thune: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: madam president, i want to thank my colleague from oregon, senator wyden, for his continued leadership on this issue and i do want to mention, because he did in his first remarks, echo what he said about our departing colleague, senator rockefeller. i have had the opportunity to serve as his ranking republican on the senate commerce committe and have really enjoyed serving with him during his chairmanship and learned a lot. he's someone who has great experience here, 36 years in the senate. i've been here now for 10. so i have a lot to learn from people like senator rockefeller. and we did some good things together. we just recently here got through the senate a cybersecurity bill that the commerce committee had passed earlier this year. satellite television reauthorization this year, which ended up being -- it's always somewhat controversial to move that legislation but we were successful in getting that ultimately enacted this year. we moved an s.t.b. reauthorization bill, s

senator thune. >> thank you senator mccaskill for cheering this hearing. bella dinh-zarr to be a member of the nationals treasure jason safety board and carlos monje. i appreciate the willingness of these nominees to serve the nation in these important roles. as i stated in our hearing last month regarding faulty airbags a string of recalls this year has been cause for great concern. learn pace to have all time worst year auto recalls in u.s. history with roughly 56 million vehicles subject to recall so far. and many of these cases there are legitimate questions about whether nasa should've identified. that's why dr. rose kind will face challenges that nhtsa should he be confirmed. since the start of the year i called on president obama to nominate a qualified individual to lead without delay because it sends a terrible signal to the regulating minty and american people about safety or sacred in march of this year the nation began to fully realize the severity of the problems. i wrote a letter to the president. i never received a response. september is in

thune: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. thune on thamr. thune: i ask thm call be dispensed with. officer sphr without objection. -- the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: the people are ready for change in washington. senate republicans are, too. in fact, i think even some senate democrats are ready for change in wawrchl washington. when republicans take the majority in january, things are going to look very different here in the senate. it the mark an end to the dysfunction that has characteristickized the senate under the democratic leader's regime. under republican learnings the senat-- under republican leader, the senate will return to regular order. bills will be drafted in committee with ink put from members of both -- with input from members of both parties before the bills are fully debated on the senate floor. and members of both parties will be able to offer amendments in strong contrast to the democratic senate where the minority party has been almost entirely preventorred from getting votes. the senate functions b

thune: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: madam president, i rise today to recognize the end of an era in my office here in washington, d.c. because at the end of the year, sum armersinger will leave my office. had she comes from a small town called owe hnida, about an hour and a half away from where i grew up, our towns are similar in signs, have similar backgrounds in which we were raised and growing up in owe hnida -- oneida, south dakota, she took those experiences and has used them now for the past 15 years in my office but before she got to my office she went to the university of minnesota and got her degree there and in 1999 came out here, worked as an intern and then shortly after that became full-time employee in my house office at the time. and for the past 15 years through thick and thin through the ups and downs, the good days and the bad days, summer has been the rock in our

senator thune in commerce has made that clear. we know that we have to address the ballast issues. we will do that and i'm looking forward to being engaged in that in the 114th congress. for now, i think it's critically important that consensus has been reached, and i acknowledge the good work of both the senator from louisiana and the senator from california and senator thune for getting us to this point where we can take the pressure off of our small commercial operators and ensure that they can do what they do so very, very well. i'm going to look forward to the next congress where we're making this permanent and, again, where we're dealing with so many of the other issues. but i thank my colleagues today. mrs. boxer: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. boxer: madam president, you i jusijust want to make suri thank senator murkowski and senator begich. when i started this, senator begich was my first cosponsor. senator murkowski made this bipartisan, and i think the important thing is that we could have done it permanently. and i jus don' i

senator thune. r. vinson, as we discussed last friday former federal judge who heard ray rice's appeal of his suspension ruled that mr. rice had not misled n.f.l. commissioner about his confrontation with his fiance and in her 17-page opinion the judge discusses the prediscipline meeting between ray rice and roger stating that at the time of the june 16 meeting the n.f.l. also knew that there was a camera inside the elevator and thought it was likely that there was a video from the camera. various sources including n.f.l. security had reported the existence of such a video. rice had received this video in discovery during his criminal case but the n.f.l. never asked rice for the second video. that's from the judge. so the question is how did the commissioner not know that there was a second video inside the elevator at the time of the june 16 meeting with mr. rice? >> senator i would like to begin with judge jones' decision and her opinion letter. i thought it made it very clear the commissioner first

chairman senator thune and members of the committee.ppreciate your inviting us to this hearing today. my written testimony has been submitted to the committee so i will certainly try to be brief in the interest of time. we share your view however that a hearing like this is certainly helpful and expect it will generate not only thoughts but action and that can certainly help all of us at this table. and the nba executive vice president for social responsible in player programs and oversee all of our community programs and partnerships as well as all of our educational efforts with our players peter commissioner adam silberberg gretzky is not able to be here today but he had a long-standing commitment to lead the group of nba owners and executives on a trip to india this week. like the many and like others have spoken we have taken a fresh look at all of our programs policies and educational efforts over the course of the last few months and we have determined to her work especially in partnership with the players association that there

. >> john thune. >> that is intriguing possibility. bush talked about the family thing.very politician has to figure out whether the sacrifices too much for the family. in his case the family thing has been huge. both of our books, we wrote that these family dynamics matter a lot. the bush weigh in. does he have enough fire in his belly to drag his family out into the public arena? >> this cnn poll that came out today for 2016, romney at 20% no one else in double digits. a bunch of guys piled up below 10%. interesting thing for me, romney at 20%, that is not powerful. if romney gets to 32%, which i think he could, watch out. then the force to get him and will be powerful. >> you think there is no chance that ryan ends up. having taken the ways and means chairmanship? >> unless it romney does not run, jeb does not run, someone has to run against kristi. >> that would be interesting. bloomberg politics has been reporting on who will succeed chuck hagel a secretary of defense. we're not sure which ashton it will be but we will let you know as soon as we do. let's assume it

thune: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: madam president, a bloomberg headline monday noted, and i quote, half the senators who voted for obamacare will be gone in 2015, end quote. obamacare, it seems, has not been kind to the party who jammed it through congress. in fact, a third ranking democrat here in the senate admitted as much two weeks ago when he told an audience the democrats made a mistake after the 2008 election by putting all their focus on passing the health care law. unfortunately, he said, and i quote -- "democrats blew the opportunity the american people gave them. we took their mandate, we put all of our focus on the wrong problem, health care reform." end quote. as a result, my colleague said, and i quote again -- "the average middle-class person thought the democrats aren't paying enough attention to me." end quote. madam president, democrats weren't paying enough attention to middle-class families. the american people didn't support the health care law

it is my expectation -- i was hoping senator thune would be able to go. as it turns out, he's got to go back to south dakota. i will be there at the cape and will report on the launch later on to the senate next week, but this -- it will all be done in one day, and it will splashdown in the pacific, somewhere in the region of the state of the presiding senator, and they are actually going to have coverage, television coverage of the splashdown because we have a predator that will be out over the atlantic, and that's why you have got to have the weather there as well as the weather at the cape to be exactly right so that we can record the splashdown because this is a flight test. we are developing a new spacecraft to take humans onto missions far beyond low earth orbit. so, madam president, a lot of people think that the human space program was shut down after the space shuttle. no. we are just going into the new design of new spacecraft that can take us on a mission way out of the earth's orbit as we explore the heavens. i will give a report to the senate

i yield back. >> senator thune. >> thank you, madam chair. it sounds like that is where most of the questions have gone. following the record number of recalls and the growing concern. the public seems to be losing confidence. i think it is fair to say 2014 has not been a good year. so i guess the question is a general one. what specific steps do you plan to take to restore the public trust? >> thank you for the question. they are not written down. at the ntsb there are three things i would i would almost call principles and practices of the agency. that gives you a sense of my perspective and viewpoint. i will take the same critical eye used in the investigations, using independence, transparency, and accuracy and apply those. when you think about having a a critical eye, mine would probably be the most critical to look at every single area where things could change and the not hesitate to make those changes. i i believe that we need to drive safety forward. we have to acknowledge its successes. the lowest fatality since 1950. seatbelt seatb

chairman and senator thune and member of the committee. appreciate your inviting us to this hearing today. my written testimony has been submitted to the committee, so i will certainly try to be brief in the interests of time. we share your view, however, that a hearing like this is certainly helpful and expect that it will generate not only thought but action and that can certainly help all of us at this table. i am the nba's executive vice president for social responsibility and player programs and as such i oversee all of our community programs and partnerships as well as all of our educational efforts with our players. our commissioner adam silver regrets that he is not able to be here today but he had a longstanding commitment to lead a group of nba owners and executives on a trip to india this week. like the committee and like others already have spoken, we have taken a fresh look at all of our programs, policies and educational efforts in this area over the course of the last few months, and we have determined through our work, espe

thune: mr. president, i rise today to bid farewell to my colleague and friend senator tim johnson. tim has deep roots in south dakota in the towns of canton and vermillion in particular. he served our state for more than 35 years, first in the state legislature. then after winning a highly competitive primary against two well-known democrat opponents in the halls of congress. in 1996, after a decade in the u.s. house of representatives, tim won his first of three terms in the united states senate. i'm well acquainted with his second election because i came out on the short end of that stick. but i've had the privilege of serving with tim now in the south dakota delegation for over 16 years. today i want to pay tribute to his many years of public service and all he's done for our home state. i'd also like to take a moment to thank senator johnson's staff for their dedicated work. they've worked closely with my staff for many years and i'm grateful for their efforts. mr. president, like many south dakotans, i will always remember tim as a fighter. south dakotans are tough, rugged fol

eating thune tuna is eating someone's disguarded sim wear. >> this is a personal beef.sion was for you to get necessary makers. >> no necessary makers. >> marco is the most annoying person? >> he is one of three. >> all right. can you upgrade this a little bit mcguirk. >> my first choice that he is smaug, immature narcissist who i don't like pope francis. no, i'm just kidding. cleveland browns quarterback johnny manziel. >> give the kid a break. >> he is a little jerk. rookie, posted upon to be the most mayton manning or tom brady. shoots his mouth off. >> only played one game. >> struts around like a pimp never won anything. he won the heisman trophy, nothing here and thankfully. >> i just want -- he has never won anything. he won the heisman trophy. that's something. >> that's nothing in the pros back to you mcguirk. back to you gutfeld. >> i have got to go with zach. >> zach works out at my gym. is he a machine hoarder. when you are at your gym there is a guy that does the circuit. that means he takes up four machines because that's his workout with no regard tore ce

my very excellent cochair here, senator thune. >> thank you for holding this hearing to discuss the serious issue of odom stick violence in professional sportsment let me say i'm that 10-year-old kid you're talking about growing up just asired to, admired, idolized professional athletes. i grew up in a small town in south dakota of 800 people. we didn't get a newspaper until the following day. you didn't get box scores, you got line scores to follow baseball players. we got one television channel. so we got the cbs affiliate in some places that's true. so i got to watch the green bay packers twice a year. that was the two times they played the minnesota vikings in the divisional. that was my team. because we only got one television station that's all we had. we didn't have a lot of the apparel they have. i'd take a white t-shirt, a blue felt pen and put 32 on therement the l.a. dodgers for sandy cofax. i was a big bart starr fan and my brother was a staubach fan. all of us in this country have a tremendous admiration for people who succeed at that level. it is incredible influence and power

>> well, actually it was, this was something that again the bipartisan committee with senator thune and senator nelson had two weeks ago that you may remember, when he, the senators asked honda, what about providing rental cars? will you give folks rental cars if their car is affected by recall. honda said for first time yes we will. well, we learned you have to go as consumer, if your car is part of the recall, go to the dealership and ask for it. they will not tell you. so you have to ask, be persistent. if your car is part of the recall ask for it. exactly. gerri: got to tell you. we have a long way to go on this one. thanks for coming on the show. >> we do. thanks so much for having us. gerri: i know what you're wondering right now. you're thinking is my car one of these cars? well to find out go to gerriwillis.com. we've got the entire list there. what you do when you go to the website, close the email page that pops up. click on the link, is your car on the list? if you own one of the vehicles on takata recall list and received a recall notice you have to have that car serviced im

thune: very good. madam president, i want to speak today about some of what's happening here with the agenda and where we might be headed. and i think it's important to point out that the democrats here after election seem to be in disarray. we've got fractures that are emerging on the left and the right. senate democrats and the president are blaming each other for the democrats' devastating election loss. the president is threatening a veto to -- on a bipartisan tax extenders package that was negotiated by the house ways and means committee chairman and the senate democrat leader. and the senior senator from new york told an audience last week that passing obamacare was a mistake. to quote the senator, "unfortunately democrats blew the opportunity the american people gave them. we took their mandate and we put all our focus on the wrong problem -- health care reform. it wasn't the change that we were hired to make." madam president, i could not agree more but it is quite an admission from the third-r

king: i ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported substitute be agreed to, the rockefeller-thune substitute be agreed to, the bill as amended be read and passed and the motion to consider be considered mandate laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. king: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. sessions: mr. president, i would ask consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sessions: and i would ask consent to speak as if in morning business. officerster without objection. -- the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sessions: i would like too share some remarks about our colleague that's departing the senate, tom coburn, and ask that my remarks be arranged in the record so that they're associated with other remarks upon his departure. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sessions: mr. president, tom coburn is one of the more remarkable senators, i think, that has served in this body, certainly during the time i've been here. a

hesecond thing at aitreso conect to the outertrost mission it i a teat to thuned kingdo and so itachievethe effectoflowing e untertrorism cntnnt ssn but ey nt oig t brin don teforceou re pong. >but it w he ru murder ofhis man wch brght hom thempact of lamic extresm savagely taed outside sbaacks i sthst loon a plienry rept rolhi mur could not he beeprend atug hi mderers ad peed in seven ielligee veigions por. alough they d de miak y ee not gnicntenougho ha dedifferen. they cmeto intruckn an- rror laws. utng duty on unierts to cns eresmnd rnode e powerto relocate spectsu it is eoe to n ritish spes overseas rom retuinhome. >>ouncilouel and dividus avel cunt anaddthto watch lts. deendinupon the individual case it may ruire them to complyith certain activities. here been of ierestha we hae sen re but i wan to rssurehat iwe will ot render an ivual stateless. they will ve itizehi rightsut when they d it we l beon our rms quite posslyn he cpany of poli. theyilbe interviewedand be ubje t further requirement. >>his is in effe exilin briticitizens to noer cotr. f hty suggests tha fuher adalize his pep

chaian thuned states the number onproducer on a libas in the worl ay will prode the neighbho of ni a haf llion barrelsf o in the it states of america if y cbi te oil that w impo fm naand mexo, our nafta partners, you can put that another 2 million barrels a day maybe even three. the consumption is down. the production is up. the sult is tt of a 11biiodollar l th is agoodhi f t american onsumer m. chairm. 'sood thinyou'reolng th hri and iou he in thnewcngrs 54 ersmplanit ves e n cde pos. wd wt n peolmeserve. it aifre wld to mrchrm ife loth pduce t imrt t unedstas puprsun sa d crteobhe athoane keurth tt rl pice ulsethcreoil ri i bad supply a dandnd thais gd ingor erod m trelplsed th yoreoldinghis hri and wou a y ao to lk su as threwae fel stdard a ow w ntntioushiisn e lf coast stes bt i thinhwe ould also lo athjes act and as i sai earli, te stragipeolm reserve. thhai ill ha aut mite. >> thaclus the opening statements ande ve distinguished ne ofwitesses the firseing satement he's no stranger to the neand we welcomyou ba mr. ministto you e recogniz for ve minutes for your opening stateme

john thune used to purchase suits from nancy's father-in-law. first job here in the senate was for senator daschle. in her current office, cincinnati is i has a collection of south dakota -- nancy has a collection of south dakota maps hanging on the walls. one of the railroad tracks to cross south dakota in 1986, one of water town, south dakota and she has others. she has a rand mcnally map of a long time ago that covers the entire state. as i indicated when senator daschle left the senate, nancy transitioned to the sergeant at arms office where she worked as liaison to democratic senators and their office. when i became the leader and the time to select a new secretary, i didn't look very far. i urged her to consider the position. i'm glad she did. i've not regretted that decision not for a second. she's proven herself to be an excellent manager. she has 26 departments, 250 employees directly under her supervision, not to mention the other 6,500 senate employees who defend on her and her office -- who depend on her and her office. she's been fa

senator kay bailey hutchison, who preceded john thune on the commerce committee, senator alexander, and i sought unanimous consent to get the bill passed because we thought we'd worked out the details pretty well. and do it prior to the recess. therefore we had to do it by unanimous consent. but there were five objections holding the bill still. instead of retreating to party corners, and pointing fingers, we compromised right on that center aisle right there next to senator collins, and we wandered up and down, we added a little money, took a little money off, mostly took a billion dollars off, we removed a couple of programs that weren't absolutely necessary to satisfy kay bailey or lamar alexander, and we had ourselves a $44 billion bill over five years on which we agreed. we didn't have to have a vote. senator hutchinson, senator alexandertain arabously worked to clear the holes. it was -- tenaciously worked to clear the holes. it was just beautiful. a $44 billion program to reinvigorate our nation cerbrally and productively. together together we passed a bill to catapult us to succ

i'm going to have the privilege of serving with the new chairman of the commerce committee, john thune of south dakota. i will be the ranking democrat on that committee. john and i have already started having personal and private conversations about working together and getting things done. and i'm looking forward to it. so in the words of the senator of south carolina, of which he is very sincere, i want to echo those words and i'm not only sincere, i'm very determined. now, we'll see if it works. but this we know -- that the people of this country want it to work and they want us to work together. and they're tired of this nonsense that they see. so we come here late on a friday night and we have in front of us our responsibility to spend taxpayers' money, hopefully wisely and responsibly. it's one of our chief duties. and so the appropriations bill is in front. us. i will vote for it. there are a lot of good things in it. previous speakers have mentioned those things. and we've got to be prepared to take on the nation's enemies, those that we identify and those that we don't identif

i'd like to thank senators rockefeller, thune and tester and their staffs for their strong support and for important efforts to move this bill. finally, i'd like to thank the 18 industry groups that have endorsed this bill, including the security manufacturers coalition, airlines for america, airports council international north america, the national association of airport zktiffs, the general manufacturers association, the security industry association, the u.s. travel association and many others who provided valuable feedback and worked with us throughout this process. mr. speaker, i'd ask unanimous consent to have a letter of support from these stakeholders included in the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. hudson: this no-cost bipartisan legislation will go a long way to improving transparency and accountability at t.s.a. i ask my colleagues to support this bill and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the chair will receive a message. the messenger: mr. speaker, a message from th

fortunately for nancy, her home state senator john thune feels the same way, so you often see the two south dakotans, one a democrat, the other a republican, debating the finer points of last night's game. now, there's a reason i say this. nancy goes out of her way to build trust across the aisle, even in unconventional ways. the folks in my office who work closely with nancy have nothing, nothing but kind words to say about her. some call her a personal friend. in fact, the remarkable woman i nominated to replace nancy, julie adams, is just such a person. i know nancy couldn't be happier for julie, and neither could i. and while nancy's going to miss the senate, i know she is also looking forward to seeing more of her family. i know how important nancy's parents are to her in particular. we're glad nancy will be able to see more of them, even though we're going to miss her. the senate's going to miss nancy's deputy, sheila dwyer. she is another democrat my staff can't speak highly enough of. sheila's had a long run here in the senate. she has seen it from a lot of different angles. s

i found it working with my colleague, senator john thune, as we put aside our political differences and worked as our constituents expected two norwegians to work. we worked side by side as we pushed for farm bills, highway funding, emergency relief from droughts and floods. we successfully fought the proposed brac closing of elsworth air force base. however, our norwegian heritage, we never fought. i found it on the banking committee working closely with ranking member crapo. together we reached middle ground on reforms in which both parties gave up significant priorities, compromising funding middle ground to pass bills out of committee. my best and most enduring memory of this magnificent body occurred during my nine months absence following my a.v.m., a long and humbling journey. during this journey, my committee assignments were respected and my friend from rhode island, senator jack reed, graciously accepted extra responsibilities until my return. senator harry reid told me that during my long absence, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle never once tried to take advantage

my very excellent cochair here, senator thune. >> thank you, mr. the serious issue of domestic violence in professional sports. let me just say that i'm that 10-year-old kid you're talking about growing up, just aspired to, admired, idolized professional athletes, and i grew up in a small town in south dakota of 800 people where we didn't get a newspaper until the following day, so you didn't get box scores, you got line scores to follow your baseball players, and we got one television channel, and so we got the cbs affiliate in some places, that's true, and so i got to watch the green bay packers twice a year, and that was the two times they played the minnesota vikings in the divisional, but that was my team, and because we only got one television station, that's all we had. you know, i would -- we didn't have a lot of the apparel that nay now have, so i would take a white t-shirt and a blue felt pen and put 32 on there and the dodgers for sandy colfax and i wore that, and my younger brother -- i was a big bart starr fan. he was a roger staubach

i want to thank senators rockefeller, thune, rubio for working with us on this important legislation. i also want to thank ranking member rahall and the subcommittee ranking member garamendi for their efforts and chairman shuster for their leadership. finally, i want to take a minute to point out this will be the last coast guard bill that will benefit from the advice and support of the only member of congress with service in the coast guard. our colleague and friend howard coble. howard is a korean war veteran with five years of active duty in the coast guard and another 18 years in the coast guard reserve. he's the founder of the congressional coast guard caucus, as well as an active member and former chairman of the subcommittee on coast guard and maritime transportation. throughout his career in congress, congress has been -- i thank and commend him for his service to our nation and for his contributions to this and past coast guard authorizations. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. for what purpose does the g

the e rey olt tris ndt renso coorblhe in thuned at ith le r cotear ithuned kingm d'tavth feralel earenfrcouny d ca ovnmt. d'tavtry ho ofces eyosoy eful oucv o hv nri vienexemm,hat he efrts dau hse wiinaw nfcentwhichs biprle i ythtalthe ovan reecfr w nfcent as mee o fmefb i n'twnt i tr w foemt - fm e uny. seo inorsnsle r vi t nedl rern thpcs,otainuil soonas vle xemts nowainunl mein haenorabt aen bumongheeeearern e roesodeif pep a rikwharatis ofavg at cogti openne tril e wh e i rseed wi ada ids d ybnobeg estewi oeres h ghflthtpa hety ha t kd oni tt nhape o y ailon reonbau o foigpocysss atave yo e m unr-diliti tmes ttg nvolriein he presanhein omneho ghbealghpaat cod ad anr elin th angitanth ph. weon he ou pgrams ke t. i thnk lyvon th al wrk a y a aut hr ouitn meetl. ao veprbm at we n'aenugninfo osprgmsadexst ther rebig iot ogmsavbesard thcotr rit t t u. attoey fis s ow rung is uny. eyrebsonan nnpos d .a. at gatuthe olewe e angs athe h not yebe aufcient fian, neneed. m lng o tre trenusttti tti a thhghtlevels o gornnt wh iays owe e ony. atio iilkowa pelereeay test i instg t. infa seo iwilito

autus a cogo,he a tge onic oornior.s coans hre >> l'sal ltl b aut thusan rle claend empt,fouset, o thuned ste onynd nellesbizaon o t ruiacomy a t iac th cldavn e u. t comisayts retilyinal eose t he tat whs urie on t iact th tt uld he o t uned ste arweoongtotti r ctaon fanalris th cld cme bk? >>e' mitinghe tuio cefully y pnt o,e o rempter o or ecom ratnsp th ruia is ptt dinus th sdheusancomys dea o psse. eanio ttav bnut huiacomy a te s.orng inlo ornaonitour eopn alesthe sctnser ve tged, tgedn ay hemptn cta ssnecrs, ilung densnd erganathe me te,heo mimeh pa on ow enond o thcomyfur eopn allies the sctnsavad an efctmptaly, th a rged ahaesnhe ruialeeripndts lies at toaler n to pa t ssneoe. e dpn cde wch i unecend,e ou tk w nus outhosiv ha f t undlol ecombuth has hda neti iacon rsia gen s dendence on ondil exrt soe' wchg at mke osy d minsuha areraing a penal diupontoloapal rks. f weon sny mor srtis te' wchg atitti vyse. >> wnt tg thampt o o tacecom ouoofo t u. a glal a yrieon t teiafoecom gwtn 15u bor weaor of thit-gttwh hone onasngn o lt up wks i ntalabt e "cmnus wch we ano inhis rm t geren fu

senator kay bailey hutchison, who preceded john thune on the commerce committee, senator alexander, and i sought unanimous consent to get the bill passed because we thought we'd worked out the details pretty well. and do it prior to the recess. therefore we had to do it by unanimous consent. but there were five objections holding the bill still. instead of retreating to party corners, and pointing fingers, we compromised right on that center aisle right there next to senator collins, and we wandered up and down, we added a little money, took a little money off, mostly took a billion dollars off, we removed a couple of programs that weren't absolutely necessary to satisfy kay bailey or lamar alexander, and we had ourselves a $44 billion bill over five years on which we agreed. we didn't have to have a vote. senator hutchinson, senator alexandertain arabously worked to clear the holes. it was -- tenaciously worked to clear the holes. it was just beautiful. a $44 billion program to reinvigorate our nation cerbrally and productively. together together we passed a bill to catapult us to succ