and the very very ugly senator john thune in the wake of the trayvon martin tragedy senator thune and his republican colleagues are trying to turn america into the wild wild west along with twenty eight other republican senators thune introduced a bill yesterday that would allow people authorized to carry a concealed weapon in their home state to carry it all other concealed carry states it would basically eliminate the state's control over who carry a firearm in that state and think that the martin tragedy would be a reason to prevent further gun violence in america instead senator thune is trying to fill our streets with more guns and that it's very very. the city of sanford florida is on edge tonight as george zimmerman is still free after shooting seventeen year old trayvon martin to death last month while mark was walking home from a seven eleven armed with skittles and iced tea the justice department's civil rights division is sending a community relations envoy to sanford to prevent riots and social unrest and the sanford city commissioners passed a no confidence vote against t

thune -- -- mr. thune: the combination of those things is going to cost jobs.i yield back our time. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. harkin: madam president, houfpl time? i have eight airex for committees to -- i have eight unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. i ask unanimous consent these requests be agreed to and be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. harkin: i'd like to be notified when i have one minute left. the presiding officer: okay. mr. harkin: two years ago president obama signed into law what i believe will be remembered as the most forward-thinking and humane -- humane -- reform of our health care system since medicare. just like the republicans opposed medicare when it came in, and they still want to get rid of it -- if you look at the ryan budget that came out, what do they want to do? privatize medicare. they have been at it ever since. and now they don't want this humane reform that we passed two years ago. when the affordable care act became law

thune: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to enter into a colloquy with my colleague from senator -- my colleague from kansas, senator moran. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, do i appreciate the opportunity to join with my colleague, senator moran from kansas, to speak in support of the bill before us, h.r. 3606, the jump-start or business start-ups or jobs act. the jobs act is a bipartisan bill. it passed the house of representatives by a vote of 390-23. it has been endorsed by the white house. small businesses are the engines of our economy, but government red tape is currently preventing these businesses from creating even more jobs. this commonsense bill would enable small businesses in south dakota and across the country to better access much-needed capital so that they can make investments and add additional employees. there's no reason why it should not receive similar support here in the united states senate. creating jobs, mr. president, should be

gregg: right. >> john thune was not there all day.tly don't know what his conflict was but he was not there all day. gregg: yeah. energy secretary steven chu, told "the wall street journal" and i'll quote, this was several years ago, 2009. they we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasolines to levels in europe which at the time was eight or nine dollars. do you think the president and secretary chu truly want the price to go up? >> yes. i think their energy policy from the beginning has been to get the price of gasoline up so that other alternative fuels can be more competitive. and i think that had a very unfortunately, effective policy at pushing that. the president doesn't want to admit that on the eve of a big election but secretary chu laid it out very clearly and he hasn't hidden from it and said it directly as you just quoted. gregg: yeah. the president has also said he has not been given enough time, his administration to study the environmental impact. do you disagree? >> yes. 3 1/2 years is a long time. i know in

thune -- tomorrow will likely talk or break a record -- to more likely tie or break a record in germantown, 61 degrees. in terms of our hourly forecast, by less time, low 70's and enjoy your lunch outdoors. total sunshine and comfortable 79 the high temperature today and we will be back with doug hill coming up. >> from japan this morning, they have been hit by another earthquake. it was a magnitude 6.8 earthquake. >> the epicenter is reported to be about 146 miles south on the japanese northern ireland. it was heavily damaged by last year's earthquake and sonometer. the pacific tsunami morning center in hawaii said there is no threat there or cross the pacific. there is no word on any damage or injury reports but there are no reported troubles at the nuclear facility northeast japan. they reported that there has been a minor tsunami about 4 inches of water reported. the u.s. navy has ships and other carriers in that area but we have no word yet from them on any damage. we will bring you details later on. >> a deadly end today manhunt for a suspect. police in montgomery county found that b

. >> rush limbaugh says his apology to george thune law student -- a georgetown law student is sincere jummy olabanji has the latest. >> good morning the list of advertisers keeps increasing, the ones dropping from the rush limbaugh show. it is up to nine this morning and one radio station says it is dropping the show altogether. >> she is a full-fledged feminist activist. >> on a share yesterday, he continued to criticize georgetown student sandra fluke, but he said the names he just a caller last with four out of line. >> i sincerely apologize. >> appearing on " the view," she downplayed his apologies. >> his comments about may have been personal enough so i don't want a personal phone call from him. >> there's a growing list of advertisers dropping the rush limbaugh show. >> people can say anything but what about women like rappers and they call it art. >> some are coming to his defense. patricia heaton was forced to shut down her twitter account. students are reacting to the latest twist in this national story. >> i don't think his apology is sincere and i think he did it to protec

with me now is john thune. he is on the budget committee.reid there. >> harry reid and the senate democrats now for the 1,050th day have not produced a budget in the senate. it's one thing to go out and attack the houfs representatives. we have not done a budget for three years in the united states senate. the house will do their budget next week, they will mark it up in the budget committee the following week, they will have it on the floor and that will set the stage for what should be a budget discussion between the house and the senate, which is supposed to conclude by the middle of april. but as of right now there is no scheduled mark up in the senate budget committee, and i'm a member of that committee. there is no intention even if we were to mark up a bill for senator reid to bring that budget to the floor. it looks like the united states senate for the third year in a row will go out a budget and a plan for how to spend all this money. bill: a thousand 50 days, how do we explain that to the american people. >> i think, bill here is

thune: it certainly is. i think as you mentioned, the huge majority of businesses across this country and especially small businesses like those that you and i represent in wyoming and south dakota are enormously concerned about what this is going to do to their ability to create jobs, to maintain coverage for their employees, and there are just so many huge impacts from this. much of which frankly we predicted but again the idea, the notion that somehow imposing over half a trillion dollars in new taxes on businesses in this country, on health insurance plans was somehow going to lead to lower costs for people to get coverage in this country is beyond me. i don't know how, i'm at a loss to explain how anybody could make the argument this was going to create jobs. as i said, former speaker pelosi predicted four million new jobs. the congressional budget office had said it would cost us 800,000 jobs, i suspect that's a conservative estimate based upon what i hear from employers in my state and elsewhere aroun

but my sleeper and i mean slab sleeper is john thune. >> ramona africa to make up for the anti-womene have to go guys joe maybe you can change too? you're a dreamer annie. the streets are all i know. i'll never get out of here. streets! [ female announcer ] new starburst flavor morph. changes flavors as you chew. [ male announcer ] this is lawn ranger -- eden prairie, minnesota. in here, the landscaping business grows with snow. to keep big winter jobs on track at&t provided a mobile solution that lets everyone from field workers to accounting, initiate, bill and track work in real time. you can't live under a dome in minnesota that's why there's guys like me. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ ♪ >>this is outrageous! [[vo]]cenk uygur calls out the mainstream media. >>the rest of the media seems like, "ho-hum, no big deal." we've have no choice, we've lost our democracy here. just refreshing to hear. no other television show does that. we're keeping it real. >> music, this is a long businesslegacy of family ax the jackso

but my sleeper and i mean slab sleeper is john thune. >> ramona africa to make up for the anti-womenjoe garafolio, and kamal bell. we will be right back! >> music this is a long businesslegacy of family ax the jackson 5, poynter sisters. well, this week, you can add a family of rick santorum support supporters to that list. here to review their hot new sing is brett ehrlich so s ishhh! brett is talking now. >> i was hanging out with this family of arian-looking teenagers and said, i bet you can't make a painfully awkward video of santorum. >> game on. join the fight. we gotfinally, got a man who will stand for what is right. game on. >> anyone else here "georgia mom?"mom -- gay mom. >> so much i love with i want to dig my brain out with my chop sticks through my nose winner ♪ vict ♪ victory is in sight ♪ >> no, it's not. >> you have a man who understands god gave a bill of rights. >> it was actually god who wrote the bill of rights in unicorn blood on a vacation to philadelphia to see the the liberty bell ♪ lower taxes, raise morale ♪ >> the father of lies has his sights on what you

senator john thune of south dakota telling "the new york times," there are lots of other issues right now that could be dealt with other than this one. really? what about the reservations on south dakota territory there, senator? one republican fighting the right wingers on this one is senator lisa murkowski, she voted for the blunt amendment, went back to alaska and got absolutely all kinds of hell from female voters. she had this quote, "i have never had a vote i had taken that let down more people that believed in me." now murkowski is reading members the riot act. the new york times reports murkowski sternly warned her colleagues the party was at risk of being successfully painted as anti-women at a closed-door meeting. i'm joined tonight by stephanie schriock, she is the president of emily's list. stephanie, great to have you with us tonight. >> thank you for having me. >> you bet. >> is murkowski's warning to the republicans too little too late? can they turn this around? they are really starpt starting to have an image problem. >> here they go on this next piece of preventing t

thune: i would just echo what the senator from arizona has said about the class act. he was down here as was i and i think many of us when we were debating this to say this is a program that is destined to be bankrupt. in fact, if you look at what even the independent medicare actuary was saying, that was described, the class act was, as unworkable, and they said it would collapse in short order within the health and human services department, there was a nonpartisan career staff who privately called the class program -- quote -- a recipe for disaster, end quote. there was plenty of advance warning that this thing wasn't going to work. as the senator from arizona correctly pointed out, it was used as a gimmick to make the overall cost of this thing look less and therefore bring it into balance. we now know, of course, that the class act couldn't work. they have had to acknowledge that and the amendment that was put on by the senator from new hampshire, senator gregg, that forced them to certify and made that abundantly clear. but to the senator from mississippi's poin

senator john thune is here. you are the mystery guest, i might add who i share the green bay packers. >> also a big joe thiesman fan and green bay packer owner. >> we are all packer owners tonight. is the senate going to pass a budget? >> it doesn't look like it. as you said, the house -- they -- they submitted their budget this week. they voted on it, the budget committee cast out tonight, it will be on the floor next week. under the budget law, the senate budget committee is supposed to by april 1 produce a budget and the house and the senate are supposed to have acted by april 15 on a concurrent resolution. i don't see any -- i just don't think there is any chance that the senate will pass a budget this year. >> i just don't understand that. as i understand the way it works is that -- senator harry reid is the stopping party. the president submitted his proposed budget. the house has its budget. or it goes through the committee and the senate doesn't have any budget and if one showed up, it won't be voted on,

he describes senator ted kennedy as a walrus and senator john thune as a movie star.rried about war, health care and the economy, senator specter is -- well, he's peeking. there have you it, the best of the rest. a g.o.p. candidate says he's considering the late-night comedian as a runningmate. comedian as a runningmate. why would he choose i have two products in front of you. we are going to start with product x. this is a very affordable product that will help save you a, lot of money. i like it.. i like it too. this is product y. this is a much more expensive product. you will not see a lot of savings with this one... harsh. you chose geico and you did not choose their competitor. was this your first car insurance taste test? chocolate lemonade ? susie's lemonade... the movie. or... we make it pink ! with these 4g lte tablets, you can do business at lightning-fast spes. we'll take all the strawberries, dave. you got it, kid. we have a winner. we're definitely gonna need another one. small sinesses that want to grow use 4g lte technology from verizon. i wonder how s

senator thewn -- senator john thune is here. >> a green bay packer owner. >> greta: we're all packer owners tone. is the senate going to pass a budget? >> it doesn't look like it. as you said, the house -- they submitted their budget this week. they voted it. it will be on the floor next week. under the budget law, the senate budget committee, should produce a budget as well by april 1 and the house is supposed to back it by april 15. i don't see any -- i don't think there is going to be any chance that the senate will pass a budget this year. >> greta: i don't understand that. as i understand the way it works is that, senator harry reed is stopping it. the president submitted his. the house has his, tell go through the committee. and the senate doesn't have any budget and if one did show up, it won't be voted on. right? >> i think that's right. the budget committee has talked about it, the chairman's talked about the budget. although that's gone back and forth. but the message is coming down from the leadership from, senator reid is that you can do a budget, the budget committee, bu

he describes senator ted kennedy as a walrus and senator john thune as a movie star.d about war, health care and the economy, senator specter is -- well, he's peeking. there have you it, the best of the rest. a g.o.p. candidate says he's considering the late-night comedian as a runningmate. why would he choose letterman in that's next. well, if we don't find an audience, all we'll ever do is rehearse. maybe you should try every door direct mail. just select the zip codes where you want your message to be seen, print it yourself, or we'll help you find a local partner and you find the customers that matter most. brilliant. clifton, show us overjoyed. no, too much. jennessa. ah! a round of applause. [ applause ] [ male announcer ] go online to reacevery home, every address, every time with every door direct mail. a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually se arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your

speculation, rubio, ryan, john thune, chris christie of new jersey, bob mcdonnell of new jersey and timvorite is portman, he puts critical ohio in the bank. the downside, like romney, evangelicals aren't big portman fans. romney ran with a woman when he was elected governor of massachusetts. add ceo meg whitman to the list losing her race for governor won't help. the wildcard could be condoleezza rice. top romney advisors suggest this. they say his search would be more disciplined. governor romney went through the vigorous vetting process four years ago. those close to him say he won't put others through that just for show. joining us obama pollst. should i add you to the liss snt. >> no. when your professional athletes say it's not about the money, that's, what, paul ryan and rubio are saying. it really isn't about the money with me. you couldn't melt me and pour me in that job. i think your assessment with portman, john kasich used to be a member. he's been in the governor's chair for two years and probably would be too quick and look like an tunist. i think portman is a good start an

it is something, i remember when this campaign got started there were candidates john thune thinking about run hoog the big knock on them was well, they voted for t.a.r.p. they can never win in a presidential primary. you know, to the point about this being a minor thing that the romney campaign is trying to paint it as. it's not going to change the fact that mitt romney will almost certainly be the republican presidential nominee but it's also not going to go away, andrea. one of my deputies was calculating the democratic national committee sent 18 separate e-mails yesterday, 18 separate e-mails about etch-a-sketch. i just can't imagine them -- it's not going to be as prominent -- you know, in six mlts as today but they are not going to give up on it because they think it goes to the core or lack of a core. even if he wins the primary he's not done on the etch-a-sketch comments. >> it isn't the last we'll see of etch-a-sketch. blowing up your blackberry. see you later. coming up next, the killing of trayvon martin. civil rights leader john lewis, and up next also women's health care

thune: i would just echo what the senator from arizona has said about the class act. he was down here as was i and i think many of us when we were debating this to say this is a program that is destined to be bankrupt. in fact, if you look at what even the independent medicare actuary was saying, that was described, the class act was, as unworkable, and they said it would collapse in short order within the health and human services department, there was a nonpartisan career staff who privately called the class program -- quote -- a recipe for disaster, end quote. there was plenty of advance warning that this thing wasn't going to work. as the senator from arizona correctly pointed out, it was used as a gimmick to make the overall cost of this thing look less and therefore bring it into balance. we now know, of course, that the class act couldn't work. they have had to acknowledge that and the amendment that was put on by the senator from new hampshire, senator gregg, that forced them to certify and made that abundantly clear. but to the senator from mississippi's poin

a bipartisan legislation which i cosponsored with senators baucus and thune primarily, gives the commerce department authority to impose what are called counterveiling duties on imports from countries that are nonmarket economies. that means countries more sort of command and control economies like the people's republic of china. federal appeals court last year viewed shiewd a ruling that hamstrings our nation's ability to fight back against illegal trade practices. here's why congress passed this bill. we know china doesn't play by the rules from direct export subsidies to currency manipulation, china does things that our country doesn't and many other countries don't. it gives its exporters an unfair advantage. american industries fight back by physicianing the commerce department to investigate these subsidies. 16 ohio companies have petitioned for this relief including steel pipe companies in youngstown, paper companies, this part of the state, paper companies in miamis burring, this part of ohio, this part of the state, tire manufacturers in bryant, near the indiana and michigan bord

secretary, senators bitter, holden, lugar, crapo and thune have introduced legislation that would prevent the person from deploying any oil from the strategic oil preserve until he approves the keystone xl pipeline permit. do you believe, mr. secretary, that the authority of the president should depend on the permitting of the keystone pipeline even if iran cuts off the strait of hormuz and blocks 20% of the world oil supply? >> no, i don't. >> do you believe that it makes any sense to say to our young men and women that we export over into the middle east to protect this supply of oil that we are not going to use the weapon we have here in the united states, the strategic petroleum reserve, in order to keep the price of oil low and not allow iran to threaten us unnecessarily? >> well, as you noted, the administration has said repeatedly that the strategic petroleum reserve is on the table, but it's a very complex issue. >> right. but that would -- it would be a bad idea, would it not, to strip the president of his authority to use it unless he approved the keystone pipeline? >> i agree.

to give a shou-- andi particularly wnts t- and i particularly wnts to give a shout out to senator thune. i also thank t want to thank ser vitter for his assistance. on the other key committees, senator tim johnson, chairman of the banking committee, senator richard shelby, the ranking member of the banking committee, they couldn't have been nicer. i called their staffs very often to make sure that they were moving forward, and they did move forward. and, by the way, just as the e.p.w. committee was able to vote out a bill unanimously, everybody supporting it, so did the banking committee. and i'm very grateful to them. senator rockefeller and senator hutchison, chair and rank member of commerce, i thank them from the bottom of my heart. they had some difficult bumps in the road. when the bill came out of committee, there was controver controversy. working with senator cantwell, we figured out a way to get a vote on something she cared a lot about. we were able to smooth out that bump in the road of the and frankly they came together like two true champions and were able to get over the

including in addition to the crowdfunding piece that i alluded to earlier and a bill introduced by senator thune and others that is also part of this package. one of the pieces in this jobs package that's very constructive is a bill that i introduced with senator tester. this is a bill that takes the existing regulation a and in the securities law, the body of law, regulation a allows companies to issue a security in a streamlined regulatory fashion. it streamlines the process, reduces costs somewhat and the problem is the current limit is only $5 million making it not very practical for the vast majority of companies. our bill would take that limit to $50 million and make this an option to raise capital and grow a business that would be available to far more companies. the second piece that i introduced with senator carper and for which i'm very grateful to senator carper for his work is to lift the permissible number of shareholders that a small, privately held business can have without triggering the full very expensive and onerous s.e.c. compliance regime. our bill would take that from a cur

strong and what we've seen a think on the other side of the capitalist senator mcconnell and senator thune may have been terrific in making a public statement centaurs supporting this bill and i hope me to read on the other side cannot quit dispatch and follow the president's request to get the president does so for signing as quickly as possible. it will get this growth going again ago through three business. interview with kevin mccarthy >> thank you very much. today was a very bipartisan day, where you watch three process. open to set committee, debate on all sides, but the most important thing is what it focuses on, small business. history of america's great event all business, job creation is through small business. but the business challenge we have is where we're at an all-time low in the last 17 years and the greatest obstacle for small business, red tape in the entrance to market. this does josaphat three. bipartisan deals with the president coming with the statements of work. talking about ideas than this bill. unfortunately, it still has to pass that hurdle of the senate. amid t

inhofe: we don't have senator thune here, who was doing a great job in the finance committee. unfortunately his mother died and he's not here. and we would be able to sit down and solve this problem and not delay this bill. right now it's set up so we can have a highway bill. this could kill it. and i hope that you folks will talk to your people at home. you can't do it before this bill but afterwards you might -- i might suggest you do that. mr. corker: mr. president? the presiding officer: yeas and nays. the question has been put. is there a second? sufficient second? the question's on the motion. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators wishing to vote in the affirmative or change their vote? if not, on this vote, the yeas are 66, the nays are 31. three-fifths of the senators duly chosen and sworn having voted in the affirmative, the motion is agreed to and the point of order fails. the senator from massachusetts. a senator: on roll call vote number 33, the wyden amendment, i mistakenly voted aye and meant to vote no. it will n

. >> senator thune. >> i also want to recognize the colonel who commanded one of the finest bases in the country. mr. secretary, you touched on this once already, but i want to put a fine point on it. you recommend in a budget that congress enact two more brac rounds. it seems like a lot of the excess capacity among domestic bases could be filled with those overseas bases, particularly in europe, bringing troops home from bases in the continental u.s., particularly given the fact that it seems we have had a military presence in europe for a long time, obviously. it seems to make good sense to get some of these folks home. if you could just elaborate on why you have not recommended closing overseas bases in this budget, especially in parts of the world where it is no longer necessary to have that kind of military footprint. >> we have had recommendations with regard to reducing military infrastructure abroad. as i pointed out, we have closed about 140 bases abroad. we are going to close additional bases, particularly as a result of reducing the number of brigades in europe from four d

when senator baucus and senator thune and others worked across party lines to pay for our bill. it's 100% paid for. and guess what it does. it protects 1.9 million jobs and creates another million. that's what our bill does. so they're pulling this vote. they're pulling this vote today. good. i'm glad they're pulling this vote because they ought to instead pass the bipartisan senate transportation bill. i want to tell you a story about what's actually happening out there in the economy. if we do nothing, 1.9 million jobs are gone. 1.9 million jobs. on march 31. if we do an extension, then you have death by a thousand cuts. a proportion of these jobs are lost, and it keeps getting worse with every extension. so it's the end of these jobs but slow, torturous end of these jobs. i want to show you, madam president, how many unemployed construction workers there are. 1.4 million. why is that, when the unemployment rate is 8.3%, the unemployment rate among construction workers is 17.1%? why that? because we were having a very tough housing crisis and we're not out of it yet. so all of

to senator baucus, and he worked hand in glove with republicans, particularly senators like senator thune, to come up with a pay-for. well, here we have an extension with no revenues in it, madam president. so naturally your state is very worried, and out of our states. and i'm going to quickly go through the -- what we know so far. we know that illinois is having big trouble because their contract letting cannot go forward in 12 particular jobs, and that's going to result in a scale-back of 4,500 jobs. right now. they're scaling back right now. as senator durbin said, at a time when we need jobs. north carolina, 41,000 jobs that cannot be filled. nevada, 4,000 jobs. maryland, 4,000. michigan, 3,500. and i see the great senator from rhode island here. we got word from your director, mike lewis from the rhode island department of transportation, that there are job delays. it looks like 1,000 jobs won't be filled. west virginia, 1,200 jobs. we are -- we're in trouble. and you know what? it's like taking a hammer and hitting your head. why do you do it? you don't have to. they don't have to

thune: i would just echo what the senator from arizona has said about the class act. he was down here as was i and i think many of us when we were debating this to say this is a program that is destined to be bankrupt. in fact, if you look at what even the independent medicare actuary was saying, that was described, the class act was, as unworkable, and they said it would collapse in short order within the health and human services department, there was a nonpartisan career staff who privately called the class program -- quote -- a recipe for disaster, end quote. there was plenty of advance warning that this thing wasn't going to work. as the senator from arizona correctly pointed out, it was used as a gimmick to make the overall cost of this thing look less and therefore bring it into balance. we now know, of course, that the class act couldn't work. they have had to acknowledge that and the amendment that was put on by the senator from new hampshire, senator gregg, that forced them to certify and made that abundantly clear. but to the senator from mississippi's poin