stabenow: yes. mr. wyden: my understanding is that you and senator casey in particular have been out here and we're so glad to have our colleague from connecticut wondering when in the world we would actually get to see this legislation. ms. stabenow: right. mr. wyden: well, this pile of papers for all practical purposes is what we have been waiting for no days. ms. stabenow: i hope you're a speed reader. mr. wyden: i'm going to try to do some, but as far as i can tell, it sure looks like a lobbyist wish list. there are going to be a lot of folks happy on k street as they try to shop for the holidays because of the fees they put together working to get these changes into the republican proposal. so i appreciate my colleague giving me the opportunity to make sure that the public knows now that at this late hour we're finally getting after days the opportunities to see the bill that is actually the bill. ms. stabenow: before turning this to my friend and colleague from pennsylvania, i do want to mention o

senator stabenow, you're recognized. ms. stabenow: thank you, mr. barthold, to you and your staff for all your work in the midst of a lot of complexity and confusion, i would think. is it accurate to say under the house and senate bills millions of working families with incomes under $200,000 a year would get a tax increase? mr. barthold: if i could just elaborate briefly there's substantial changes as we described, depending upon the taxpayer's situation there will be some -- we have document and redocumented for you during the finance committee's deliberation that there will be a fair number of cases where tax liabilities increase. ms. stabenow: according to your numbers that we have, it's calculated 32.48 million families with incomes under $200,000 end up with a tax increase under the house bill and 37.79 million families with incomes under $200,000 end up with a tax increase under the senate bill, according to your numbers. how many working families with incomes under $200,000 would receive a tax increase under either the house or the senate bi

stabenow: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. stabenow: thank you very much. mr. president, i'm coming to the floor again to focus on the fact that the clock is ticking for families in michigan and across the country. men and women, children, older people, younger people who use the community health centers as well as those who are having their children covered under the children's health insurance program. the funding, federal funding for those programs stopped september 30, 6 days ago. 67 days ago. we've had votes, we've had bills. we've had nominations come before us. there's been divisiveness and controversy. it would be wonderful, mr. president, if we could stop for one day and do something that has bipartisan support. you know, the fact of the matter is that chip covers nine million children and 100,000 of those are in michiga

senator stabenow and i, we get along. last farm bill, i think we marked it up in one morning and several hours. phil, i think you were there. on the floor, we got it done in two days. that's when harry reid shut everything down. we got it done in two days and handled 63 amendments. we can do this. we are going to try to work together in early spring. january, february. we hope to have a blueprint together that both democrats and republicans can agree ith. we have to get something done on behalf of the farmer and rancher and their lenders who say look, we have to have dependability, we have to have predict ability. >> are you confident you will have that new farm bill passed by this time next year? senator roberts: oh, my gosh, yes. you remember what happened last time. we passed it in good faith and we hit a brick wall in the house. there was concern about food stamps and dairy policy and work requirements and things like that and it sort of fell apart. it went on for three years. we extended the farm bill for three years

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stabenow: thank you, mr. president. first, i want to express strong support for senator king's motion and for the argument that he is making about the debt. i the couldn't agree more, and i also rise today to speak on a motion to instruct that i also will be offering in just a few moments to direct the conference committee for this bill to add a provision that would return the corporate tax rate to its current level if wages do not increase by at least $4,000. that's the promise that has been made over and over again to working men and women, that these cuts being made and changes being made will result in $4,000 in increased wages in people's pockets. i think they have the right to know that the majority means it when they say it and to make sure that is written into the final bill. the reason for this motion is very clear. as i indicated, republicans have promised american families that an increase in income from $4,000, $7,000, even $9,000 increases in wages. i think that is great. i would strongly support that. ther

finally, i ask that following disposition of the stabenow motion, the senate stand in recess until 5:10 p.m. to accommodate an all-members briefing. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. i have eight requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, about a year ago, the american people voted for fundamental change in this country. last week, republicans in the senate continued to deliver. we passed a plan to give americans substantial tax relief. this legislation is exactly what people were asking for last november, and it's exactly what this country needs now. because of this republican plan, people will be able to keep a lot more of their hard-earned money. they're going to be able to find that their taxes are going to be simpler and fairer. they're going to see our economy getting stronger and healthier. that's good news for our country, and it

says michelle senator debbie stabenow. >> we see the opioid addiction going up, the deaths going up and price goes up. that is wrong. >> they were first approved 45 years ago and in the recent years the prices increased. two years $4,500. up more than 500%. >> the federal government should negotiate the best price. >> they are calling on the government to negotiate affordable prices. so every law enforcement officer and the first responder have access to the medicine. >> the government will get involved bring prices down. >> president trump declared the opioid epidemic a national public health emergency in october. but not a national emergency. stopping short to use the money from hurricane and wildfires for opioids. there is only $66,000 in public health emergency fund. they are calling for more funding to ensure the administration has resources to carry out the commission's recommendation. >> a cincinnati doorman who rushed to he an woman from of him and the police. keith anderson was talking to the detectives responding to the shooting on thanksgiving morning when someone jumped in t

your opponent debbie stabenow has been a reliable vote for democrats. entire democratic party is not a party for. they are a party against. and they really don't have an identity as far as i can see other than impeach trump. it's the one thing that unifies them. what unifies us are conservative values is bringing people together, moving everybody up. allowing everybody to have access to the american dream. these are the same people who refuse to accept the results of the 2016. these are the same people who are trying to revise the duly elected president and who will allow michiganders in mississippians to be dictated to from new york and california. we, the people, haven't delegated certain authority to the federal government and i aim to protect the liberties of americans and michiganders in the full u.s. senate just like did i when i was deployed through operation iraq freedom. leland: new make it to the senate of the united states it is fair to say the republicans won't have a 60 pet majority. they have to compromise with democrats on things like get

as we were saying, this is so fast moving as you were talking, mj, debbie stabenow, another fee may democraticenator, has come out and said that al franken should resign. as a bring it back around the table, i want to mention one other thing. my intrepid colleague ted barrett on capitol hill just spoke with senator susan collins, a republican who also said she believe has this latest allegations are disturbing and it would be best for the senate if he franken followed the advice of his democratic colleagues meaning she added her voice to those saying resign. i put mj on the spot there. i shouldn't have done it. but the fact that al franken is saying he's making a speech tomorrow. first of all, tomorrow? i mean, this is moving like this. i mean in, some ways you have to kind of understand that it takes a little while to process this kind of thing when you're getting -- when your colleagues are closing in on you. which is exactly what is happening. senator by senator as we speak. >> he's entitled, certainly to the ethics committee investigation and you know, the verdict of that, but his colleagu

stabenow: first, mr. president, i want to thank our distinguished leader from illinois for not only his eloquence and passion, but unfettered commitment to the young people who were brought here as children, may never have set foot in the country that their parents came from, may not know the language, they're here and a promise was made to them in our country. i spoke yesterday on the floor about two young people from michigan. we have 10,000 young people in michigan. some serving in the military, some in jobs, some in school. and they don't know any other country, and they love our country, and they just want our country to keep its promise to them. and that's what i view it as, as keeping our promises. so thank you. mr. president, i want to speak about keeping promises to a very, very important group of americans as well, and that is our men, women an men and womene serving us as veterans and in the military. one of the best parts of the job is being able to work on behalf of michigan veterans. from th

i'm pleased that i'm joined in this effort by senator feinstein, blumenthal, casey, stabenow, and harris. i want to go over this, if i could. this particular motion is based upon a bipartisan recommendation in the last congress that came out of the senate finance committee. we had working groups that took a look at the different aspects of our tax code in areas that we need reform. and there was general agreement that we need to deal with the fact that american companies have earned -- earnings overseas and they have parked those funds overseas and have not brought them back to the united states because of the differential tax rates between our corporate taxes and the tax rates overseas. the american companies were not willing to pay the taxes so therefore they leave the money overseas. to bring that money back, it's called repatriation where the money comes back to the united states, and we've done this before and we impose a lower tax rate in order to get the moneys back here in the united states. the challenge with that proposal is a couple of things, but, first, it's not a permanent

--s miss caster and other people of that were democrats in that conference, including number stabenow and other democrats hat a meaningful input. i've been on a conference and i had an opportunity to present my ideas on something as important as the intelligence of this nation, and i had an opportunity to off amendments that were made a part of the conference report. did any democrat sign this conference report? >> no, sir: it so sad because in your district, the average family of four will see a tax cut of 1,679s. they're not rich people. they're making $60,000. >> you got that right. >> those tax kurts matter to them. >> dirks i. >> i hope you'll step forward and support this tax relief. >> let me make it keir could toe you if you made them permanent then you we have had something like me supporting hilted but you made corporations permanent and you depend make those individual that you just cited to in my congressional district, permanent. there, i'll stand the test o voting against this because you did not allow democrats to have any input whatsoever. >> so any democrat -- >> judg

stabenow: thank you, mr. president. i've come to the floor to talk about children's health insurance and community health centers, but i do want to take a moment to respond to my friend and colleague, the distinguished leader on the republican side, to just indicate that i can speak for myself and others, i know on this side, who very much want to see tax reform, very much want to close loopholes that take jobs overseas, and support small businesses. but what's in front of us, what was vote incident on was a bill that when fully implemented would raise taxes on something like 87 million americans, middle-class americans, and that doesn't make any sense at all. and all of the rosy estimates on economic growth were not backed up in legislative language when i suggested that the $4,000 in wage increases that have been talked about as a minimum for people across the country to receive based on economic growth, i suggested we write that into law, that if in fact folks don't get their $4,000, that the tax breaks would stop an

put together a farm bill, it is our responsibility, both the distinguished ranking member, senator stabenow, and myself to travel to various states and say okay, we've said to the farmer, the rancher, the grower and say what do you think? and listen to the farmer first, knowing if you are fair to the farmer, they are the backbone of the nation. much underappreciated so much in our society today. so in going to kansas, michigan, montana, i said, you know, i haven't been down south. i'm going to alabama. and i'm going to go down there where our newest member who wants to be on the ag committee and has already demonstrated his affection not only for the committee but his commitment to represent farmers and growers and ranchers in alabama. so we planned an event, and we were going to listen to every commodity group, every farm organization, every farmer that wanted to come in and talk to the chairman and the new member of the ag committee. this was a special day for me. as sometimes happens, planes don't fly. planes fly to atlanta, but they don't fly from there, which was the case when we were

--s miss caster and other people of that were democrats in that conference, including number stabenow and other democrats hat a meaningful input. i've been on a conference and i had an opportunity to present my ideas on something as important as the intelligence of this nation, and i had an opportunity to off amendments that were made a part of the conference report. did any democrat sign this conference report? >> no, sir: it so sad because in your district, the average family of four will see a tax cut of 1,679s. they're not rich people. they're making $60,000. >> you got that right. >> those tax kurts matter to them. >> dirks i. >> i hope you'll step forward and support this tax relief. >> let me make it keir could toe you if you made them permanent then you we have had something like me supporting hilted but you made corporations permanent and you depend make those individual that you just cited to in my congressional district, permanent. there, i'll stand the test o voting against this because you did not allow democrats to have any input whatsoever. >> so any democrat -- >> judg

i want to associate myself with senator stabenow. i'm greatly concerned about the volume of natural gas exports. we had a hearing, an expert witness for the natural gas industry sat where you're sitting and said that we will never export more than nine percent of domestic production. we have now approved 55 billion pc for export and an annual production is 78 billion bcf a day. the one law this congress cannot repeal the law of supply and demand.it concerns me that we are squandering one of the few advantages we have vis-c-vis asia and china in terms of the support for manufacturing. and the relatively low cost of natural gas. if we give that away, to these competitors it will simply be one less advantage we have and senator gardner mentioned the thousands of jobs, we are talking hundreds of thousands if not millions of jobs in the manufacturing center that have been enabled by the low cost of natural gas and i just feel concerned that's not relative this hearing but i have to associate myself. i'm afraid we're going to look back in

stabenow: thank you, mr. president. first to my friend from oklahoma, happy 58th anniversary. that is wonderful and you have a beautiful family. i enjoy every year getting the picture, the christmas card with your beautiful family on it. it's a wonderful milestone to celebrate today. mr. president, i'm rising today to join my voice with so many others to support young people who we call dreamers. these young people were brought to the united states as children. sometimes as babies. for many of them this country is the only home they have ever known. there's no question -- i should say upfront we need comprehensive immigration reform for our security and our econo economy. our nation's immigration system is broken. it hurts families and workers and businesses and farmers each and every day. but targeting these young people who's come to our country through their parents, their parents bringing them as children, does nothing to solve the larger issues that we need to address here in the senate, in the house. now, to remind everyone, to be eligible for the deferred action for chi

he was followed by joe onnelly, sherrod brown, debbie stabenow, michael bennet, richard durbin, the minorityhip in the senate, dianne feinstein, ron widen, senator omas carper, senator amy chobe char tweed out in the ternoon yesterday -- senator klobuchar said it is unacceptable, and this afternoon i spoke with senator franken, and he will be making an announcement tomorrow morning. i am confident he will make the right decision, she said. back to your calls. jerry is in barstow, california, line for independents. go ahead. caller: good morning. my question is this -- if mr. franken does resign or is removed, will he receive a golden parachute as a retirement package? that's about it. thank you. have a very nice day, sir. host: jerry, i'm actually going to write that down. we're going to be joined by david hawkings, senator editor at roll call, and a man who knows capitol hill very well. i'm going to ask david hawkings that exact question on his pension. john, north branch, minnesota, line for those minnesota residents. john is a republican. go ahead. caller: yeah, hello. i do believe al fra

nomination you will take on democrat debbie stabenow.wants to come on the show and tell her side we would like to have her on. she voted against the tax cuts last night and i haven't seen her pushing kate's law. this illegal immigrant basically gets off killing kate stein crack down on sanctuary cities. why hasn't that gotten through the senate yet and would you support it? >> i would absolutely support kate's law. i would absolutely support defunding sanctuary cities. logic might be tough for some of our friends on the left to grasp if you z. federal funds u those putting lives on the line to protect us, to protect americans from criminals, we're not talking about those who immigrated here legally. we are talking about folks who have done the wrong thing and forcing them to pay the consequence. ed: john james speaking out. >> i appreciate it. pete: thanks for being here. it happened again, illegal immigrant accused of a vicious crime and now we're learning he was deported, get, this 20 times? yes. you heard it right. 20. how did that ha

stabenow: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: mr. president, i have a motion at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: the senator from michigan, mrs. stabenow, moves that the managers on the part of the senate at the conference -- ms. stabenow: i move suspension of the reading of the motion. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. stabenow: thank you very much. mr. president, i'm making a motion to instruct the conferee. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. the senate will be in order. the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i'm making a motion to instruct the conferees with language at the desk to put in place a guarantee that middle-class families will receive the raises that my republican colleagues are promising them. in other words, for people watching all this, the proof is in your paycheck. this motion would direct the conference committee for this bill to add a provision that would return the corporate tax rate to its curren

the clerk: hatch, enzi, murkowski, thune, portman, wyden, sanders, murray, cantwell, stabenow, menendez, and carper. mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that it be in order to make a motion to proceed to executive calendar numbers 533, 534, and 535 today. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to executive session to proceed to calendar number 533. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: judiciary, leonard steven grasz of nebraska to be united states circuit judge for the eighth circuit. mr. mcconnell: i sent a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22, do hereby bring to a close debate on nomination of steven grasz of nebraska to be united state