the united states senate. unfortunately, whether you're in the majority or you're in the minority, the senate hadn't been able to function for the last four years. i've been fortunate to be in the senate at a time when any senator who wanted to could come to the floor and offer an amendment and get a vote on that amendment. you know, what's to me completely ironic is that even if you're in the majority you can't get a vote on an amendment. if you're in the majority. how do you explain that to your constituents back home, that you are rendered completely ineffective because of the way the united states senate is being operated under the current majority leader? so, mr. president, i want to turn to another topic briefly, and that is the matter of the president's proposed strategy on the floor. ms. stabenow: out of respect for my colleague, i realize that we're going into the next hour that is controlled by the republicans, but i did want to take just one minute to wrap up if that would be acceptable with my colle

the senator from arkansas. mr. boozman: mr. president, the sad thing is that the people that were involved in operations desert storm and desert shield are in the middle of this. we have this other bill that there's some concerns about it, and that's fine. that's what this place is all about. but the idea of holding the operation desert storm and desert shield bill hostage in this situation with is not good. we fiscal cliff an era of gridlock and problems getting things done. this bill passed the house unanimously, and would pass the senate unanimously. so i would hope that we can again get together, get things worked out. it's -- the reality is the problem is is that there's no reason to couple these two together. if the other bill has problems and it needs to be worked out, that's what it's all about. let's have that discussion. but the operations desert stor storm/desert shield bill has nothing to do with that. so i would hope that in the near future we can move forward and honor these 600,000 people that participated so that

i used to be his first year in the senate, my first year in the senate, my first speech on the senate floor, five desks over from here was about the minimum wage. it passed the senate with a bipartisan vote, signed by a republican president increasing the minimum wage. that was then. today we can't even get a minimum wage out of the senate because of republican filibuster. the minimum wage -- the minimum wage is worth a third less in real dollars in purchasing power than it was in 1968. the subminimum wage, the tipped wage has been stuck at $2.13 an hour for 20 years. people that work that push wheelchairs in airports, valets, waiters in downtown diners can make as little as $2 or $3 an hour and they hope to get up to 7-point or 8-point or 9-point on tips. fought it weren't for the political pressure, the money that just sweeps across, that, that rolls across the political landscape, washing across, we could pass the minimum wage but members of the senate they think about the big money that might come in against them if they vote for the mange. i'm convinced if we could pass this cons

i came to the u.s. senate primarily motivated by many different things but one of the things that truly motivated me is the fiscal state of our country. the fear that our current spending patterns are not just unsustainable but threaten our future. in fact, impede our ability to achieve what i believe is our destiny, another american century. and that's why each time i have been here that i've had an opportunity to be placed before me a vote on a short-term spending matter, i voted against them. because i felt that they ignored our long-term problems of spending in this country and did not deal with them in a responsible way. once again today we're confronted with a short-term spending bill that we are asked to approve. otherwise the government will shut down and the world will stop spinning. but today's question's a little different from the ones that have been posed to us in the past. for the one before us, today has deeply embedded in it an issue of national security. for the better part of three years, i'v

the senators welker and bridges continue to the pmt and printed 25,000 posters, told senator hunt if he didn't resign immediately that they would put one of those every mailbox in wyoming. the reason they needed him to resign immediately as the control of the senate is one seat to the democrats and here you have a democrat and republican in wyoming republican governor would control the senate and they would shift overnight. that's why the pressure. at some point in may of 1954 in white house staff in the eisenhower administration shows up at his office. the president approved and said if he will resign immediately and agree to never run for the senate again you can run for the governor in wyoming but never again for the senate president eisenhower will appoint you to the federal trade commission which was a six-year appointment at the salary of up with the senators were paid. he wants to do it. he's tired of the pressure and wants to get up behind him. his wife and his friends say how can you do that come have explained this to your friends back home that you have this important job a

the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas. mr. pryor: i'd like unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. pryor: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. pryor: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the consideration of h.r. 83, which was received from the house and is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 83, an act to require the secretary of the interior to assemble a team of technical policy and financial experts to address the energy needs and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding? without objection. mr. pryor: i ask unanimous consent that the murkowski substitute amendment, which is at the desk, be agreed to, the bill as amend be read a third time and passed, and the motions to reconsider be laid on the table, wi

that came from the senate side. when we're talking about the insurance companies and making it easier to make sure they could to their job and not be treated like a bank, we got the language here on the house side. again, the senate side misinterprets and had the wrong ladgewadge. gary miller and i have been working a year, over a year, to make the corrections coming out today. now, i support everything that we're going to be voting on but i'm reluctant about it because talking to my colleagues on the senate side, they have said they will not do it. so something that you all want has a really good chance of never seing the light of day. maybe -- never seeing the light of day. maybe next year. that's fine. who are you hurting? who are you proving? maybe because now the insurance companies will be in limbo. we don't know what's going to happen. so you're putting off something again. you know, i'm ending my career here in congress. i'll be retiring, and i have to say for 18 years, i have worked bipartisanly and i've got

i yield to the senator from michigan. ms. abenow: thank you very much to the distinguished senator from minnesota. now i'd like to yield to the distinguished senator from new york who not only is a leader on this issue and so many other issues but is the author of a major tax credit in our code that allows middle-class families could be able to get help for college, there's not a bigger champion for middle-class families than the senior senator from new york. i would yield to him. mr. schumer: thank you. thank you, mr. president, and i want to thank my colleague and dear friend from michigan for the great work she has done as chair and vice chair of the dpcc, we have worked very hard on this fair shot agenda. we believe it is resinating with the american people. when our colleagues on the other side of the aisle oppose simple things like a fair shot at getting out of poverty if you work 40 hours a week, a fair shot at having -- if you're a woman to get equal pay for a man and a fair shot to prevent jobs from being sent oversea

president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the consideration of senate resolution 566, which was submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from south dakota, mr. thune -- s. res. 566, celebrating the 125th anniversary of the state of south dakota. mr. thune: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. without objection. no objection. mr. thune: thank you, mr. president. mr. thiewj: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: mr. president, i'd also like to speak on the floor today in support of senate business 1507, the tribal general welfare exclusion act of 2013. i'm a cosponsor of this bipartisan legislation which passed the house of representatives earlier this week. this bill would codify that general welfare benefits provided to tribal members by indian tribe

i yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. ms. hirono: i ask unanimous consent that privileges of the floor be granted to the following member of my staff: leav weland wist, for the duration of today, september 9, 2014. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. hirono: madam president, listening to the good senator from texas, i feel as though i'm in some sort of a parallel universe. i rise today in support of senate joint resolution 19, an amendment to the united states constitution that assures our democracy is for the people -- for the people -- not for corporations. i'm proud to cosponsor this measure. i'm also proud to stand with the overwhelming majority of this country in support of restoring common sense and fair campaign finance rules. the current supreme court has been noted as among the most pro-corporate supreme courts in our history. in decision after decision, a narrow conservative majority of the court has placed the voices of corporations and special interests over the voices of the people. the court decided cit

to join the conversation, like us on facebook. senate watergate committee from rufus edmisten and his grandson, judge sam ervin, iv. they recall his character and how the self-proclaimed country lawyer relied on his knowledge of the law and personal convictions to guide the committee. this event was hosted by the north carolina museum of history. it is about an hour. >> all right. good afternoon. thanks for coming out to the north carolina museum of history. we are getting ready to do our program right now. my name is michael scott. i do a lot of programming at the museum of history. we have three distinguished guests with us. we have dr. karl campbell, author of the book "senator sam ervin, last of the founding fathers." he will be guiding the ship through the waters of watergate. in the center, we have former state attorney general and no stranger to most people here, rufus edmisten. [applause] closest to me, i hope no stranger to people around here, or maybe not, he is a judge. judge sam ervin iv. [applause] all right. thank you, guys

it's been in the senate and blocked. certainly we hope our troops won't get penalized when coming back to the united states and get health care. this is something that received large bipartisan support. every one of these provisions help create jobs, and certainly all of them have bipartisan support. r&d, the research and development credits, 62 democrats vote. section 179, 63 democrat votes. depreciation, 34 democrat votes. repealing 30-hour, all of these have bipartisan support. they're all sitting in the senate. i heard the gentleman say, nothing is being done. i would submit my friends on the other side, other than voting for these bills have done nothing to urge their colleagues who have majority in the senate to move something that will actually get people back to work and really bring the american dream back in reach for millions of americans, and it isn't now. so with that i yield two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from georgia -- mr. van hollen: if the gentleman will yield on that? mr. camp: mr. kingston.

balance of power in the senate could hinge on house these races go. there's a wild card, we mentioned him before. he is the other republican candidate, retired air force colonel rob manets, he lives in madisonville, he's opening to be one of the top two vote getters for force a runoff. he's supported by sarah palin, who is campaigning for him this weekend. i began by asking him why he was runs. >> i'm running, because my 2-year-old grandson kellen, he deserves to inherit a united states of america, and it's my responsibility to ensure he gets that opportunity. >> you are a republican, correct? >> i am a republican. i became a republican when i cast my first vote for a man named ronald reagan at age 19. >> one of the key issues in this race, and is it imperative to get senator landrieu out of that incumbent seat? >> the key issues are jobs and how obamacare is hurting our job market and how restrictions on the oil and cigars industry, really every industry in our state, from oil and gas to fishing to agriculture is being hurt by overregulation, and the

, the democratic senator from louisiana, the democratic senator from north carolina, the democratic senator from alaska are all busily telling their constituents that they disagree with what my friend from illinois just said. they are at home telling their constituents, no, no, no, no, no ... we don't want am necessary constitution. no, no, no, no ... we don't want the president to unilaterally grant amnesty. now, if that is indeed their position, i would welcome them to come i to the floor right nowvment and if that is indeed their position, there is an easy action. for centuries this body has been called the world's greatest deliberative body. unfortunately, that label is no longer accurately applied because this body, sadly, under majority leader reid and the democratic majority neither deliberates nor votes on much of anything. there are over 350 bills the house of representatives has passed to address the great challenges in this country. mostly with substantial bipartisan support in the house of representatives. and over 50 piece 350 pieces of legislation are signature on harry reid -

the roll. quorum call: a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. flake: i ask the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. flake: i rise to speak in opposition of the bill before us snches -- s.j. res. 19, a constitutional amendment that would significantly curtail the free speech rights of all americans. i oppose this amendment because i believe that while it's critical to support speech with which we agree, it is even more crucial to support speech with which we disagree. now, whether it's been campaign finance laws or amendments to prohibit flag burning, i consistently opposed amending the constitution to limit the first amendment. as others have mentioned, if this amendment were adopted, it would be the first time congress has limited rights protected in the bill of rights. this would be a very dangerous precedent to set. by limiting the amount of money that individuals and corporations can spend on elections, this amendment would clearly limit their rights under the first amendment. the supreme court has made clear

don't be the first u.s. senate leader in history to shut down all amendments under a constitutional amendment under debate on the floor. the second proposal which is a floor amendment i have at the desk also goes to this same concern of washington living on a different planet than real-world america. and it has to do with what i call the washington exemption from obama. in the obamacare statute, we actually passed through an amendment on the floor, through being able to pass a floor amendment, language that says every member of congress, all of our staff should be treated like all other americans who are forced to go to the so-called exchanges. we will go to the exchanges for our health care. no special deal, no special exemption, no special subsidy, no special carveout. unfortunately, after that floor amendment passed, after the overall bill passed, i guess some folks took nancy pelosi's advice -- we have to pass the bill in order to read it. so after the fact some folks around here started to read it, and they go

the corn capitals of the senate vestibule. the great staircase and all the vaults of the senate chamber are entirely free from any injury which cannot be easily repaired. in fact, the mischief is much more easily repaired than would appear at first sight and i was less chagrined than i had prepared myself to be. latrobe was mistakenly optimistic as the difficulties of rebuilding became apparent. he wrote jefferson, he wished the british had burned the capitol to the ground so he could have begun anew. his thinking about how to express the capitol's multiple meanings was evolving. latrobe's overarching theme in designing the capitol's interiors during both his ten tours was to combine historical styles of great architecture in the western tradition in such ways as to invent new and meaningful spaces. latrobe's synthesis of these traditions might have been meant to reflect either or both of two broad themes in american history. america was a nation of immigrants. its colonists large lly drawn fm several european countries, some o

i am a strong supporter of life and i was the only republican senator in the state senator to vote against then governor rounds 2010 budget because it increased spending an additional $10 million and led to the $127 million deficit. >> in our south dakota poll you were included n polling and came in at 3%. wanted to clarify. >> thank you. that is kind. >> larry pressler, 60 seconds. >> let me clarify i agree with my friend gordon on the issues of sworn statements from governor rounds if we can get them. all of the prosecution is going to happen next. so the best we can hope for is a declaration by the governor as to what the facts are. i wanted to point that out. also, in terms of independents in the senate, the reason veterans bill was passed by an independent united states senator who chaired the veterans comment community and passed the bill. so independents can be affective there in the senate and there are two now and we are hoping for four and that will provide a balance to break loose the poisonous deadlock and the deficit is one of my biggest concerns so i would balance that in a r

i would sneak over to watch the great people. senator ervin was making his pitch about this being very bad, it was going to violate the separation of church and state. he used the example of somebody in new york city with the buddhists in charge of government, the buddhist prayer, how would you like that? that resonated with people, shallow water baptists like me. he made such a reasoned argument. back in those days, occasionally someone would listen when the senator would come on the floor. one was senator wayne morse of oregon. after it was over, he came over. he said sam, i heard your speech, i've changed my mind and i'm not going to vote for that amendment. >> and it did not pass. >> i think that goes to one other thing. randy told me one time you should not be in public office unless you were prepared to lose an election if you stuck to your principles. if you did not have sufficient principles that you were prepared to brave public opinion on occasion, you did not have enough backbone to hold public office. he clearly had that. he

we'll have live to the floor of the u.s. senate about the gavel in for morning business, continued consideration of the resolution proposing an intimate to the constitution that would grant congress the ability to limit campaign contributions. no votes scheduled today in the senate, and this it will be recessing from 12:30-2:15 eastern for senate party lunches. now live to the senate floor here on c-span2. the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. eternal spirit, the fountain of our joy, you see our thoughts from a distance, comprehending the nuances of our motives. lord, you understand our desire to please and honor you with our lives. you know our remorse for neglected duties, missed opportunities, and selfish pursuits. give our lawmakers strength for today and hope for tomorrow. today, meet the needs of our senators as they confront our dangerous world, providing them with more than human wisdom to accomplish your will. give

to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable john walsh, a senator from the state of montana, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patrick j. leahy, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i move to proceed to calendar number 409. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 409, s. 2432, a bill to amend the higher education act of 1965, to provide for the refinancing of certain federal student loans, and for other purposes. mr. reid: mr. president, following my remarks and those of the republican leader, the senate will be in a period of morning business until 12:30 today. during that period of time senators will be permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. following that morning business, the senate will recess from 12:30 until 2:15 to allow for our weekly caucus meetings. at 2:15 the senate w

coming up on ing the senate side. ace or the of incident in ferguson likely to in any other house or senate hearings? >> the congressional black black the house unit of members will make their voice known in a number of events in weeks, whether that spills to actual legislation that will move in this area. structured two weeks. i kind of doubt it. host: go ahead. uest: i heard some lawmakers having more policed to wear body cameras. seeing that translate to passes any time soon is going to be a big lift. caller: i've been calling this network for 35 years. withe ear seeing in georgia an exciting thing. i'm a businessman. got david purdue running as a businessman and a libertarian running for governor. businessman. we see a tremendous amount of business. nd i see people getting involved in politics. asking the panel. we've got people who are going a get together for -- the barbecue for david purdue running for senate. you, do you see a trend towards more business leaders? nd i hope the answer is yes, getting more involv

those originated on one of two porches located on the acropolis. senators represented america's widely divergent regional history cultures and populations. greek figures of women supported the east gallery. they represented art, commerce, agriculture, science, military force and civil government. the range of occupations in which americans excelled as an independent nation. neither images or descriptions of them survived. latrobe designed in room in figures as a theater for the senate and a gallery or galleries supported for the people and a work of art in which the character and taste of russian architecture is preserved and a work of rational decoration in which that is reasonable is made to supply the decoration. all lost the 1814 fire.1ñ for his post-fire senate chamber they would stand atop the public gallery. latrobe's son remembered seeing some of these, figures of north and south carolina represented as sisters. the arm of one around the neck of the other. also massachusetts and maine. a mother leading her child for maine was in district only. one o

he has terminated his campaign for the senate. thus giving democrats the biggest leap forward they have had this entire year toward holding control of the united states senate for the last two years of the barack obama presidency. this leaves a two-way race against pat roberts who has not been polling all that great. against the guy in the right side of your screen here, his name is greg ormon. he looks comparatively fantastic, look at the polling, check this out. we have pat roberts eking his way to victory with the democrats still in the race. with the democrat gone pat roberts loses that race by ten points. you can bet that pat robert the is not happy about this news today. his campaign released a blistering statement about this decision. taylor's withdraw corrupt bargain with democrats. ormon choice of liberals. this marks the second time this week and it's been a short week that we have seen democrats decide that the best way to win a race against the republicans was to kwet and try to get there a different way in alaska yeste

the flag over the senate chamber on the u.s. capitol at half staff on this 9/11 anniversary the senator mccain can do that for a number of speakers can talk about what the president said last night dealing with and how the administration plans to do with isis. senator mccain said the u.s. is not safer than it was on 9/11. he said the president saying that he wants to take the same approach to isis that he took to terrorists in somalia and yemen shows quote a fundamental misunderstanding on the part of the president of the united states of the threat we face. senator mccain is jointly by senator lindsey graham. >> today, senator graham and dodd on the 13th anniversary of the attacks of september 11, 2001, and this anniversary, sadly, and, unfortunately, we cannot agree and we cannot say as president obama did last night that america is safer. in fact, in many respects america is in more danger than at any time since the end of the cold war. we look around the world at the challenges, the aggression, the provocations, the continue

udall's constitutional amendment and that of senator bennet, the good senators from new mexico and colorado who have joined together on a very important issue. we're going to consider that. the first vote will be tonight. mr. president, we have had in this country a flood of very, very dark money coming into this nation's political system which is threatening to tear apart the fabric of american democracy. during the 2012 presidential campaign outside groups met about $1 billion. that's as much outside spending as took place in the previous ten elections. now, this year, mr. president, -- last year was a presidential election, so the moneys focused on the senate and house races -- they will again break all records. this spike in the amount of money being pumped into the system is not surprising, as alarming as it is. recent decisionses rendered by the supreme court of the united states, citizens united, the mccutcheon case, have destroyed our campaign finance laws, have left the american people with a status quo in which radical billionaires are attempting to buy

the senate, the legislative body heralded by the late robert byrd, senator byrd, as the second great enate in history -- the first being the roman senate -- is being eroded beyond recognition really by the tactics utilized by senator -- senate majority leader reid and those who support him in that process. today is constitution day. 10 years ago today, senator robert byrd moved the legislation to declare today constitution day. and it creates two bodies in the congress, the house and the senate, and the senate's always been known as the body where great debates are held and open ability to amend and -- and discuss the great issues of the day are laid out. that's what we are about. it has changed dramatically since i've been in the senate 18 years ago. it really has. not for the better. not for the better of the american people. might be good for politicians but not good for the american people. not good for the public interest, in my view. this is what is being happening time and again, and once again we're seeing today, at the 11th hour, we're being asked to vote for a spending bill.

finally, that at 1:00 p.m., the senate proceed to h.j. res. 124 as provided under the previous order. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: for the information of all members, at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, the president of ukraine, president poroshenko, will address a joint meeting of the congress from the hall of the house of representatives. here in the capitol. senators should begin to gather in the senate chamber at 9:30 tomorrow morning, depart at 9:40 tore the procession to the hall of the house. the senators should expect a series of roll call votes at approximately 5:30 p.m. tomorrow morning. if there's no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it adjourn under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate is adjourned until 9:30 senate is adjourned until 9:30 before the weekend senators could consider a short-term allocation that includes money for opposition forces for fighting isis. you can find live coverage on c-span2. candidates for there is some governors' seats met last week. the demo

now in the senate. because of priscilla's efforts we've been able to prevent the caps from being implemented. with priscilla's help, the legislation i authored to expand medicare to improve benefits such as colorectal, prostate and osteoscreenings were enacted into law. thanks to her persistence, congress passed the patients' bill of rights which means individuals with private health plans would have the right to choose their primary care provider and women will have direct access to obstetrics services and be able to pick their own providers and that patients with medical emergencies will be guaranteed coverage for necessary emergency room visits in according to the prudent layperson standards. it was priscilla's work that we were able to move forward in these areas. because of the work of priscilla ross, tens of thousands of veterans have access to health care benefits to which they are billed including medicare part-b without being penalized for signing up too late. under current law people who do not

that is part of the issue. >> senator, one of the points i made a couple minutes ago in answering senator inhofe's question was the point about training them as units so they can operate as units. which is as you know, with your military experience is critically important as you build an effect of opposition force. not just a hit and run group of rebels, but in effect it for us, command control. tactics, strategy. so yes that is the fundamental training principle of how we begin. the length of time here depends on a number of things, but we'll probably talk about eight weeks per cycle that might move within a week or two. but that is the intent of how they would treat us. centcom leaders are already focused on that or already structure to do that or are preparing. one of the things the president will get tomorrow as he spends the day with general austin, the centcom planners and commanders in taking them through that entire structure. >> thank you. general dempsey, in your remarks are the secretary's remarks company suggested the median operations would most likely be in iraq simply becau

the senate, thursday or friday. what they're voting on is not the question of whether or not the u.s. should be using our own military force in iraq and syria. instead, what they're voting on is this separate question of whether the ugs should be up arming rebel groups in southeasterly ya. that's supposed to be an easier question, right? i mean, yeah, sure, isis is also a rebel group inside syria. and you don't want to arm and train them when the whole idea is you're supposed to be fielging them. that he means you have to survey the syrian landscape. not the ones that might turn over to isis it should be easy, right. >> >> john kerry claims u.s. has found, a, moderate syrian rebel. secretary of state had successfully located a, moderate syrian rebel. the great andy borowitz is just making fun. >> it's a good reminder that the u.s. can somehow find the good rebels in syria. there's a reason why there's there's a reason why there's been no formal congress to go ahead with that on a large scale. lis kill enough that the

i yield the floor. senator mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. wicker: it is my -- mr. corker: it is my understanding that the majority leader son his way down. i have a unanimous consent that i'd like to offerrage i know that he wants to say a word or two. so i'll make some preliminary comments. when he gets here, out of respect for his time, i'll ask for that unanimous consent. but let me just move on by saying that the president gave a speech a week ago. we have a hearing today in foreign relations. secretary kerry and others to assess our strategy in iraq and syria related to isil. and, mr. president, i just want to say that these obviously are very important decisions. one of the pieces of this strategy instead of the president coming and asking for an authorization for the use of military force, which, in my opinion, is the sound judgment -- that is the use of sound judgment to come and ask us for that support, so the american people are behind his effort by virtue of the house and senate taking that up. instead they are not going to do that

the house and senate back today at 2:00 a.m. eastern. the house on c-span on the senate on c-span2. lcome to "washington journal," we start the first half-hour asking you what your message is for congress for this brief session. for democrats, use (202) 585-3880. republicans, (202) 585-3881. and for independents, (202) 585-3882. on twitter, our twitter handle is @cspanwj,. you can post on facebook. the question is up as we speak. facebook.com/c-span. your e-mails are welcome too,. journal@c-span.org. susan davis' usa today piece, congress back for a brief session. short-term funding bill is the top priority. congress returns for a three-week sprint to the legislative finish that will focus on political messages before the midterm election. if the transfer control of the senate to republicans. john boehner advised lawmakers on a recent conference call to expect a brief but busy session with the key agenda items being the must pass short-term funding bill to keep the government running until early december. the funding runs out september 30 and congress is on track to extend until a po

i yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. begich: thank you very much, madam president. i wasn't planning on speaking on the floor. i will just take a couple of minutes, but i appreciate my colleagues who just spoke and their conversation as well as many others who have spoken on the floor. let me first make it very clear, this conversation i'm going to have right now is not about the c.r. it's going to pass. it's going to move forward. the government will keep operating. this kind of artificial threat that it might be shut down if we don't vote in a certain way in regards to the government is just not factual. the c.r. is going to pass. the house passed it. people don't want to see a problem like they had a year and a half ago. i feel real confident of where we're going with regards to the c.r. but i want to agree that the comment with regards to this issue with what's going on in syria should be a separate issue, should be debated separately. it shouldn't be shoved into a continuing resolution for the purpose of getting all

the exact same work. senate republicans believe it's fair for men to be paid more than women for doing the exact same thing. it's hard to comprehend but that's obviously what they believe. on three separate occasions over the past four years senate republicans filibustered the paycheck fairness act. they prevented a vote on this issue, this issue of basic fairness. but today is a new opportunity for senate republicans to do what is right for american women and families. the paycheck fairness act would help close the wage disparity by empowering women to negotiate for equal pay. shouldn't a woman be able to negotiate for equal pay? this bill would give workers stronger tools to combat wage discrimination and barre tall education against employees for discussing salary information. shouldn't a woman be able to talk about wage disparity without fear of reprisal? one of the first things we passed in the obama administration was the lilly ledbetter legislation, and that's one reason we're doing this today. lilly ledb

we're monitoring the senate floor. n whether to pass a measure to authorize president obama's request to train and equip moderate syrian rebels to fight isis militants. this follows a vote approved in the house by 273-156. there was a lot of crossing of party lines on this vote. as we're about to send more americans into iraq to train and more pilots to fly missions over iraq, congress is leaving until after the election. they won't be back until november 12th. i am joined tonight by a senior fellow at the center for american progress and former assistant secretary of defense. good to have you with us. i'm struck by the limited amount of debate, both in the house and in the senate on this vote, which is going to call for millions of dollars to arm syrian rebels, moderates, whatever you want to call them. this is basically a situation where -- let me ask you, are we doing security on the cheap here? putting arms in the hands of anybody else to do the job? >> well, i think it's an idea that you're right, it needs a lot mo

the senate returns at two eastern today. 5:30 lawmakers will vote on a bill ensuring men and women receive equal pay for the same work. follow the senate to live on our .ompanion network of a series of hearings get under way tomorrow as defense secretary chuck hagel and chiefs of staff martin dempsey will appear before the armed services committee. secretary of state john kerry will be on the hill later this week. coming up in an hour we will bring you remarks from nato supreme commanders from europe. current operations, including in ukraine. that will be live at 11 eastern, you will be able to see it here on c-span. documentary filmmaker ken burns speaks to the national press club about his latest project. that is at 12:30 eastern, see it live on our companion network. to announce ited is launch week for the 11th annual student cam documentary contest. in cash prices will be awarded to middle school and high school winners. is the threeeme branches and you. we want you to tell a story about how a policy, law, or action from

will regain control of the united states senate. one race that will help determine that is being fought in kansas, a reliably republican state where the state's longtime republican senator and its republican governor are both, perhaps unexpectedly, in trouble. why? newshour special correspondent jeff greenfield traveled there recently and has our report. >> reporter: this is what you'll see just about any autumn in kansas: fields of corn that await the harvest, the search for food at a farmer's market or at oklahoma joe's always crowed barbecue. and this is what you'll hear: the roar of the crowds and the motorcycles at a kansas state football game. but for all that is familiar in this place, in this season, there is one thing happening here that is almost totally unprecedented, something so surprising, almost shocking, that it has republicans from maine to hawaii asking, "what's the matter with kansas?" in what is surely the biggest surprise of the 2014 midterms, both republican senator pat roberts and republican governor sam brownb

the senior senator from the great state of missouri, senator claire mccaskill, has come out in supportf that kind of a federal law regarding police use of body cameras. in the wake of michael brown's shooting death in ferguson, senator mccaskill said no local police department should receive any federal funds unless their officers are required to wear body cams. at the height of the tensions in ferguson, with those daily protests, those daily confrontations, when the local police response to the public outcry about michael brown's death sometimes looked more like a poorly planned military invasion than any sort of precision policing. senator mccaskill went to ferguson, she showed up and talked to people on the ground there. she said she was there because as a senator from missouri, she works for those protesters. they are her boss. she said she was there to make sure they had the space and safety and respect that they deserved as law-abiding citizens to make their voices heard and protest peacefully in the streets. during the visit to ferguson, senator mccaskill also said the militariz

will republicans win back the senate? the current alignment is 55 senators voting with the democrats and 45 republicans. with vice president biden as a possible tiebreaker, that means republicans need a net pickup of six seats to control the senate for the first time since 2006. joining us now, bill mcinturff who is polling for republicans in five senate races and mark mellman polling for democrats in six senate races. there are, we'll get straight to it, three open democratic seats in red states. montana, south dakota, and west virginia. currently held by democrats, but the incumbents aren't seeking re-election. generally considered safe republican pickups. any doubt about those going republican? >> short answer, no. west virginia, republicans. 17 points ahead. the democratic candidate dropped out in montana, and south dark, we have a governor running. >> if they pick up those three, then they have to pick up three more. there are six more democratic states, many of them -- democratic seats, many of them in red states tha

house and the senate. een a lot of secretaries and go,ulture come they've all been good. that's all right. but i have to tell you that the one we have now has taken the department of agriculture and notched it up higher than any for ours ever done, farmers, consumers, and the kids in school who are eating better meals because of tom vill sack. [applause] i want to thank joy for being my -- i want to thank joy, my interpreter for over 20 years. thank you, joy. [applause] she used to do a lot of interpreting for my brother, frank, for so many years. i want to thank the ground crews, who spent yesterday and so many others setting up. they have done it every year for years. don ruby, john kaiser, and don rice whack. thank you, thank you, thank you. [applause] i was down there yesterday and they were hammering, drilling, getting all of this stuff done and jerry said to me, sweat dripping down his face -- drilling, putting names and -- putting males and things, he doing this again. i told him neither am i. [laugh

the party boss. [laughter] [applause] senator pat roberts is concluding his third term in the united states senate. yes served in the house of representatives from 1981 to 1997, serving as chairman of the house agriculture committee, and chairman of the senate intelligence committee. he is the senior member of the senate agriculture committee. senator roberts, your opening statement. >> thank you. [applause] [cheers] >> thank you. wibw for for sponsoring this debate. cats! dole endorsed me for reelection, he said when the world is on fire, and chaos and scandal at home, we must have proven and experienced leadership to safeguard national security, and get our economy on a soundtrack. there is only one candidate here today that has that experienced leadership. i have a proven record. i have a proven record, and is a senior member of the senate and in finance committee, i look forward to what we get a couple is together under a new republican majority. [applause] , we must, we must stop the obama agenda. we have to break harry reid stranglehold on the senate. passed, the house is passed over 350 bills

and passed the torch to senator bruce braley. [applause] since we are going to be here in iowa, i would like to have a governor that represents me in the same progressive way as governor phil sack. that's why we have to elect jack hatch is our next governor. [applause] folks, since ruth and i live in wharton county, in the third district, in this district i want to be represented on the first iowa woman to ever serve the u.s. congress, staci appel. stacy, right here. we are in her district. [applause] jim, for his past service to our nation in a rack, thank you for your future service in getting steve king out of congress and getting you in there. where is he? right there. [applause] i can't speak too highly of our candidate in the first district. pat murphy was an outstanding speaker of the house and with our help you will replace bruce braley. right here, from dubuque. [applause] , i haveecond district never seen anyone work as hard as dave. he is out there constantly, all the time. i know he is going to get reelected. join me i

the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, proposes an amendment numbered 3800. mr. reid: i ask for the yeas and nays on that amendment. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the yeas and nays are ordered. mr. reid: i have a second-degree amendment at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, proposes an amendment numbered 3801 to amendment numbered 3800. mr. reid: i have a motion to commit s. 2199 with instructions. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, moves to commit the bill to the committee on health, education and labor and pensions with instructions being amendment numbered 3805. mr. reid: i ask for the yeas and nays on that motion. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the yeas and nays are ordered. mr. reid: i have an amendment to the instructions. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator fro

are republicans a lock to retake the senate? "this week" with george stephanopoulos begins right now. >>> the latest in the battle with isis. the significant expansion of the campaign inside iraq. martha raddatz is here with all the latest. good morning. >> good morning, george. the president's speech will lay out a strategy to destroy isis, far beyond what he's proposed in the past. a complicated, long-term and urgent mission that could likely mean air strikes in syria. day after day, the brutality of isis stuns the world. this week, images of the horrific execution of a second american reporter. over the weekend, mass grave discovered. 15 bodies, each shot in the head, and vows from the terrorist group that america should be on guard. >> americans should be very concerned. this in many respects represents the most significant threat that the country has seen since september 11th. >> reporter: a threat by a jihadist group that the president says cannot be contained, it must be destroyed. >> we're going degrade and ultimately def

youn the senate itself, have almost a majority of the democrats in the senate got elected in 2006 and 2008, almost all of them on campaigns that were against the iraq war, and now they find themselves stuck in this position ow, wow, -- of, wow, this is a democratic president, and i want to be supportive of him. it is a core principle issue for a lot of those folks. >> interesting times. thank you for being with us this week. appreciate your questions. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] >> coming up on the next "washington journal," ken burns discussor geoffery ward the new pbs documentary, "the roosevelts." the public and private lives of theater franklin and eleanor franklin -- theodore and eleanor roosevelt. the center for strategic and budgetary assessments. as always, we will take your calls. you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. "washington journal" is live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. the senate against this week tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. eastern. items on the agenda include a vote