he gets to decide what the rules are in the united states senate. in the last part of president bush's term, they blocked the ambassador to the united nations. he was about one full filibuster. by the democratic members of the senate. with i am saying is, the rules were not changed and then. the rules are not to be changed now. we have a conference coming up. let's see if we cannot work through it. let's see if we cannot work in a way that restores the senate. the senate is supposed to provide a cooling opportunity to slow down rush to judgment. should the senate be compelled to confirm three members to lower official appointments in the federal government who were illegally appointed and continue to serve after they were so found jumble i do not think so. i do not think that dispute is such that would leave the majority leader to print or rules of the senate to override the rules of the senate through a procedure not proper and dangerous to get his way on this matter there are other things that could go wrong if this goes forward. my impression from

>> you say he had a goal of becoming the majority leader in the united states senate. what encouraged him to do that? >> he had a very fortunate summer internship with senator john sherman of kentucky. >> a liberal republican? >> there were some, yes. all the more power to internship programs. that is such a crucial time in people's lives. >> then what was next? >> then we went to work for -- when he graduated, went to work for another senator from kentucky. marla cook, a republican senator. very intelligent interesting gentleman. got involved in the civil rights act, i believe in 1964. >> how often do senator that's end up in leadership come from staff? >> fairly often. it was one of the major reasons why senators did not want to have professional staff. it really was not until after world war ii that they decided they needed them. you hire these staff and pretty soon you're going to have somebody smarter than you are. they could probably beat you in a primary. some cases that happened and other cases they succeeded. >> last time we talked when you were retiring in 200

that is the beauty of united states senate. it allows representation for minority rights and what they are talking about doing would undermine and wreck that. senator reid said it well back in 2009. he said this would ruin the country and went on to say but it destroyed the senate to have used the nuclear option and change the rules. make no mistake about it. they are talking about executive nominations today but if you do this up close the door wide open. they will establish a precedent that will only be a matter of time before they use that as judicial nominations and legislation as well. there is going to come a time here in the united states senate where they are no longer the majority and is going to be very difficult to turn back the hands of time if they move forward into what they are talking about doing so i hope cooler heads will prevail again in the united states senate this year and the democrat majority will decide to reverse its plans and continue the tradition and the history the president on the rules of the unit

the end of the united states senate. he repeated that. the distinguished majority leader said at that time it is the genius of the founders that they concede the senate as a solution to the small, big state, small state problem. central to that was the protection of the rights of the minority. a filibuster is the minority's way of not allowing the majority to shut off debate and without robust debate, the senate is crippled. senator reid went on to say such a move would transform the body into a institution that looked just like the house of representatives where everything passes with a simple majority. and he also wrote this: there will come a time when we will all be gone, and the institutions that we now serve will be run by men and women not yet living, and those institutions will either function well because we've taken care of them or they will be in disarray and someone else's problem to solve. boy, that's pretty heavy stuff. that's meaningful. that's something everybody here should consider. he described the nuclear option this wa

now, madam president, the united states senate is a very peculiar institution. it is peculiar in the sense that any one member, one of a hundred, can come down here on the floor and utter two magical words which bring the senate to a complete halt, and that is i object. i will not allow the senate to go forward. which means the whole government shuts down. i object, i object, and what we have seen in recent years -- especially since president obama has been elected -- is an unprecedented level of i object, of olds, of -- of holds, of a variety of mechanisms which bring the functioning of the united states senate to a halt. and all of this takes place at a time when millions of people can't find jobs, at a time when kids are graduating college deeply in debt and millions of others are now choosing not to go to college because we're not addressing the issue of higher education. it takes place at a time when our infrastructure, our roads and bridges, roads and bridges and airports and rail systems are crumbling. when our educational system is in need of major reform

institutional perspective and from a constitutional perspective, it's absolutely critical that the united states senateremain true to the designs of the founders of our country as framed in our united states constitution. and so as a rationale to so-called invoke the nuclear option and turn the senate into purely a majority vote institution, there were claims that this side of the aisle had been obstructing too many of president obama's nominations. but the facts tell a far different story. thus far, the president has nominated more than 1,560 people for various positions, and only four, four of them have been rejected by the senate. since 2009, this chamber has confirmed 199 of president obama's article 3 judicial nominees and rejected two of them. 80 of those nominees were confirmed by voice vote, which is essentially a unanimous vote, and another 64 were confirmed by unanimous roll call votes. does that sound like a crisis? does that sound like obstructionism? well, i think not. what i would like to suggest is another problem that has created the senate -- that has created the senate in a way that m

and once you -- he's called the, what, fightingest man in the united states senate? let's find out what that means. >> in 1930, he was elected as arkansas's governor but was immediately selected to fill a vacancy in the u.s. senate. robinson held three political roles within the span of two weeks. robinson was the last senator chosen be i the arkansas state legislature before the implementation of the 17th amendment that established a collection of senators. in the senate, robinson took on leadership roles including majority leader following his death in 1937, had dei introduced a resolution authorizing the acceptance of his portrait as a gift to the senate. the portrait was later presented to the senate by robinson's widow and friends. >> what did it mean about the fightingest man in the senate . >> general demeanor. he was ginn to rages. face would turn scarlet. he would beat his breasts on the senate floor. scream, well. as another senator, you wouldn't want to incur the wrath of joe t. robinson because he did indes earn that moniker. >> talked about when the senat

so this is really a sad, sad day for the united states senate, and if we don't pull back from the brink here, my friend, the majority leader's, going to be remembered as the worst leader of the senate ever. the leader of the senate who fundamentally changed the body. it makes me sad. all my members are angry. i'm more sad about it. but it's a shame that we've come to this. i sure hope all the democratic senators are there monday night. i'm certainly going to encourage my members to be there. it's high time we sat down and tried to understand each other, because many members on the other side are hearing a different version from the facts that are largely unrelated to reality. so, mr. president, i know my friend, the majority leader, will have the last word. he reminds me that frequently, the difference between being the majority leader and the minority leader is he gets the last word. so i'll yield the floor and listen to the last word. >> mr. president? >> the majority leader. >> no matter how many times he says it, he tends to not focus on what he has done to the senate. as i indicate

or an ideologue of the left, but they have been accepted by the broad base support of the united states senate they stand not for party but for law and the united states of america. we're in danger of upsetting that balance, of putting on the court people who are committed to an ideological plan. we are seeing people who are being presented to us who will i think undermine that sense of confidence that the american people must have in the judges they face in the courts of this land. and, indeed, it's also ironic that today, as we discuss this issue of eviscerating minority rights in the united states senate, we hear our leaders talk about the necessity, the absolute necessity ofthity in i. if you listen to the president, or secretary of state rice and everyone, they talk about how essential it is to ensure that there are real procedural protections for the sunni minority in iraq. in fact, what they are trying to do in iraq they are trying to undo here in america by stripping away those procedural protections that give the minority a real voice in our government. in a recent "national review" a

overrule the end of parliamentarian of the united states senate. that is what he is talking about doing. when senator mcconnell says he wants to break the rules, to change the rules, that is exactly what he means. that is exactly what we are talking about. >> question. >> let me just finish my thought. that, colleagues, is the dangerous thing. stability in the senate requires us not to willy-nilly every time we have a tempest in a teapot, as these three nominations are, every time we have that kind of thing, that we up and change the rules. there will be times, no doubt, when things will get so intense, over big, big issues, that actions get taken. history would record whether they are wise or not wise, but, colleagues, we do not need to be changing the rules of the senate every time it becomes inconvenient for the majority leader. he has already done this once. he changed the rules of the senate when the senator was making a motion to get a vote when he was denied the right to have a vote, majority leader filled the tree, would not allow a vote. he

can tell you last december during the debate you specifically spoke on the floor of is the united states senate about what is really cad the back-door search loophole of the act, and that's a loophole that allows for the examination of phone calls and e-mails on americans without a want form that's somebody that i believe needs to be closed and apropos

we also have a quarter of the united states senate on record saying they are very interested in pursuing certainly the issues that are central to this debate. that is the reason we insisted on finally getting the answers. you are going to see a very strong and bipartisan effort in the senate to pick up on the work of the house and to fix a problem that i inc. in the sl intrudes on the privacy and liberties and millions of law-abiding americans. >> under what way would you do that? saidw dianne feinstein they are working on. i will not rule out any possibilities. depending on how the leadership might want to construct it, it is possible they would like to of thediscussion of some other issues and reserve and opportunity for us to raise our bulkrns about the collection programs. there are a variety of ways we will pursue it. we want viewers to understand this until it is fixed. >> you mentioned one thing earlier. it was about cell phones. you were concerned about how the government is collect information. most people are carrying a telephone device that can make calls, send text, and surf

i think what united states senators want to know is what is the endgame here? he is highlighting the finding that the government believes he is more resilient than he originally thought. there are components of the policy in syria that i supports, particularly this. you are going to see this in light of the quite sobering statement made last week on the resiliency of mr. assad that it will factor in prominently. >> as you know, the dempsey letter did not bring up the option of aiding the syrian rebels with arms. do you support giving arms to the rebellion? >> i could see a role for assistance to the rebels. there are a host of questions. who exactly are they? how does it fit into a plan? when you do that, the logical next question is what will be the future step? i put this in the context of those kinds of consideration. >> i guess this prompted some tough decisions. the senate finance committee told them if they had ideas on reform they could submit them in the ideas would be locked away until 2064. did you submit any? what do you make of this idea of keeping

can tell you last december during the debate you specifically spoke on the floor of is the united states senate about what is really cad the back-door search loophole of the act, and that's a loophole that allows for the examination of phone calls and e-mails on americans without a want form that's somebody that i believe needs to be closed and apropos of your conversation, i think this is a unique time in our constitutional history. i don't think we should let this time go by without striking a better balance between security and liberty. you seem to be suggesting there are not constraints or safeguards on the information we

today i'm launching my candidacy for the united states senate. >> bill: there she is. her qualifications for the senate? >> her last name is cheney. >> bill: stop there. [ laughter ] i think that's it. >> certainly, that's a number of republicans in wyoming have said she just recently moved back from virginia. >> bill: last year. >> she's much more affiliated with washington republicans. she was a fox news contributor. she's someone who has a very, very famous family name. and a lot of republicans were -- looked at this and wondered, really? even the lone house member from wyoming who said she would be interested in -- should he retire. said it was bad form. there is a sense in wyoming she's not really from wyoming. she's got a famous name and will take on a well liked senator. mike enzi is not a squish. he's not too moderate. he votes very republican. he has a very republican state. >> bill: been there 18 years. >> 1997. people like enzi. so this idea of what is essentially a washington carpet bagger coming back to wyoming because she has a famous name, you know, puts

senate. to an unconstitutional act by the president of the united states appointed two people to the united -- national labor's board. >> recording senator reid from 2009 saying that it would ruin the senate. he and his colleagues were saying that the senate is already ruined because there is all getting done. does he the point of that? to the again that cooler heads prevail, could that happen again? could you show him the goodwill? >> the main reason is and is not doing as well as it should is because of the way the majority is running it, which is an argument we will take across the country. we know how to make it work. i think it is dysfunctional leadership of the senate grade not a dysfunctional senate. the second thing is, we could be working on student loans this weekend. that is what i have been working on. before that was a water resources bill. we are getting done when the majority leader will be the senate in a way that lets us do it. this place could function very well and very easily and has been accomplishing something's. their mission is they have failed. they cannot run the sen

bill was eventually passed but now there's word that the senate, the united states senate, might be openosing a similar ban nationwide. here's what senate majority leader harry reid had to say this past sunday on "meet the press." >> you've described yourself as pro-life in the past. is it not reasonable to put some restrictions on late term abortion as we're seeing in the state? >> i think we should deal with the problems that affect this country. we need to do something to help the american working class and stop worrying about fringe issues. jenna: shannon is live in washington with more on this. >> senator reid has long identified himself as pro-life but the fact that he seemed to refer to the issue of a late term abortion ban as a fringe issue has pro-life advocates expressing concern. they believe at this point, he may block efforts to bring a vote on an abortion ban after 20 weeks from getting to the senate floor. here's what some of his senate colleagues had to say. this is patty murray of washington state. this after the house passed a similar ban earlier this month. >> women an

senate. to an unconstitutional act by the president of the united states appointed two people to the united -- national labor's board. recording senator reid from 2009 saying that it would ruin the senate. he and his colleagues were saying that the senate is already ruined because there is all getting done. does he the point of that? to the again that cooler heads prevail, could that happen again? could you show him the goodwill? >> the main reason is and is not doing as well as it should is because of the way the majority is running it, which is an argument we will take across the country. we know how to make it work. i think it is dysfunctional leadership of the senate grade not a dysfunctional senate. the second thing is, we could be working on student loans this weekend. as well ivan -- that is what i have been working on. before that was a water resources bill. we are getting done when the majority leader will be the senate in a way that lets us do it. this place could function very well and very easily and has been accomplishing something's. they haveion is failed. they cannot run the s

we have witnessed the majority leader break his word to the united states senate and now our requests for a joint meeting of all the senators have been set for monday night, a time when attendance around here is frequently quite spotty. in obvious effort to keep as many of his members from hearing the concerns and arguments of the other side as possible. it remains our view that for this to be the kind of joint session of the senate that it ought to be, given the tendency of the senate to have sparse attendance on monday night, to have this meeting on tuesday before it's too late. having said that, a more expeditious way to accomplish most of what the majority leader is trying to accomplish would be achieved by the following consent. i ask unanimous consent that on tuesday, at 2:15 the senate proceed to consecutive votes on the confirmation of the following nominations. number 104, that is pierce to be a member the nlrb. number 1 o 2, johnson to be a member of the in. lrb and number 103, miss amora to be a member of the nlrb i might say parenthetically, if owesthose nominees were conf

especially with what is going on in the house, we need to have an effective united states senate, andnk in the foreseeable future, we're going to have one. >> we'll be checking back on those words. hopefully in the future. senate majority leader harry reid. great pleasure to have you this evening. >> my pleasure. >>> after waiting for what felt like an eternity, we have a head of the consumer financial protection bureau. a victory for consumers and a victory for senator elizabeth warren. she'll be here to talk about it next. did my research. my doctor and ih. went with axiron, the only underarm low t treatment. axiron can restore t levels to normal in about 2 weeks in most men. axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18 or men with prostate or breast cancer. women, especially those who are or who may become pregnant and children should avoid contact where axiron is applied as unexpected signs of puberty in children or changes in body hair or increased acne in women may occur. report these symptoms to your doctor. tell your doctor about all medical conditions and medicati

about the only underarm low t treatment, axiron. >>> in the spotlight tonight, the war for the united states senate if you aren't worried about the future of the united states senate, you might want to consider nate silver's latest prediction. a race by race analysis of the senate suggests that republicans might now be close to even money to win control of the chamber after next year's elections. our best guess after assigning probabilities of the likelihood of a gop pickup in each state is that republicans will end up with somewhere between 50 and 51 senate seats after 2014, putting them right on the threshold of a majority. democrats suffered a setback this weekend when popular democratic governor brian schweitzer of montana announced he would not run for the seat max baucus has held for 36 years. this comes as harry reid is threatening to invoke the nuclear option, a change to senate rules to limit filibusters on executive branch nominations and leave confirmations possible by a simple majority vote. >> the changes we're making are very, very minimal. what we're doing is saying look, american pe

hell won't be because he changed filibuster rules that actually helped things get done in the united states senate it is a very interesting debate because it shows the depths to which the senate has already sunk long before either of these two folks were in their present positions. what you've got is a group of people who have basically put their party in front of their country and getting rid of the filibuster is a serious step because the constitution protects the rights of the minority. it's one of the things that makes this political situation in this country a great country. unlike egypt where morsi got into trouble because he didn't care about the rights of the minority, of any minority. and to see this happen is a huge step, but i think it probably has to happen. i don't see how a small group of people can tie up the entire country which is what has been going on for four years under mcconnell. i don't see what choice reid has and i hope the democrats will stick with him. >> all right. i don't disagree at all with that and it's sort of pathetic that we're at this stage right now. >> it is.

especially with what is going on in the house, we need to have an effective united states senate, and foreseeable future, we're going to have one. >> we'll be checking back on those words. ho hopefully in the future. senate majority leader harry reid. great pleasure to have you this evening. >> my pleasure. >>> after waiting for what felt like an eternity, we have a head of the consumer financial protection bureau. a victory for consumers and a victory for senator elizabeth warren. she'll be here to talk about it next. my goal was to take an idea and make it happen. i'm janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzoom. i never really thought i would make money doing what i love. [ robert ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. go to legalzoom.com today and make your business dream a reality. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. [ male announcer ] the distances aren't getting shorter. ♪ the trucks are going farther. the 2013 ram 1500 with best-in-class fuel economy. engineered to move heaven and earth. guts. glory. ram. th

he's now serving in his seventh term in the united states senate. before running for the senate, senator hatch received a bachelor's degree from brigham and young university, a law degree from university of pittsburgh, and worked in -- was in private practice for a number of years. he's the ranking member on the finance committee today. as we know, he made a great reputation for himself when he was chair of the judiciary committee. where we worked together with him, as we all did, for those many years. he serves on the help committee, joint committee on taxation. he's really had a significant impact on the united states senate. he's a dedicated member of the board of directors, hawkhouse memorial museum. he's done amazing things his whole career. but his number-one accomplishment for me, mr. president, is not how many terms he's served in the senate but his accomplishment for his wonderful family, his wife, elaine, has been a great helpmate for him for these many decades. he has 23 grandchildren, six children, and now ten great-grandchildren. althoug

and senator reid wrote that, simply put, would be the end of the united states senate. i do not want senator reid to have written on his tombstone he presided over the end of the united states senate. yet, if he does what he's threatening to do, that would be what he's remembered for in the history of this country. i thank the president. i yield the floor. mr. barrasso: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: mr. president, i listened very carefully to the majority leader this morning. what he said is he said confirming nominees should be the norm, not the exception. confirming nominees should be the norm, not the exception. well, i would ask respectfully that the majority leader take a look at actually the record, because you cannot ignore the facts. of the 1,564 nominations that president obama has sent to the senate, only four have been rejected. four of 1,564. during the first two years of the president's term in office, his first term, the 111th congress, the senate confirmed 920 nominees and rejected one. the second portion of

this is all part of a larger strategy to justify breaking the rules of the united states senate to change the rules of the united states senate. the fact is that after today the senate will have confirmed 199 lower-court nominees. we have defeated two. that's 199-2. so who can complain about that record? the success rate happens to be 99% for the nominees considered on the floor of the united states senate sent up here by president obama. we have been doing it at a very fast pace as well. during the last congress, we confirmed more judges than any congress since the 103rd congress. that congress sat 1993-1-- 193 199-- 1993-94. so far this year we've confirmed 27 judges. if confirmed today, ms. dorsey will be the 28th confirmation this year. so let's compare this with a similar stage, which would be president bush's second tirm. when only 10 judicial nominees have been confirmed. so we're now at a 28-10 comparison with president obama clearly ahead of where president bush was concerned, but somehow we're hearing complaints. and as i said, we've already confirmed more nominees this year --

especially with what is going on in the house, we need to have an effective united states senate, anding to have one. >> we'll be checking back on those words. hopefully in the future. senate majority leader harry reid. great pleasure to have you this evening. >> my pleasure. >>> after waiting for what felt like an eternity, we have a head of the consumer financial protection bureau. a victory for consumers and a victory for senator elizabeth warren. she'll be here to talk about it next. >>> on this vote, the ayes are 66. the nays are 34. the nomination is confirmed. >> that was senator elizabeth warring flashing a big smile as she presided over the vote to confirm richard cordray to head the consumer financial protection bureau. it marks the first time in the history that it has been actual confirmed director. cordray was not the first person president obama wanted to head the new bureau created by the dodd/frank wall street reform bill. the original plan was to nominate, well, elizabeth warren, herself, to head the bureau. since the entire idea was hers to begin with. >> this is an

really any citizen should be able to have answered, much less an elected representative of the united states senate, real quickly, i wanted to get your opinion being a member of the armed services committee. senator gillibrand's bill from new york that would obviously take the sexual assault authority from under the chain of command in the military picking up big republican support with rand paul and where do you stand on that legislation and do you think it can move forward with that republican cover? >> i don't think it can move forward. i'm a retired judge advocate from the air force. i think you have support on both sides of the aisle from my position that we need to come down heavy and hard on sexual assault and sexual harassment but we don't need to take the commanders out of that decision when it involves the military. we can do a lot better. but to take the commanders out of the chain of command is not a step we need to take. it would be unnecessary to solve the problem and would be harmful to good order of discipline in the military. >> snort, thank you very much. we appreciate it. >> than

eally had a significant impact on the united states senate. he's the member of the board of directors. he's done amazing thingings his whole career. number one accomplishment for me, mr. president, is not how times or terms he's served his e senate, but accomplishment for his wonderful family. his wife, elaine, has been a helpmate for him for these many decades. grandchildren, six children, and now 10 great grandchildren. although we disagree on he's a person i have great respect for. i'm so grateful to him over the for always expressing concern about me personally. and his kindness and concern for my family. congratulations. [ applause ] >> mr. president. senior senator for utah will quantity of for the his votes, but for the quality of his work. a man of extraordinary character we're happy to have this intermission here to another ate him on yet accomplishment. and a long and outstanding career in the united states senate. [ applause ] >> taking a look at capitol returns tuesday at noon eastern. on the agenda, a bill to fund transportation an

the other paper i wrote was "tyranny in the united states senate." i argued that the senate majority leader has regularly used procedural tactic called filling the amendment tree to restrict senators rights to offer debate. my point there was that you have a situation on the legislative side where the majority leader and it is not unique to the current majority leader but it has happened more recent where the majority leader brings up legislation, offers amendments that make technical changes to the bill for the sole purpose of blocking other members of the senate for participating in the process. it blocks them from being senators and what goes forward to the house or the president. this is what is happening now. in my opinion, the left wants to seize more power. they want to do so, they want to load up the executive branch, maybe the judiciary, and maybe they will go forward with legislation to forge a liberal agenda. this will be something that will take republicans now. it might be democrats in the future but night -- right now it will kick the re

citadel as the united states congress that's why we get posterous legislation like the magnitsky act congress is prepared to do anything to strike at russia yesterday for example one of the senators proposed that the united states boycott the a winner. lympics in russia in two thousand and fourteen that won't happen but the mere fact that a united states senator who's supposed to be a person of wisdom and dignity would propose such a preposterous thing shows you what kind of congress we're dealing with so i predict and i think any idiot could predict i don't claim great credit for this that when and i assume it's when snowden is given temporary asylum in moscow that members of congress members of the various anti so anti russian lobbies like freedom house in the united states and many others will denounce the kremlin and demand that obama do something very bad to russia and then obama will be tested we will see if he can withstand that or not and that's where i say by the way that i think this is a kind of test not only of the wisdom and leadership of food but the wisdom and leadership of obama remind you obama didn't ask for this snowden crisis putin ask for it they just got it.

the other paper i wrote was "tyranny in the united states senate." i argued that the senate majority leader has regularly used procedural tactic called filling the amendment tree to restrict senators rights to offer debate. my point there was that you have a situation on the legislative side where the majority leader and it is not unique to the current majority leader but it has happened more recent where the majority leader brings up legislation, offers amendments that make technical changes to the bill for the sole purpose of blocking other members of the senate for participating in the process. it blocks them from being senators and what goes forward to the house or the president. this is what is happening now. in my opinion, the left wants to seize more power. they want to do so, they want to load up the executive branch, maybe the judiciary, and maybe they will go forward with legislation to forge a liberal agenda. this will be something that will take republicans now. it might be democrats in the future but night -- right now it will kick the re

citadel as the united states congress that's why we get posterous legislation like the magnitsky act congress is prepared to do anything to strike at russia yesterday for example one of the senators proposed that the united states boycott the a winner. olympics in russia in two thousand and fourteen that won't happen but the mere fact that a united states senator who's supposed to be a person of wisdom and dignity would propose such a preposterous thing shows you what kind of congress we're dealing with so i predict and i think any idiot could predict i don't claim great credit for this that when and i assume it's when snowden is given temporary asylum in moscow that members of congress members of the various anti so and the russian lobbies like freedom house in the united states and many others will denounce the kremlin and demand that obama do something very bad to russia and then obama will be tested we will see if he can withstand that or not and that's where i say by the way that i think this is a kind of test not only of the wisdom and leadership of food but the wisdom and leadership of obama i mean mind you obama didn't ask for this snowden crisis putin asked for it they j

2009 the lead singer for commander also had time to moonlight as campaign spokesman for a united states senate candidate. man named rand paul. it was his role in the rand paul senate campaign that led people curious about mr. hightower to troll through his presence on myspace. and there it was soon this covered in addition to the tough guy band photos of commander, mr. hightower's site also included comments like this. posted on his myspace page. "happy "n" word day." that's in celebration of martin luther king jr. day that year. happy "n" word day posted alongside this photo on the myspace page of rand paul's senate campaign spokesperson. this stuff was reportedly posted there for a couple of years and was still just there waiting to be discovered once rand paul picked this guy to be the public face of his campaign for u.s. senate. once this was reported out, mr. hightower had to resign as spokesman for the senate campaign. that was a campaign rand paul went on to win. that embarrassment happened back in 2009, and part of the reason i think that issue stuck more than it might have with anybod

we have witnessed a majority leader break his word to the united states senate. and now, our request for a joint meeting of all the senators, set for monday night, a time when attendance around here is frequently quite spotty, in an obvious effort to keep as many of his members from hearing the concerns and arguments of the other side as possible. foremains our view that this to be the kind of joint session of the senate that it ought to be, given the tendency of the senate to have sparse attendance on monday night, to have this meeting on tuesday, before it is too late. having said that, and more expeditious way to accomplish most of what the majority leader is trying to accomplish would be achieved by the following concept. onsk unanimous consent that tuesday at 2:15, the senate proceed to consecutive votes on the confirmation of the following nominations. number 104, that is to be a member of the nlrb, 102, johnson, and 103, ms. zamora. parenthetically, if those were confirmed, coupled with those illegally appointed, whose illegal appointments continued until t

this very issue, in fact, was addressed today in the united states senate. g me now is senator sherrod brown, democrat from ohio. he led senate committee hearings today that focused on bank ownership of commodities operations. my first question to you, senator, is how has this been going on under everyone's noses for three years? and my sense is no one knew this was happening until the "the new york times" wrote about it. >> we found out it was happening because some of the can manufacturer -- the soft drink and the beer manufacturers came to us and said that they have been -- that the whole laws of supply and demand were upsidedown, that the wall street companies, you mentioned goldman sachs, there are two other banks that have been part of this, there's goldman, there's jpmorgan chase, and there's morgan stanley, i guess, for the three. that those three banks, whether it's oil or copper or aluminum, they've gamed the system and they've only been allowed to do this for around a decade and they're getting more and more inquisitive, if you will, as they gain m

in 2007 there were 3 united states senators then senators hillary clinton, ted kennedy and barack obama that proposed in congress a flexible work environment. they having asked for changes in job shifts and to tell commute or share a job. this came from other countries like great britain and ireland and new zealand where this policy has been an excellent one. it adds a penny to the expense of an employer if the employer is unable to make clients services or other good faith services they're able to deny the requests. it would be enforced and it will apply to all caregivers. but based on feedback we've expanded this measure to care of of not only their children but take care of a spouse or domestic care imperative. their taking care of of their parents like many elder adults. when we centered. some of this limits the employees who are laerg than 20 employees and for employees that have worked at least 8 human resources a week. and i appreciate that with those all the times the business community no longer opposed those measures. i'm recommending we move it forward. when we have discussio

we came from the brink in a second time in a decade in making a bad mistake in the united states senate. senator alexander proved facts are stubborn things. if you read history in the united states senate you understand there is a purpose for the cloture rule, a purpose for filibuster. but there is also a purpose for being judicious in its use and i commend the senator on his history lesson, his personal experience as going through the process when he was nominated as secretary of education and i appreciate his leadership on the committee of health, education, labor and pensions. i will be brief, but i want to speak about the nomination of thomas perez. you know, the labor department is an important department in the united states of america, and jobs are an important need we have in this country. we need an aggressive leader at the department of labor trying to get workforce investment act pass, get people trained, get wrongs righted, trying to be a leader. we don't need one though throw up stumbling blocks to progress, jobs and business. thomas perez has a history of using desperate i

i hope this body will rise up and conduct itself as the united states senate should on issues of this importance. i thank you for the time, and i yield the floor. mr. menendez: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: i'd like to yield three minutes to the senator from florida, senator rubio. the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. rubio: thank you, madam president. let me just say briefly, i've gotten a lot of calls about egypt as well. i understand it. you look at what's happening over there, you look at some of the wild things that are happening in the streets. certainly tragedies as well. you see the oppression of religious minorities and you wonder why do we continue to give aid to a country that does that? and i think that's a very important question. i think the problem we face is that we are sometimes in this place put into a position between two absolutes when there are other options available to us. the choice before us is not to cut off aid to egypt or to continue aid to egypt. i think the opportunity we have now is to

in 2007 there were 3 united states senators then senators hillary clinton, ted kennedy and barack obama that proposed in congress a flexible work environment. they having asked for changes in job shifts and to tell commute or share a job. this came from other countries like great britain and ireland and new zealand where this policy has been an excellent one.

this nomination is now before the united states senate. it is really the only tool the senate has to create transparency and accountability within the consumer finance protection board. as we consider this nomination, i hope that we will remember that and consider the role in overseeing the consumer finance protection board and what steps we can take to make the consumer finance protection board more transparent and hence, more accountable and then returned to the american peopd then returneo the american people. >> the senate went on to confirm the nomination of richard cordray to be ahead of the consumer financial protection bureau. when the senate returns at 9:30 a.m. eastern, a look at the nominee to head the export import department. we'll have that live on c-span2. next on c-span2, a senate hearing on military contractors in afghanistan. then senators propose changes to how sexual assault as reported. in the senate relations committee. >> tomorrow ben bernanke is on capitol hill to deliver the annual policy report. our live coverage o

." >>> i am running for the united states senate because i believe deeply in the values that have made our state and our nation great. i am running because i believe it is necessary for a new generation of leaders to step up to the plate. i'm running because i know as a mother and a patriot we can no longer afford simply to go along to get along. we can't continue business as usual in washington. i'm running because i know we are taxed more than enough already. i am running because i know wyoming needs a strong voice in washington. someone who knows how to get things done and isn't afraid to fight for what's right. i will never compromise when our freedom is at stake. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was the daughter of former vice president dick cheney. liz cheney violating reagan's 11th commandment thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow republican. hitting mark enzi for being part of the old guard. that refers to the deal enzi helped broker on health care in 2009. enzi who has a 92% lifetime rating from the american conservative union said he thought he and liz were friends and ha