahoma, and i remember that you arenowing a conservative doctor from muskogee, and at that time wanting him to run for the house of representatives, which he did , kept his commitments, did everything he was supposed to do, and i always remember that day, as senator coburn knows. we have a place that my wife and i built at a big lake in oklahoma, and back in 1962, a long time ago, and when i drive up there, i go through that town, and i go by that little sheltered area that is half torn down now. time i do, i have to say that i recall my meeting there for the first time a young coburn, and,tom you know, i regret to say that there are times in our service together wh

the senate will come to order. today's opening prayer will be offered by guest chaplain father pomerleau also holy cross church in oregon and also a vermonter. the guest chaplain: let us pray. father, whose presence is so immediate and mysterious, whose personal care brings this planet, and the entire universe into existence by your creative word. may we not lose our capacity for wonder, to listen and care for your creation. it is wisdom and contemplation that allow us to read the signs of the times. you put these signs in our hearts through music and dance, poetry and prose, arts and sciences. we thank you as day begins, and the energies of your daughters and sons are focused on the day's business. inspire those here assembled with the gifts of peace and justice, as your word inspires them to courage and compassion for all. amen. the president pro tempore: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which i

the rules of the senate require 627 votes a high threshold to change the rules of the senate. very clear. the senate is a continuous body it does not adopt rules of the beginning of every session -- every congress like the house does. what was done is they moved to change the rules of the senate and it was overturned and they set a precedent that any majority at any time for whatever reason can change the rules of the senate. it is impossible to unring a bell so the president is there regretfully. your question is, what you do about it? there are points of views on both sides of this. leaving aside the way it was done, there are those who argued this was the way it was until 2000. even know the rules permitted filibustering executive branch and judicial appointments, it essentially was never done for the purpose of killing a nomination. that was possible it was never done. there are those who are arguing that put aside for a moment the way that it was done, this is the way that was up until 2000 when the democrats decided to start filibustering george w. bush's circuit court n

and senator collins and senator durbin have talked about some of the gangs that this senator from arkansas has been involved in, which iy most would say is during -- i think most would say is doing the lord's work, doing good work. he's a man of deep faith as we know, a role model for the rest of us and he's reminded me before and maybe some others as well that in the old testament we're reminded in proverbs we should always pray for wisdom. that's something i pray for every night not just for my colleagues, of course, but certainly for me. and i all i can say the good lord has answered his prayer because one of the reasons he's ended up as a member of these gangs for good is because he has so much wisdom. he's a good listener but he's just a very, very wise human being. it's been a joy serving with him. he got here in 2003, i think he raised his right hand and took the oath of office in 2003. you come through orientation through new u.s. senators and i talked to him bit later and i said how was orientation? well, it last bed that long. the democrats put you over here, if you're a republic

senator burr, who will be the new chairman, senator coats, senator coburn. and we were able to come together and put together a report unanimously, and it was really because of your leadership. and as i watched what became very apparent is that maybe your side isn't as fractious as my side is, but you were able to say yes, we can do this, or no, we can't do that and you reflected your members. and that made it very easy for me, and i am very grateful. yesterday we disagreed, and it really -- you know you have never taken a cheap shot. we worked to the at the same time to move our intelligence authorization bill. there was one last glitch which you worked out, and that bill passed unanimously last night. we together have worked to put together an information-sharing bill for what is probably our number-one defensive issue, which is cyber, and the attacks that have taken 97% of our businesses into difficulties. you have compromised, i have compromised. unfortunately, on our side we have some unsolved issues, so hopefully i will be able to pick up with senator

and i'll speak about senator landrieu, senator udall, senator begich and senator kay hagan, i'll be speaking about them later. i wanted particularly to talk about senator rockefeller, our chairman of the commerce committee, and senator pryor, one of the finest public servants that i have ever had a chance to serve with. now, mr. president, i want to speak about a very uplifting topic in more ways than one. for friday morning i was at the cape. we call it the cape. it's technically known as the kennedy space center. america is going to mars, and the first test flight, the spacecraft, orion, put upon another rocket, in this case a heavy-lift rocket called the delta 4, twice orbit around the earth and on that second orbit boosted up way beyond low earth orbit to 3,600 miles. then with a ballistic reentry simulating 80% of the forces, the stresses on the spacecraft, the g's as well as the heat shield heating up to 4,000 degrees farenheit, in a spacecraft totally instrumented to check out the integrity of the spacecraft and the effectiveness of the heat shield as part of it, a heat shield that bu

senate. and we wish him well in the future. mrs. fischer: madam president? ferraro the senator from nebraska. mrs. fischer: thank you, madam president. i rise today to celebrate the legacy of my dear friend, my colleague and my fellow nebraskan, senator mike johanns. senator johanns has dedicated more than three decades of his life to sesqui the people of nebraska and also this nation. his career in public service began at the local level where he was elected to the lancaster county board of commissioners. he later joined the lincoln city council and eventually became mayor of nebraska's capital city, where he served for two terms. perhaps the most infamous decision that senator johanns ever made throughout his career in public service was in his days as mayor of lincoln. after an early season winter storm dropped more than a foot of heavy, wet snow on lincoln in late october, mayor johanns decided to cancel halloween. he cited power outages and hazardous downed power lines. as you can imagin

i want to thank the senator -- the lead senator in the defense bill, senator levin, for allowing us t to be part of the defense authorization bill along with senator jack reed, who i spoke with on many, many, occasions, along with senator kevinsenatorlevin, because withr support, i don't know if this bill could have stood. they can't fight the defense authorization bills, tucking it in a bill that is going to pass and will not be vetoed is a way to move these bills forward. it does enjoy broad and deep bipartisan support from literally hundreds of members of congress and hundreds of staffers have spent hours and hours and hours, and the executive branch, particularly interior, particularly agriculture, and to some extent e.p.a. as well have spent hours negotiating the fine details of this package. so i just want to thank david brooks, who was the lead staffer here with the department -- i mean, with the -- with our committee, energy and natural resources, who has been just a maggivmagnificent staffer here e senate for many, many years. he is known as the senate expert on public lands,

way the senate operates. he predicts a year from now people will be surprised the senate will actually be getting things done. that's it for today. have a great week, and we'll see you next "fox news sunday." test, test, test, test, test, test, . >>> more protests are planned today after demonstrations have thousands of people filling bay area streets. we will tell you about the arrests and to keep it peaceful. >>> the father of michael brown is scheduled to speak in san francisco today. more on the mets san jose he will deliver. >> box the presents and we will have details on when you need to get them in the mail if you want them to arrive in time for the holidays. mornings on two starts

between 2002 and 2008 the senate committee were -- members of the senate were briefed 35 times and memberse house 30 times. he's right at the beginning it wasn't all the members of the committee. it was the leadership of the committee, the so-called gang of eight. they were briefed. these people are on the record as having the time encouraged the cia to take every step possible. some of those people were saying, why aren't you doing these things on more of these detainees? some democrats who are today depicting themselves as -- >> one person has been quoted -- we have about 30 seconds left. one person who has been quoted is the chairman of the then-chairman of the senate r k committee which is jay rockefeller. >> as soon as we had the legislative capacity to move because the secret was out enough, we could actually act as a committee to pursue an end to these. it's wrong and not fair to say the committee bought off on this until the last minute. from the instance we knew what was going on, people were starting to inquire further and draft legislation to end this torture. >> senator, just b

way the senate operates. he predicts a year from now people will be surprised the senate will actually be getting things done. that's it for today. have a great week, and we'll see you next "fox news sunday." . discover the champion in you! . (applause) well, god bless you and thanks so much for being with us today. and if you're ever in our area, please stop by and be a part of one of our services. i promise you we'll make you feel right at home. but thank you again for tuning in and thank you so much for coming out. i like to start with something funny. i heard about this elderly couple. they were having a terrible time with their memory. they went to the doctor and he instructed them to start writing down everything they'd been forgetting. the next night they were watching television. the wife said, "i sure would like a bowl of ice cream." the husband said, "i'll go get it for you." she said, "honey, you know what the doctor said. you better write it down."

i mean, -- senator reid change the rules of the senate. disregarded the constitution as it's written. is trying to intimate his policies as if he is a star or a cane. there's a real reason why our forefathers had the wisdom to separate the powers and that the balance of power, to have the checks and balances. and what happened after president obama was elected he ended up getting 59 votes in the senate and then 60. all of a sudden he could get almost anything to. i almost think, ma god bless them senator burr was one of champions in the senate who would defend the legislative powers or balance of powers and it was in his later years, and i was gone, and anyway, there were able to railroad it through. and they didn't railroaded through. past i think on december 24 or something in the first year. imac. mama. it really bothers me. and i hope and pray -- let me just, i want to be positive. there is new leadership in town, and senator mcconnell the new majority leader beginning in january, he is going to return to regular or the one that thinks

majority leader reid, senator durbin, senator schumer, and six republicans -- senator hatch, senator inhofe, senator blunt, senator thune and senator collins, they all signed on to this letter. they understand, many of them coming from rural america, not a republican issue or a democratic issue. this is an issue to protect mail delivery all over this country and especially in rural areas. shortly after we sent our letter, 160 members of the house signed on to a similar letter calling for a one-year moratorium to stop these mail processing plants from closing, and there were 23 republicans signing that letter. so you're seeing bipartisan support in the house and the senate saying loudly and clearly, do not shut down 82 processing plants, do not slow down mail delivery service, do not eliminate 15,000 decent-paying jobs. and i know that senator mikulski, the chair of the appropriations committee, wants to see this happen, but make -- to make it happen she needs republican support and i very much urge my republican colleagues, stand up for rural america, stand up for 15,000 jobs, let's

way the senate operates. people will be surprised the senate will be actually getting things done. and that's it for today, have a great week. and we'll see you next "fox news sunday." >>> this week on the journal editorial report, a fallout over the senate cia report could second guessing put our national security at risk? >>> claims another political casualty as the senate top democrats points the finger at president obama and the botched rollout. as protests continue over two controversial grand jury decisions, our political leaders sanctioning the violence instead of stopping it. >>> whatever your views are on eits, our nation and in particular this agency did a lot of things right during this difficult time to

our team is talking to senators while they're coming off of the senate floor.ne of whom is senator richard brr. he is going to be the next chair of the senate intelligence committee, the next dianne feinstein, if you will. republican. he called it fiction. he told our ted barrett that he does not believe that this is an accurate portrayal of what really went on because he says that the committee and its staff didn't interview everybody involved, the operatives in particular. he said that they got their facts wrong and it went on from there. it's no secret that most of the republicans on the intelligence committee did not like this, did not cooperate and they're going to have their own kind of rebuttal report, if you will. so that is exactly the kind of thing that we are hearing. not just concern about the fact that this information is being released and what it could mean for the security of americans but questioning the actual content of this report in general. >> dana bash, thanks so much. i want to go to the white house. they, of course, are watching very cl

i had senator paul sarbanes, i had senator ted kennedy, senator bob byrd who helped me learn the ropes of the appropriation committee that i now chair. but i also had some other special help, from the women of the senate, the spouses of the senate. there was only senator nancy and myself in those days, but the spouses of the guys in the senate really reached out to me, and particularly the southern women were so gracious to help me learn the ropes, even learn what the building was, how to even maneuver here in so many ways. senator hal heffron's wife, mike. sam nunn's wife colleen. and then there was rose -- vivacious, charming, fun and savvy. we often were traveling, we took trips together, we were on a nato committee with thad and myself. it was always rose who said come on, barb, come with us. and she made sure i was not only -- i was both included, that i was ok'ed, and it was this sense of hospitality that i thought my gosh, what a wonderful institution. we're not democrats or republicans. we're working together. and the senator is working and we're working together, the spouses a

thank you. >> thank you, senator. i think it is significant that the incoming chairman of the andittee made that point made that statement. so i thank you, sir. i turn now to senator schumer. >> i will be brief. you, mr. thank chairman, for hosting this hearing. my colleagues for being here. i want to thank two of my dearest friends and the senate for leading the charge -- senator mccaskill and gillib rand. i want to wish senator gilli brand a happy birthday. on a more serious note i want to thank both of them and many others for bringing this whole issue to light. this has been a sort of dirty little secret for a long time on college campuses, that women were abused and afraid to come forward. and now because of the efforts of two senators that we are going to hear testify and so many others, that is not happening anymore. to do is talkve to people, relatives, children of friends, women who were on college's how serious is this? most say it is far more serious than you know. so to get to the bottom of this and do som

a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. johnson: i rise today to urge my colleagues to vote in favor of the nomination of ms. nani coloretti to be deputy secretary of the deputy housing and urban development. the deputy secretary is a critical component of the management team oversee h.u.d.'s programs that provide affordable rental housing, community, and economic development opportunities, and an opportunity for creditworthy families to achieve the dream of homeownership. i believe ms. coloretti has the skills and experience necessary to take on this role. that the full senate bank, housing and urban affairs committee also approves ms. coloretti's nomination on april 29, 2013 -- 2014 by a voice vote. ms. coloretti is currently the assistant secretary for management at the u.s. department of the treasury. during her tenure at treasury, ms. coloretti helped create a new treasury operations excellence team which has applied lean principles developed in the private sector to improve performance at the treasury. this work encom

when we come back, former senator mike gravel is calling on another senator, chris editor, mark udalld the senate intelligence committee full report into the congressional record. stay with us. ♪ [music break] >> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with aaron matÉ. >> on the senate floor last week, outgoing democratic senator mark udall called for a purge of top cia officials implicated in the torture program and cover-up, including current director john brennan. in stark language, udall accused the cia of lying. 2 the cia has long -- july overseers of the public, destroyed and try to hold back evidence, spied on the senate, made. charges against our staff, and lied about torture and the results of torture. and no one has been held to account. they are right now people serving and high-level positions at the agency approved, directed, or committed acts related to the cia's detention and interrogation program. it is bad enough not to prosecute these officials, but to reward or promote them and risk the integrity of the u.s. government to

senator johanns, senator coburn and senator chambliss. i think they've done a lot of that work that was required for us to get to the majority. and you've heard about the great senator from georgia, but i think the things that i'm going to talk about for just a minute in regard to saxby chambliss apply to the two individuals sitting here with him. they're cut from the same cloth. senator coburn, senator johanns, true public servants. people that ran for the right reason, people that served for the right reason. i think you could ask anybody on this body on either side of the aisle, and they would tell you that these three individuals served for the right reasons and served to the very best of their ability the american people. not just the people of their state, but the american people. and they will be remembered long after they're here. they will be remembered because of the great, wonderful people they are and for the relationships they've built, and for that service. so, i would echo senator ayotte's comments. one of the first people

person in the senate. mark at field was number 100. i was 99. the reason was mark stated that for two days to complete his term as governor. i jumped him by one day. as this day, we referred to each other as 99 and 100. i stood in awe of these people who had been there so long. looking back on it, honestly, i must tell you that has a re tarding effect on a new center -- senator to jump into the mainstream. but i was pretty respectful. i remember when i made my maiden speech on the floor. which all freshmen are destined to do. i went there excessively prepared. carefully prepared. not so on the floor. one democrat and my father-in-law, the republican leader, he was there out of curiosity. but i spoke for 40 minutes. and then i finished. and then derksen came over and said, perhaps in the future, you should guard against speaking more clearly than you think. that was my introduction to the senate. [laughter] >> that was the hazing of new members of the senate. >> now, bob dole comes along a couple years late

as a freshman senator, than most of the other senators. and, that is as a freshman senator in the minority party. so as you noted, some months ago, when iran named as their ambassador to the u.n. abolabi, a known terrorist, participated in holding americans hostage in 1979 and 1980. that was intended to be, it was in fact a slap in the face to america. folks in this town were wringing their hands what can we do to stop it? there is nothing we can do. well, we introduced legislation to prohibit known terrorists from receiving visas to come into this country and barred him from coming in. it earned support on the floor from senators as varied as chuck schumer, lindsey graham. when schumer was praising it on the senate floor i went up to him, chuck, you better be careful, lightning is going to strike you. it passed the house 100-0. the senate, 100-0 nothing. passed house 435-0. and president obama signed it into law. in fact a couple weeks later he was at one of these black tie dinners in washington where politicians try to be funny and, and

many members of the senate. we increased the maximum pell grant by a hundred dollars. we reform the pell grants to give students a chance to be able to go to both college and get their g.e.d., where for many single mothers, this has been a tremendous problem. where they dropped out but they now know they've got to earn and they're ready to learn. but in order to go to the community college, they have to have their g.e.d. they were not eligible and they're doing it both. it also restores the community college efforts to be able to fund scholarships from their own endowments. i'd like to take a moment to speak about jobs. we need to create jobs in the united states of america and what we did in focusing on jobs is that we funded -- we funded infrastructure. guess what? we put in money in the federal checkbook for the highway trust fund, the harbor maintenance fund so that our harbors could be dredged, so that our roads and our bridges would be safe, and also included more money for dam safety. in my own home state

senator burr, who will be the new chairman. senator coburn. we were able to come together and put together a report unanimously. it was really because of your leadership. as i watched, it became very apparent. maybe your side is not as fractious as my side is, but you were able to say yes, we can do this or no, we cannot do that and you respected your members. that made it very easy for me and i am very grateful. yesterday, we disagreed. really -- you know, you have never taken a cheap shot. at the samegether time to move our intelligence authorization bill. there was one last glitch which you worked out and that bill passed unanimously last night. we have worked to put together bill foron-sharing what is probably our number one defensive issue, which is cyber and the attacks which have taken 97% of our businesses into difficulties. you have compromised. i have compromised. unfortunately, on our site, we still had some unsolved issues. i will be able to pick up with senator burr where we left off and we will be able to get that job done next y

and joining us is senator sanders. thank you for being here and helping us understand what is going on right now. first thing is first. what is happening now as far as we understand it, it seems like we may not be getting a vote on the funding bill tonight? is that how you understand it? >> i may be going to the airport and i may not and may be voting tonight, sunday or monday. that's about what i know. >> do you know if harry reid has the votes to get it through, and is there a filibuster threat that could stop it? >> i don't know that. if i were a betting guy i would assume the votes are there. >> in terms of what happened in the house, you and senator warren and others have been trying to stop this, but they made a lot of noise and a lot of people very nervous yesterday. what is the status among democrats in the senate? >> rachel, this is a bad bill for a number of reasons. you talked about the outrage of repealing a section, by the way, whose title is prohibition against government bailouts, in other words, they wi

senate. it's just one striking example of c.i.a.'s efforts to evade oversight. some argued against releasing this report, suggesting it could spark violence against american interests. fundamentally, mr. president, the idea that release of this report undermines our security is a massive exercise in blame shifting. telling the truth about how we engaged in torture doesn't risk our security. it's the use of torture that undermines our security. release of this report is hopefully an insurance policy against the danger that a future president, a future intelligence committee and a future congress might believe that we should compromise our values in pursuit of unreliable information through torture. if a future american believes that what america's c.i.a. did in 2001 and 2002 and 2003 was acceptable and useful, we're at risk of repeating the same horrific mistakes. that, mr. president, is a threat to our security. torture is never the american way. concealing the truth is never the american way

a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. levin: first let me thank senator inhofe for his friendship, most importantly, but the great partnership that we've worked out. it's been a real pleasure working with you. i should perhaps just say that we know we're confident that our successors will carry on this tradition as well, that senator mccain, the new ranking member, jack reed, will be carrying on this tradition that we've done everything we know how to maintain. and i just want to again thank my good friend, jim inhofe, and his staff who've worked so well with our -- with the staff on this side. you know, we talk about this side of the aisle, that side of the aisle. in this bill, obviously, there will be differences, very rarely, by the way, on a partisan basis even when there are differences. but the aisle sort of disappears when it comes to the defense authorization bill and that's the way it should be. and i yield the floor. mr. inhofe: let me reclaim my time to make one other comment. the two people sitting down with u

sarah saldana is qualified and senators cruz and senator cornyn and senator sessions and everyone on the other side of the aisle know it. i think they said so themselves. she currently serves as the u.s. attorney for the northern district of texas. she is the first latina u.s. attorney for the northern district of texas and would be the first latina to head i.c.e. in 2011 she won bipartisan approval to serve as the u.s. attorney in the dallas-based northern district of texas. senators john cornyn and kay bailey hutchison at that time of texas backed her for that post. she's been endorsed by the law enforcement community including the major city chiefs association president and the philadelphia police department police commissioner charles ramsey. she is an effective, qualified, competent, outstanding united states attorney. in fact, the senior senator from texas, my friend, senator cornyn, has praised her as being tough, smart and fiercely independent. now she is being denied confirmation for that same toughness, intelligence and independence. why? because surprise of all surprises,

senator carden. and then we'll recess, i will recognize senator coons and any other member who wishes to speak when we return. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i just want to underscore how proud i am to be a member of this committee under senator menendez and senator corker. this committee has operated in the best conditions of the senate relations committee in the united states senate and i think we're a stronger nation as a result of it. i thank both of you for your extraordinary leadership. i just want to underscore a couple points. first president obama and former presidents would probably agree that they don't need congress to pass any further authorizations that they have all the power that they need. so i look at this resolution as carrying out the appropriate oversight responsibility that we have. one of you mentioned vietnam and the expanded u.s. involvement in the war. i think this resolution helps prevent that because president obama's interpretation of the 2001 authorization would allow him t

the senate then proceed to administering the oath of office to senator schatz and scott. following any leader remarks, the senate resume executive session in consideration of the mamet nomination and the senate recess from 12:30 to 2:15 p.m. to allow for weekly caucus meetings. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, for the information of all senators, there will be four roll call votes at 10:30 on the morning on ma'am et and bell -- on the mamet and bell nominations and other series of votes will occur at 4:00 p.m. tomorrow afternoon. if there's no further business to come before the senate, i ask the senate stand adjourned under the senate stand adjourned under >> tonight o on on c-span2 at de from louisiana senate race. mary landrieu is seeking a fourth term. she's being challenged by republican congressman l. cassidy. because neither candidate won a majority on election day, the winner will be sick decided in a runoff election on saturday. tonight's debate starts at tp.m. eastern live here on here c-span2.aturday >> good morning to you. rem

, the senate is off today. they'll be back working tomorrow on funding the final bills and nominations. >> all right, thank you so much. >>> utah senator mike lee who joined with senator ted cruz this weekend to force a vote on the president's executive action on immigration joins us now on his one day off that you got. senator, t coming in. let's talk about this. there's been criticism from the left and the right about what you all were doing and what you were trying to accomplish. >> the american people feel strongly that ours is not a government of one. the president of the united states does not have the authority under the constitution or our laws to grant executive amnesty. we wanted a vote on that and yesterday we were successful in getting the vote. >> i want to play a little bit of what democratic senator chuck schumer said as he watched this play out. >> there are huge differences in the republican party. on the floor of the senate, we saw the soul of the republican party being debate. ted cruz was in

senate this weekend.he agreement cannot be reached in several areas, including how to get to a final vote on the $1.1 trillion bill to fund the federal government. current money runs out at midnight tonight. setting up today's showdown on the senate floor. c-span2watch it live on today. we will explore what the problems are in the senate and now the senate might get past them. we also want to hear from you. here are the phone numbers to call. republicans you can weigh in on social media. or send us an e-mail. here is one of the many stories this saturday morning as the senate remains in limbo here. nomineesll from the are at issue as senators try to wrap up the 113th congress. the story comes from alex. alex all us from -- folsom. caller: harry reid wants to move a batch of 20 nominees. he has been saying for weeks now that these nominees will get done in the lame-duck and republicans don't want to provide any expedited consideration. the democrats have the votes because they changed the precedent one yea

way the senate operates. he predicts a year from now people will be surprised the senate will be actually getting things done. and that's it for today, have a great week. and we'll see you next "fox news sunday."