we've been joined by the chair of the committee senator thune. do you have questions, please? >> thank you, madam chair, and senator blumenthal, thank you for holding this hearing. it's a very important subject, and i appreciate the fact that your subcommittee is focused on this. a reliable and sufficient supply chain is critical to our global competitiveness and to our economy, and the ports are a vital link in that chain. what's frustrating is some of these things, and sometimes you can't control, these things are sort of, i guess self-imposed problems. they're really kind of unforced airunforced errors, and if you're trying to quantify this, it's having a profound effect on the economy. i know some of you on the panel have testified to that effect and cargill, 40 million a week. i've talked to tyson's in my state in south dakota and they shared with me that we've got beef and pork sitting in freezers in the ports instead of heading to asian markets. and while we've got all these large container ships sitting off the coast waiting to export our nation's products. and that af

along with senator thune i coach or a working group that we look at the tax issues. we have concern as to how small businesses treat it. dvd of just with corporate tax rates, then those who have passed through entities, or use s. corporations, would be at a competitive disadvantage if that's all we do. because of high individual rates. i would ask how can you really just do corporate tax reform and be fair to small businesses in our country? >> senator cardin we have always talked about business tax form, not corporate tax reform, because we think it's important that when we do business tax reform we look at small businesses as well as the corporate site. we have in our proposal, for example, an expansion of section 179 provision that allows for the taking of depreciation so that if you spend $1 billion a year as a small business you can take a full deduction in the year he you make an investment and don't have to do it over time. we've done an enormous number of the simplification is to make it easier for small businesses. i think redesign provision that are going t

. >> thank you chairman thune. >> thank you senator fisher for holding this hearing. and you for drawing attention to this issue. i know a lot of questions have already been passed. the investment on the inland ports, indicates that we've been more import oriented than export oriented: oriented:. would you expand on the significance of the ports in terms of manufacturing. >> most of the growth in trade was on the import side. when we look at the various segments in the u.s. the larger products that were done by rail by highway and at the port level, we were focused on being able to handle the imports more efficiently. a lot of the dredging was not done because we were having to skprmt see this when you read the cost/benefit analysis was essentially focused on the import side. maybe you can look at it from that side to say well this is an import bias in our investments. if you look at the products where we haven't had funding for infrastructure, you get the same message. that's what i finance in the mississippi waterway. we have seen chronic under funding and a deterio

>> i think senator thune has been a leader on this issue.e is pointing out realities of what how congress is operating at this moment but he has been strongly concerned about the impacts of our decision and going forward. i know we'll have a congressional hearing in a couple weeks that will get to articulate these views and his views stronger going forward. david: fcc commissioner michael o'rielly, commissioner, thank you very much for coming. >> thank you so much for your time. david: please come back again. >> absolutely. david: we've been asking you by the way if you think the fcc got it right or wrong today? dave said it is purely political. has nothing to do with technical or other soundness there. is still time to join the conversation. send us a message or facebook or tweet us. more of your answers coming up. liz? david: makes you wonder if the fcc is truly independent anymore. david: clearly not according to the commissioner. liz: coming up is it time to friend social media stocks? next we'll talk to somebody who is putting his own m

. >> we've been joined by the chair of the committee, senator thune. >> thank you madam chair. it's a very important subject and i a reliable and efficient supply chain is important to our economy. and some of these things are things you can't control. these things are sort of i would say self-imposed problems. really kind of unforced errors. and if you try to qualify this it is having profound impact on the economy. and i know someoff i in the panel have already testified to that effect. and cargill, 40 million a week. i've talked with tie sonysons in my state. and beef and pork sitting in freezers near the ports instead of heading to asian markets and while we've got all these large container ships sitting there waiting to export our products. and that effects jobs. tyson's employs 41,000 people. usda estimate t a million jobs associated. so it has a profound impact on the economy not just on the west coast but all across the country. and workers in south dakota and other places that are dependent upon like i said a reliable supply chain. outdoor gear, inc. family owned busin

we're open to ideas, if there are ideas that come out of the conversations you and senator thune have. we would look forward to working with you. i would just point out that, if you end up in a position where -- one of the reasons businesses choose to file as individual businesses as opposed to corporations is that it's better for them to do. if it becomes advantageous they can also -- >> but it changes the current competitive situation and small businesses are already challenged today. i understand they can make that choice back and forth. i want to get one last point in, if i might and that is on retirement and savings. once again progressive consumption tax would help reward savings and retirement. but one of the things that we have learned working with senator portland in the house is that the tax incentives alone aren't enough for middle income working families. that's why employer sponsored plans, when they put money on the table is important. i'm just urging you, as you look at your proposals for retirement securities, that we don't have the unintended consequence of adversely

>> thank you, senator thune. the ftc effectively has a reasonableness standard either under deception or under unfairness right now. once you begin putting a lot of different factors into that standard then you essentially start the situation was it reasonable as to a as to b as to c, as to d and if a medium-sized company can't check the box on every single one of those factors then they're likely to be in very bad shape. that kind of standard works better when you're developing guidance. and that's a big distinction between the glb standards that mr. johnson has talked about and a uniform national standard. if you've got an examiner sitting next to you and you can as iterative process work through each of those various elements that may work. but if you're trying to set one standard for every type of commerce and every type of business in the country, then having multiple components to that is going to make it impossible with any certainty for the average american company to respond to. >> so is good nrf support

south dakota senator john thune led republicans who strongly oppose the internet measure, and waves of demonstrations have ignited across the nation in recent months expressing support for internet traffic regulations and more government protections. a vote on fcc chairman tom wheeler's proposals is scheduled for thursday. >>> the white house is pushing back against multiple reports that there was a breakthrough in nuclear talks with iran. press secretary josh earnest says it's just not true that the u.s. and other world powers were negotiating a ten-year nuclear freeze with iran. that, of course would have been less than the 20 years that u.s. officials pushed for initially. >>> and over on capitol hill secretary of state john kerry defended the talks with iran before a senate committee. and he appeared to take a swipe at israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, who is one of the most outspoken critics of the negotiations. >> the president has made clear -- i can't state this more firmly -- the policy is iran will not get a nuclear weapon. and anybody running around right now jumpin

senator thune. >> wait a minute. wait a minute. let me just see here. sorry. senator menendez first. >> all right mr. chairman. thank you. thank you both for your testimony which i read at length. i think we all agree that we need to simplify the tax code and make it more economically efficient. but i always think that before we go about the task of comprehensive tax reform we need to agree what is the end goals that we are trying to achieve so that we can direct our focus. i mean i know that some of my friends here argue that we should focus solely on corporate tax reform and profits and stock market gains. i think i've heard you both say that you really need to do it all at the end of the day in order to make it effective. senator bradley, do you believe it's enough to -- for tax reform to be focused on increasing gdp on the stock market on corporate profits or should we also have the goal of insuring economic growth as part of it particularly it is it is felt by as many americans as possible. is that the type of goal we should be looking forwards to? >> yea

and i think there's plenty of room where i understand walden thune and others are to negotiate the specifics of those details, they just need a partner to be willing to sit at the table and do that and that hasn't happened yet and i'm still hopeful that it does. so that's number one. i think number two, when i testified in the house recently on net neutrality i expressly said my industry wouldn't object to the prohibition of 706 being removed. i do find the court's interpretation of it relatively expansive and not so as -- so sure as an independent matter i would agree with it. be i think it's -- but i think it's a bridge too far to take it away. we have argued all year that you could adopt net neutrality under that provision, so i wouldn't be supportive of us to say now we don't want it. to be honest, i think a lot of legislators think it's what the tech community wanted. what no one's talking about is the breadth of the way 706 has been interpreted, there is no reason why the commission couldn't reach the conduct as well. no reason you couldn't reach google facebook, am, ebay or other -- a

thune and mr. upton are looking at developing bills that would, essentially make this proposal inwon sequential? >> guest: so the fcc as you know, is a creature of congress. they write our laws. they wrote the telecommunications act of 996 and the communications act of 1934. it is their prerogative to legislate. and that is what they do. but we have to do what we do as well as an independent agency. we need to move forward. it's been over a year now where we've opinion out without rules that protect an open internet. so we're going to move forward, and we'll see what happens. >> host: ajit pai last time he was on this program suggested that the vote be delayed. >> guest: the chairman obviously, disagrees. again, it's been over a year. the internet has nothing protecting it to insure that it's open to insure that users are protected from gatekeeping functions, to insure that edge providers are protected from gatekeepers. we need to move forward and we need to lock this down and be done with this deb

thune: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, i have 12 unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. and i ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to and that these requests be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent when the senate resumes the motion to proceed at 2:15 today that senators are permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president at a press conference the day after the elections in november, president obama said -- and i quote -- "i'm eager to work with the new congress to make the next two years as productive as possible" -- end quote. republicans couldn't have been happier to hear that. after years of dysfunction in the democrat-led senate, repu

senate republican conference chairman john thune making it clear that the republicans intend to givek to the house and deferred to the president. he said that i think it's going to come down to is the house figures out what they can move. because clearly we do not have a bill over here appropriations bill demonstrating that we are not going to get the votes necessary to move through the senate. and this includes legislation to ensure that companies are not using that program to replace existing american workers with foreign labor. all of that comes out to reports of southern california edison using the visa system to replace workers with guest workers. our next guests is leaving congressman dear liza member of the house foreign affairs committee and it's great to have you with us, congressman. >> thank you for having me on. the second issue is one that is very timely. companies are abusing the h1b visa system, they are undermining american jobs, i believe very strongly that we should import the best and the brightest from around the world and put them to work but not to displace amer

senator thune's office said as soon as the new regulations are finally made public he will push aheadt does seem like time is running out to make significant changes to the rules before tomorrow's vote. jon: a lot of smoking mirrors going on here it seems. peter, thank you. jenna: three austrian men become the first ever to receive bionic hands. the hands are controlled using nerves and muscles transplanted into the patient's arm. allowing them to complete tasks like holding food or throwing a ball. it's just the latest in the series of bionic medical breakthroughs. a minnesota man received a bionic eye allowing him to see his wife again after being blind for a decade. we're seeing his results after the procedure for the first time. >> it's a pulsing like. it's not like regular vision where it's like constant. it's the flash and i've got to be able to interpret the changes in that shape. >> let's do it again. jenna: certainly contagious. dr. raymond is an ophthalmologist and researcher at the mayo clinic and he performed the bionic eye for us. there's a delight delay. tell us a little

and senate republican conference chairman john thune making it very clear the republicans intend to give that hot potato back to the house and defer to the president. he said, "i think it's going to come down to if the house figures out what they can move because clearly we don't have a bill over here. appropriations bills originate in the house, and it's been demonstrated now that we're not going to get the votes that are necessary to move it through the senate." congress also considering reforms to the h-1b visa program and legislation that ensure that companies aren't using that program to replace existing american workers with lower-cost foreign labor. all of this comes after reports that southern california edison is using h-1b visas to replace 500 american workers with guest workers. and our next guest calls the move deeply disturbing. southern california edison by the way, part of his district. and joining us is leading congressman darrell issa, member of the house judiciary committee, the house foreign affairs committee, and great to have you with us, congressman. >> well thanks

senator john thune has a bill, but to pass it he needs some help. >> it's going to require that some of these democrats that have been giving us the stiff arm at the encouragement of the administration decide to come to the table and hopefully work with us. >> reporter: but instead of asking 535 elected members of congress to set up new rules for the entire internet, the administration wants five political appointees at the fcc to do so. unlike political fights over issues such as immigration or the budget, this could impact everyone with an internet connection. >> broadband barons, sounds like a softball team. >>> a judge in texas has sentenced the killer of chris kyle and chad littlefield to life in prison without parole. prosecutors portrayed former marine eddie ray ralph as a troubled drug user who knew right from wrong. ralph's attorneys say he was suffering from psychosis at the time of the hearings. >>> up next why president obama could not get his buddy, rahm emanuel, over the hump in chicago. >>> ktby in anchorage as alaska becomes the third state to legalize recreational ma

south dakota republican senator john thune saying, quote, i'm glad the court agreed as this case makes way through the legal process, senate democrats have a responsibility to do that their filibuster of the house paced dhs funding bill. chuck schumer saying this procedural ruling in our opinion is very unlikely to be upheld but regardless of the outcome, democrats remain united in our belief that funding for the department of homeland security should not be used as a ransom by republicans, period, so the standoff appears likely to continue. >> we'll see who it hurts. thanks. >>> suspect youaccused of gunning down a mother of four in a road rage case is still on the loose and now relatives are willing to offer up that are classic came are to find the suspect. >>> coming up on the bottom of the hour and to which thep of the news. t are classic came are to find the suspect. >>> coming up on the bottom of the hour and top of the news. doers they don't worry if something's possible. they just do it. at sears optical, we're committed to bringing them eyewear that works as hard as they do. r

republicans led by senator john thune were staunchly opposed, calling it obamacare for the internet. we begin with capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell. a lot of political news covered in that setup. bottom line a number of headlines and opinion pieces out, seeing the series of victories for the president at a time when many thought he might be weakened against a republican controlled congress. >> well it all comes down tamron, to the simple math that while republicans control congress they don't have enough votes to do just what they want. they do need democrat support in the senate to get to the magic 60 we have seen. you talk about net neutrality, the reality is republicans are for keeping the internet unregulated. democrats want to see that public utility type sort of regulation so that no one can buy their way to faster lanes on the internet if you will and they don't have democratic support for that. that seems to be going nowhere. when it comes to dhs funding, a lot of republicans don't like where this is. i spoke to a senior republican who said he didn't campaign around

senator john thune nice to see you sir. >> nice to see you greta. >> what's your thoughts what's going on with jordan the white house, isis? >> well, it's a level of depravity and evil that's really without precedent. and i think we have to identify who our enemy is that seems one thing that the white house is really reluctant to do. these are terrorists. and we saw an example, another example today of the barbaric lengths they goal to make a statement. what it does point out is how important it is that we have a comprehensive strategy to defeat them. and that's something that our president our commander and chief doesn't seem willing to put forward. >> is it possible to sort of summarize how the u.s. senate feels? i'm including democrats on that? are they different idea and strategy and how to do it or whether we should have involvement or more r. more and more the senate getting more unified view of this? >> i think there is a growing frustration even among democrat in the senate about the administration's sort of fecklessness in dealing with this threat. and, you know, we see it pla

and john thune said it's a power grab. >> well i-- you know, i respect their opinions but i disagree. of all, this is modeled after-- it's interesting, i came out of the wireless industry, and the wireless industry has had rules like this for some time, since 1993, and it has been terrifically successful in raising $300 million in capital and building a vibrant competitive business. that's the kind of model that the internet is going to be able to have. rules that are in place that say here's what we expect and provide certainty and encourage investment. the congress you know has-- the congress makes our rules. i look forward to working with the congress on these issues. i have talked to all the leadership of congress in telecommunications in the last 24 hours, and i said, "you know, i think these rules by us putting out these rules, it creates some certainty in terms of what the debate is about rather than these ethereal kind of concepts that have been kick around." >> ifill: part of the uncertainty-- is it opens a pandora's box there's no way to future-proof what you're doing from e

thune: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: mr. president i ask the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president for the past week democrats have been filibustering a bill to fund the department of homeland security for the remainder of the fiscal year. they object to the bill because it does not fund president obama's executive overreach on immigration despite the fact that the president spent years declaring that he didn't have the constitutional authority to grant amnesty. i want to quote something the president said here a few years back. "believe me, the idea of doing things on my own is very tempting," the president told an audience on july 25, 2011. he goes on to say "i promise you not just on immigration reform, but that's not how our system works. that's not how our democracy functions. that's not how our constitution is written." end quote. on january 30 of 2013 the president told an audienc

senate commerce committee chairman john thune and house of representatives energy and commerce chairman fred upton did the same. and according to a survey last week i respected them accredit polling firm, 79% of the american people favor making this public. but still the sec has insisted on keeping it behind closed doors. we have to pass president obama 317 page plan to the american people can find out what is in it. we should be an independent agency based on the record. we shouldn't be [inaudible] by the white house. and we should've released this plan to the public corporate in that impact and then there was no need for us to resolve that matter today. there is no immediate crisis in the internet marketplace that demands immediate action. the backers of the president's plan noticed, but they also know that the details of this plan cannot stand out of the light of day we know that the more the american people are aware about it, the less they will like it. that is why this plan was developed behind closed doors at the white house and why it has remained hidden from public view. these

. >> senator thune is weighing in on this. i will read a brief statement he put out.ys look, this dispute has to come to an end because it's going to cost billions of dollars and unnecessary harm to american businesses and consumers. so he wants this deal done. it has to get done. what's the impediment right now? >> right now it needs to be approved by various union -- >> 14,000? >> exactly 13,000 member union organization. they have a deal that was reached friday night but again, back in 2002 there was a similar port dispute and that shutdown cost the economy $1 billion a day. if we get to that point where the ports are completely shut down, in today's dollars that could cost $2 billion a day. they really need to get the situation together out on the west coast because the other problem is the panama canal has been widened to handle more cargo so retailers may say we won't go through the west coast anymore. we may go through the panama canal. >> what does that mean for the american people? >> that's a huge loss for our economy, because especially in california 37% of

j --ohn thune. i think you said they are scrambling for some sort of legislation. a we likely to see legislation from this? host: thuen himself has said it is likely to get beat up by the president. it is her markable how far republicans have come in a year or so. they used to say that net neutrality was totally unnecessary and it was just burdensome to companies. but now that the more extreme title approach has gone on the table and the fcc -- and they've seen with the fcc is about to do, they've come up with legislation that not long ago would have tutored a pretty strong net neutrality bill -- would have been considered a pretty strong net neutrality bill. the key here is that it would keep the fcc from declaring the genetic a telecommunications service. it would also restrict other provisions that the fcc has used for the internet. i think users are worried that this could handcuff the fcc in other ways. they could be given some powers but other issues that might come up, the fcc -- the main regulator for our communications would not be able to regulate the way

other republicans like john thune and fred upton are working on trying to find some kind of compromise with democrats so they can avoid this title to utility style regulation. that is happening on capitol hill. providers like at&t, verizon are probably going to challenge the new rules in court. you will have the challenge on capitol hill, the challenge and the court. host: what can happen on capitol hill? host: can the republicans legislate this away? caller: i don't think they can legislate net neutrality away because president obama would veto the bill. the real question is how far the republicans would be willing to compromise. they are working on a bill that would address many of the concerns that the advocates of net neutrality would want, like preventing writers from blocking websites or slowing down traffic. it would impose those kinds of rules while also stopping the fcc from using this broader utility style authority, making the internet into a telecommunications service. there is potentially some ground for copper mice, but we will see because a lot of democrats have been wor

and the second part of that is when we've heard from both our chairman, senator hatch and senator thune just talked about revenue neutral position, when you start the conversation as well talking about achieving several hundred billion dollars more of revenue versus a position of neutrality, how do you bridge that chasm? >> i don't think bill and i can tell you how to bridge that gap. if the bridges irrevocable, that bridge cannot gapped. >> i agree. >> senator, if you can bridge that, then spend time doing something else. i think however that the question is can you put together a small group of people on this committee that have sufficient clout within the committee, as bob said earlier, that you could actually spend the time to come up with something that was pretty good. i mean, more taxes, you have to figure out which taxes -- the trade-offs i offered with the consumption tax versus cutting the social security and employment taxes. that is not something we're going to decide. that is something you have to decide. and as i said earlier, all i know is we didn't have room with seven p

j --ohn thune. i think you said they are scrambling for some sort of legislation. a we likely to see legislation from this? host: thuen himself has said it is likely to get beat up by the president. it is her markable how far republicans have come in a year or so. they used to say that net neutrality was totally unnecessary and it was just burdensome to companies. but now that the more extreme title approach has gone on the table and the fcc -- and they've seen with the fcc is about to do, they've come up with legislation that not long ago would have tutored a pretty strong net neutrality bill -- would have been considered a pretty strong net neutrality bill. the key here is that it would keep the fcc from declaring the genetic a telecommunications service. it would also restrict other provisions that the fcc has used for the internet. i think users are worried that this could handcuff the fcc in other ways. they could be given some powers but other issues that might come up, the fcc -- the main regulator for our communications would not be able to regulate the way

senate commerce committee chairman john thune and house committee -- house of representatives committeehairman john upton did the same. 79% of the american people favor making the document public. but still, the fcc has insisted on keeping it behind closed doors. we have to pass president obama's 317 page plan so the american people can find out what is in it. this is not how the fcc should operate. we should be an independent agency, making decisions in a transparent manner based on the law and the facts and the record. we should not be a rubber stamp for political decisions made by the white house. and we should have released this plan to the public, solicited their feedback, incorporated that input into the plan and then proceeded to a vote. there was no need for us to resolve this matter today. there is no immediate crisis in the internet marketplace that demand immediate action. the backers of the president's plan know this but they also know it cannot stand up to the light of day. they know the american people -- that the more they know about it, the less they will like it. that i

senate commerce committee chairman john thune and house of representatives chairman did the same.rding to a survey last week by a respected democratic polling firm 79% of the american people favored making the document public. still, the fcc has insisted on keeping it behind closed doors. we have to pass president obama's 317-page plan so the american people can find out what's in it. this isn't how the fcc should operate. we should be an independent agency making decisions in a transparent manner based on the law and the facts in the record. we shouldn't be a rubber stamp for political decisions made by the white house. and we should have released this plan to the public solicited their feedback incorporated that input into the plan and then proceeded to a vote. there was no need for us to resolve this matter today. there is no immediate crisis in the internet marketplace that demands immediate action. now, the backers of the president's plan know this. but they also know that the details of this plan cannot stand up to the light of day. they know that the more the american peopl

, and the second part of that is when we've heard from both our chairman senator hatch and senator thune just talked about revenue neutral position when you start the conversation as well talking about achieving several hundred billion dollars more of revenue versus a position of neutrality, how do you bridge that chasm? >> i don't think bill and i can tell you how to bridge that gap. if the bridges areir ref equable, that bridge cannot gapped. >> i agree. >> senator if you can bridge that, then spend time doing something else. i think however that the question is can you put together a small group of people on this committee that have sufficient clout within the committee, as bob said earlier that you could actually spend the time to come up with something that was pretty good. i mean more taxes you have to figure out which taxes -- the trade-offs i offered with the consumption tax versus cutting the social security and employment taxes. that is not something we're going to decide. that is something you have to decide. and as i said earlier all i know is we didn't have room with seven p

all five communications commission members on march 18th in oversighté@ according to chairman john thuner the questions about the net neutrality order expected to be approved today. the regulations expected to be approved in a 3-2 vote. the new rules would reclassify broadband internet as a communications service and it gives the commission more authority to enforce internet rules meant to prevent internet service providers from blocking or slowing traffic to any website while also preventing companies from negotiating deals for priority access. the meeting about to get under way here live on c-span3. [ applause ] [ applause ] >>> the world is not going to believe that we did not coordinate coordinate. okay. there's some things in life -- [ laughter ] >> the only reason i said that, it's normally -- >> i know. good things come to those -- >> got it.aá$ here he comes. >> we are all gathered. good morning. welcome to the february meeting of the federal communications commission. ma'am secretary, good morning to you. would you please introduce today's agenda?lp >> today, you will hear two i

you talk to senator thune's committee. what's your message?r message on this issue or generally? >> on this issue. >> i think certainly don't want to pine on particular legislation, but there are legislative u efforts to -- if there are legislate i have efforts to overturn the decision or deny funding to the agency to implement it, then that's something that the agency has to respect. >> i also want to get into some of the more fundamental and long standing conversations that we should have over process reform. it's not just about one item. when i talk about releasing the items, they should be on a monthly basis. it's not about net neutrality. it's all about things. hopefully we'll have a fuller conversation. >> is there anyone not sitting at the table that has a question? >> first off, thanks for taking all these questions. the commissioner said that the document was 332 pages originally and now it's 317. what got taken out? >> i don't know how much i can reveal without sharing nonpublic information. what has been publicly u reported is that

. >> we are honored to be joined by chairman thing -- thune. >> thank you for holding this hearing and focusing a light on this issue that is important to our country and something that congress has been trying to fix for over a decade. hopefully this will be the year that we find the path forward that allows us to put in place a workable solution that protects consumers and addresses the important issue, which, again, we are reading about today. millions of americans impacted by a another data breach. i want to ask -- and the question has been asked many times -- ms. weinman, i'm curious. you have extensive experience in this issue. could you give us your explanation of why you think a single federal law is so preferable for businesses and consumers? >> thank you. i have a chart with me that is 19 pages long that goes through the various state laws. that reason alone, i think lends itself to having one federal breach notification standard to enable companies to act quickly and provide required notice. i think it is both business friendly and more importantly consumer friendly. >> mr.

so this senator as one of the coleaders with my chairman, john thune, on the commerce committee, this senator has written to the f.c.c. and has asked them what information the f.c.c. had about the rationale had behind the restrictions placed on the certification of the sting ray the device that were certified by the f.c.c., and whether those similar restrictions have been put in place for other devices because as technology continues to improve, we're going to see a lot of these kind of devices. and whether the f.c.c. inquired about what oversight may be in place to ensure the use of the devices to make sure that the use of the devices complied with the manufacturers representations to the f.c.c. at the time of the protection, and we are asking for a status report of the task force that was previously formed to look at these questions surrounding the use of the sting way. now, this is not the last time, mr. president, that we're going to be asking these questions not necessarily about this device the sting ray but there is a multiplicity of devices coming out onto the market, and the

. >> well -- >> i want to follow up on something that you discussed with thune and then more specifically with senator scott. you spoke about a $1 million issue as far as the way the president's plan was going to work. when speaking with senator scott, you mentioned that $1 million threshold. specifically. is this an exemption, or is it a dividing point between determining what is or is not a small business? if a business is over -- then more specifically, if the business so over $1 million, are they taxed on the whole gain -- >> we'll leave the last couple of minutes of this program. you can watch it anytime at c-span.org. we now take you to the brookings institution in washington, d.c. where vermont senator bernie sanders is outlining his 12-point agenda that focuses on climate change, college affordability, tax reform and health care. this is live coverage on c-span2. >> for those of you out there who want to comment on twitter the hashtag is sanders@brookings, that's at, not the @sign. i want to say at the outset before i do the formal part of the introduction that it is a pleasure to

and then i have to be in judiciary because one of my bills is coming up and so i have asked senator thune to take over till i can get back or at least until 11:00, then i will -- if i don't get back by then i will have others take over. so, with that, let's turn the time over for you for your statement. >> thank you, mr. chairman for that very gracious introduction and welcome. thank you, ranking member widen, members of the committee for having me here today to testify on the president's budget. a year ago, president obama said that 2014 could be a break through year for our committee and the evidence is now clear that over the past 12 months america has made great strides. we are seeing real progress in job creation, economic growth family wealth, energy independence manufacturing exports, retirement account, the stock market, health care costs graduation rates and the deficit. the fact is our businesses created nearly 3 million jobs last year, the most jobs of any year since the late 1990s. this capped off roughly five years of job growth the longest stretch of job growth in our nation

thune: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: mr. president yesterday the president of the united states released his budget and unfortunately it looks like his budget is largely more of the same, old failed top-down policies of the past. it is a "government knows best" approach that clings to more taxes, for spending, and more spending, and more government. big government doesn't work. six years of big-government policies have left the american people struggling. even the vice president of the united states admits it. speaking at the house democrats' retreat last week, vice president said -- and i quote -- "to state the obvious the past six years have been really, really hard for the country." end quote. that's from vice president biden biden. mr. president, that's the truth. the recession officially ended more than five years ago but the recovery has been weak and sluggish. economic growth has lagged far behind the pace of other recoveries. by this point in the reagan recovery the economy had created a staggering 11.8 million priva

senators thune -- we are ready and willing to vote on democrat amendments. that is from republicans. other news as we continue this conversation with you about the senate plans to separate the funding for homeland security. let me begin with the third veto from this this president of his tenure. president obama the killing the keystone pipeline, front page of the papers this morning. a congressional override is unlikely, but mitch mcconnell is saying a vote tuesday, next week, will take place to override the president' toe. -- the president' toe. -- the president's veto. they are urging the president to vote for, to pass, to approve the keystone xl pipeline. we told you about this at the beginning. "new york times" front page that the gop concedes the fight to obama on internet rules or the fcc is going to likely vote thursday to regulate the internet like a public utility prohibiting companies from creating fast and slow lanes. there will likely be court battles over this as well. the opinion section of "the wall street journal," they say tom wheeler, the f

that luncheon has been put together by republican conference chair john thune and senator chuck schumer. it will be hosted by senator susan collins who will be the first formal joint lunch for the party caucuses in nearly two years. the senate will return at 2 p.m. eastern. at some point there could be a procedural vote on the house passed homeland security spending bill. yesterday the senate failed to move forward with the bill. that measure also block funding for president obama's executive order on immigration. now we will take you live to detroit where former florida governor jeb bush will be discussing tax reform, middle-class issues and the economy today. this event is hosted by the detroit economic club and should be getting underway in just a few moments. >> [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> as you can see we are live in detroit. the detroit economic club today hosting a speech i former florida governor jeb bush. mr. bush is expected to talk about tax reform, middle-class issues and the economy. is remarked should be getting underwa

this was introduced previously by senator thune and klobuchar as a stand-alone bill. it's language that's very, very important to many of us and to nearly all the sportsmen's groups we've heard from. we've also got provisions in there that deal with some of the efforts to limit ammunition and fishing tackle by some organizations. i think we know that if you can't access, if you can't afford traditional ammunition and fishing tackle, it makes it pretty tough to go out and enjoy these opportunities. we've got good pieces in here relating to conservation priorities including the north american wetlands conservation act and the national fish and wildlife foundation. again, i want to thank the sportsmen's caucus. i want to thank senator heinrich as the prime democrat lead on this. again, my hope is that we're able to build this coalition here on the floor get even beyond the number 46, which was what we had last go round with this legislation. i think we're going to have good discussion within the committee and here on the senate floor. but my hope, mr. president, is that

my friend, senator john thune has drafted legislation that would strip the f.c.c.s, along with many of my colleagues i have made -- made it clear that i regard this as a nonstarter. in the weeks and months ahead i and other net neutrality supporters will need to continue to speak out to make sure everyone understands what's at stake, why we stand by the strong rules adopted by the f.c.c. and why we oppose efforts to strip the f.c.c. of authority -- of its authority or to weaken net neutrality protections. this will take a lot of hard work. some folks really just don't get it. back in november, my friend, senator ted cruz, referred to net neutrality as obamacare for the internet. it was a statement that seemed to demonstrate just a basic misunderstanding of what net neutrality is and how the internet works. for that matter, tens of thousands have seen a youtube video in which senator cruz attacked the f.c.c.'s efforts to protect net neutrality -- i'll just pause to note that the video reached so many viewers the reason it did was that it was uploaded to youtube a si