whitehouse: mr. president, may i ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: i ask unanimous consent that the politifact that i referred to in my last set of remarks be referred to in my remarks as an exhibit. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: thank you. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. whitehouse: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: i ask unanimous consent that h.r. 933 which was received from the house and is at the desk be placed on the calendar. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: i ask unanimous consent that on monday, march 11, 2013, at 5:00 p.m. the senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations: calendar numbers 9 and 17, that there be 30 mi

levin: first let me thank senator whitehouse. he has been a leader in this effort for a long, long time, and his support here is critical and really will make a difference. how much time do i have remaining? the presiding officer: 14 minutes remaining. mr. levin: i would yield 7 minutes to the senator from connecticut. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut is recognized. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. i want to add my thanks to the chairman of the armed services committee and the leader in this effort to close some of these abusive and unnecessary and wasteful loopholes, and thank also senator whitehouse and senator mccain for their leadership in this effort, which is about fundamental fairness. but most important, let me thank senator murray for the hard work, the courage and strength that it has taken to put together a budget that is intensely complex, dealing with issues that are hugely challenging and craft a solution that presents a vision for the future of america that i think is very distinct and d

but i mean the whitehouse, nobody talks about going to the whitehouse, you know, without a sense of awe. i went to the white house i met met the president. >> woodruff: would they go. >> of course they would go. if they get a conversation going between republicans and democrats. he's right in saying some people will have trouble supporting anything i'm for that they can't be for. i just think listen, the other stuff was outgoing names, campaigning on an issue and checking areas being on tv and kicking the daylights, that wasn't working and was hurting his numbers. >> woodruff: you're saying you need to get the parties together. they need to meet with democrats separately. >> i think he can be the catalyst for doing that. but i think you know, it can't be something like they said that national journal, this is just a joke. it's got to be sustained. it can't be a one hit wonder. >> woodruff: mark says this is the twilight of his presidency. >> it doesn't feel like the first year of his administration the first few months, it feels kind of exhaustion. the interviews are in whitehouse and c

big meeting at the whitehouse today.sident obama and the congressional leadership to see where we go from here and how long before they can break the sequester. in other news, house of representatives finally, voting to approve the violence against women act yesterday sending it to the president for their signature. they could have done this last year. they just delayed it. the obama administration has asked the supreme court to overturn california's prop 8, another big blow in support of marriage e quality did i. the administration already asked the court to overturn the defense of marriage act on the same issue. "new york times" reporting the united states is set to approve the new -- a new horse processing plant in this country, and bob woodward says he was threatened by the white house by gene spurling down at the whitehouse the but most veteran reporters have told bob woodward, hey, woodward, this is nothing. this is this just goes with the territory. you are too thin-skinned. all of that and more coming up next rig

alan krueger is here, he's chairman of the whitehouse council of economic advisors. today he presented the economic report of the president. this is what it looks like. the report found that while much work remains, the economy's healing and moving in the right direction and it could create newed head winds. the sequester was signed in law in march 1st full effect is remain to be seen. all eyes on washington. i'm pleased to have alan krueger back at this table. welcome. >> my pleasure. >> rose: what's the essence of this which is sort of like asking moses of the ten commandments which are the important two. give me the essence of what you discover and you want the american public to know. >> you touched on it. the u.s. economy went through a traumatic period. financial crises was extraordinarily deep. we lost $16 trillion in wealth. but we are digging our way out of this problem. we've regained now almost 15 trillion of the lost wealth. over the last 36 months we've added private sector jobs every month, a total of 6.4 million. that's good enough. that's not good eno

whitehouse: thank you, madam president. i rise today as i have at least two dozen times in the past year to say again that it is time for us to wake up to the stark reality of the climate changes that carbon pollution is causing. elected officials bear a responsibility to every once in a while escape the grip of the polluting special interests and to act in the interests of regular americans. we need to wake up and start talking about the negative consequences, the harms of climate change. we need to wake up and mitigate, take steps to protect ourselves and adapt to the consequences that are already hitting our coasts and our forests, our cities and our farms, our economy and our way of life. but of course, the climate deaners and the polluters don't want that. the deaners want to prevent discussion -- the deniers want to prevent discussion of climate change altogether. in the past few years in this body, climate science has become a taboo topic. i watched when my back was out in the last few days one of the harry potter mo

today, at the whitehouse. >> this is "the bill press show." like lobster lover's dream or new grilled lobster and lobster tacos. come in now and sea food differently. now, buy one lobsterfest entree and get one 1/2 off with a coupon at redlobster.com. your vacuum doesn't always pick up what's left behind. only the resolve easy clean system has foam power to remove three times more dirt than vacuuming alone. don't just vacuum clean. resolve clean. this show is about being up to date, staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. in reality it's not like they actually care. this is purely about political grandstanding. [ music ] >> taking your e-mails on any topic at any time, this is the bill press show, live on your radio and current tv >> we are going to talk ncaa with thet buzzfeed kevin delaney e. and christine robinson later in the program o gun control. roberts said, it seems like the more wayne lapierre rags on gun control, the more it seems like we need it. god for goodbid. chained cpi as

. >> rose: what about the whitehouse. >> or the whitehouse. there's a great deal of ferment going on in the republican party right now which i think by and large is healthy. there's a couple caveats now but the previous report on immigration i think a lot of things are happening. rand paul today came out for at least legal status for immigrants. so i think some people thought after this last election debalk backal will be pointing fingers and there's a lot of that going on. some of this stuff i think is productive for them now. putting a paper together the way actually doing some of this stuff. for instance it says we can't be a party of universal purity. yes we can all agree on that. it may be harder when they get to the caucuses. >> rose: are you watching or seeing each of the possible canned dates in 2016 staking out safety on particular issues like immigration and other points so that they want to make sure that they're in the cutting edge of where the party might be. or where the election might be. >> in some sense they're actually trying

senator whitehouse. >> speak briefly. it's pretty clear where -- i think it's pretty clear where this is going and where the political forces have arrayed themselves. and i would hope that as we go to the floor i can work with senator feinstein and others to make sure that we get a separate vote on the high capacity magazines question. it's pretty clear that the assault weapons ban has become -- other party has become locked in against that. i don't see us getting 60 votes. i do think it's possible to get 60 votes on the high capacity weapons ban. it is hard to imagine that it can be a violation of the first amendment for somebody to yell fire in a crowded theater, but it's not a violation of the second amendment to prevent somebody from bringing a 100-round magazine into a crowded theater in aurora, colorado. we have heard testimony in this committee very specific testimony about lives that would have been saved if there had not been those high capacity magazines. we heard from representative giffords' husband about the

the house and the senate may be out of the session but it is busy times down at the whitehouse. president obama speaking about immigration yesterday and welcoming the two champion sports teams, hockey and soccer to the white house. the supreme court holding its first day, first of two days of hearings on the issue of marriage equality, helping us keep on top of everything that's going on, on the planet our good friend eliot spitzer, former of new york on our news line this morning. eliot, good morning, good morning. >> great to chat with you. >> bill: we have seen you popping up in the headlines everywhere we turn. you are just back from jordan. >> it was a spectacular visit. just by happenstance i was there simultaneously. >> i was going to ask you if you influence in on air force one? >> i didn't have quite the motorcade he did. >> what did you find? >> when you spend time in a country, you don't always sense the upset of what was going on in the street. i would not have predicted in cairo before the revolution there was an incipient revolution, but there was a sense of calm b

whitehouse. >> no. >> mr. klobuchar. >> no. >> mr. franken. >> no. >> mr. coons. >> yes. >> ms. hirono. mr. grassley. >> aye. >> mr. hatch. >> aye. >> mr. sessions. >> aye by proxy. >> mr. cornyn. >> aye. >> mr. lee. >> aye. >> mr. cruz. >> aye. >> mr. flake. >> aye. >> mr. chairman. >> no. >> mr. chairman, nine yeas, nine nays. senator grassley. >> can i ask, is it going to be possible to get this done before the chairman and i go for a briefing, like how many more -- >> don't believe so. i don't know about your schedule, but i have a number of other amendments. so i'd be happy to -- >> in that case, we will -- we're not going to be able to finish, and because of the -- senator grassley or senator fine tine and i are able to talk about the nature of this briefing, so we will -- we will recess subject to the call of the chair, but -- and we will get this bill completed. i appreciate the honesty of the senator from texas' answers. we stand recess subject to the call. >> subject to the call of the chair. [captioning performed bynational captioning institute] [captions copyright na

. >> bill: jay carney pointed out yesterday in our briefing at the whitehouse that the other thing about the ryan budget is it is all spending cuts, all cut cut, cut, cut, cut. not one freaking penny of new revenue. >> have you looked at the ryan budget? can you find a single item of tax reform, a single loophole closed? $5 trillion, $5 trillion, man. >> that's a lot of money. not one. >> bill: cuts 5 trillion, doesn't add one penny new revenue. it's totally unrealistic. here's what gets me 866-55-press. this just drives me crazy, that paul ryan in this town and maybe around the country, has a reputation, given him by the media of being a serious thinker. jay carney even called him a thought leader of the republican party. he is not a thought leader. he is a flim-flam artist. the stuff you read about paul ryan is embarrassing. i talk about a lot of it in my latest book, "the obama hate machine". >> available on the billpressshow.com. >> bill: here it is, time magazine said: he's the guy with the jet-black hair and a touch -- a touch of eagle scout to him. oh yes. >> hey ladies. >> bill:

whitehouse: -- for his kind remarks. is he the only member of this body, now or ever, to have seen that view of our planet from the space capsule that he looked down on earth from. he has spoken with enormous eloquence and passion about what that experience meant to him, both on the floor and to us in our caucus, and i'm very grateful for his kind remarks. i yield the floor. ms. mikulski: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: madam president, i want to say that first of all we've had three astronauts -- three astronaut senators. we had senator bill nelson, who just spoke so eloquently about the planet and the way he saw it. our own very beloved and hero with the right stuff, senator john glenn. and also senator jake garn, our wonderful colleague who retired many years ago, but was also on the v.a.-h.u.d. committee. and when i first came to the senate, it was senator garn who really along -- was really one of the members of the other side of the aisle that really helped me learn

and there's also information there we do need your support there's a petition online actually at whitehouse that g.o.p. we are calling on the federal government to investigate and possibly to intervene we need people to help us by getting a signature is on that petition and that's what people can do right now and hopefully we can come back on the show at a later time with more options for folks who want to support our fight against democracy i want to fight for democracy rather there you go reverend boehlert thanks so much for all the great work you've done for being with us. thank you so much. from one financial mess to another cypriot officials finally agreed to a new bailout terms of the e.u. and i.m.f. this morning the stave off that island's exit from the euro zone at least for now a new plan provides the ten billion in funds needed to prevent financial collapse but hits large depositors those with more than one hundred thousand euros about one hundred twenty hundred thirty thousand dollars in their accounts with as much as a thirty percent tax or levy or theft. while the new bailout l

whitehouse: thank you, senator coons. the senate budget resolution that we worked so hard on would first replace the harmful budget sequester whose effects are only beginning to be felt in our communities with balanced deficit reduction. second, it would invest in our crumbling roads, bridges and water infrastructure. our engineers give our infrastructure a d-plus. clearly, we need to make that investment. and it would support continued job creation and economic growth. despite this sensible, balanced approach, not a single republican supported this budget in committee. republicans prefer to raid the programs that the middle class depends on, while protecting the rich and the well connected. a cbs news poll conducted last september shows that 78% of americans favor continuing the current guarantee of medicare coverage for seniors. 78%. but the republican budget would gut medicare, turn it into a voucher program for those 55 and under, basically put medicare into a death spiral, and it would end the medicare guarantee that

no briefing at the whitehouse today.ill be a gagel with reporters aboard "air force one" more coming up right here. >> this is "the bill press show." >> bill: say, good morning, friends and neighbors. it is friday march 15th. good to see you today. thank you for joining us on the "full-court press." welcome to the program here on current tv. we are live all the way across this great land of ours bringing you the news of the day and giving you a chance to comment. you do so by giving us a call at 866-55-press, or joining us on twitter @bt show or on facebook at facebook.com/bill press show. we are still keeping our eye on the new pope, pope francis spending his first day yesterday going out in one little car, no great big motorcade to pray at a shrine to the blessed mother. on the way back to the vatican he stopped at his hotel to pick up the bags and pay the bill for the last couple of weeks just like any tourist visiting rome. here in washington, d.c. president obama with his motor kade up to capitol hill yesterday for

whitehouse. >> miss klobuchar. eye. >> mr. franken. >> eye. >> mr. coons. >> eye. >> mr. blumenthal. >> mr. grassley, eye. >> mr. no by approximately. >> mr. graham. >> no by proxy. >> mr. cornyn. >> no. >> mr. lee. >> no by proxy. >> mr. cruz. >> no. >> mr. flake. >> no. >> mr. chairman. >> aye. >> mr. chairman votes are 11 yeas, seven nays. >> the senator from texas. >> so you don't think i'm trying to pull your leg, there was a complete substitute -- >>ure' not the one that talked about my brother-in-law. >> there was a complete substitute at your office at 4:16 yesterday. is when we got the language. >> i was on the floor introducing it on monday. >> i'm not saying you personally delivered it to our office. i'm saying your shop emailed it to our office at 4:16 yesterday. that's my only point. thank you. >> all right. and trust me my brother-in-law's a good guy. >> i had the honor of meeting your brother-in-law. >> i know you have. and he's done the prayer at the opening of the session several times. i must say just for -- it has nothing to do with this thing, but one

whitehouse: i ask unanimous consent the pending quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. the question before the house is on the chen nomination. all those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the nomination is confirmed. the question is now on the failla nomination. mr. whitehouse: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be a sufficient second. the yeas and nays are called for. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote: vote: the presiding officer: anyone wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, on this vote the ayes are 91. the nays are zero. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table. the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action and the senate will resume legislative session. mrs. boxer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. boxer: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate pro

i would like to hear what they are. >> thank you very much, senator whitehouse. senator flake is not here. senator klobuchar is not here. senator graham is here. >> thank you, mr. attorney general. we have been talking about the war on terror ever since you have been doing this job. and i want to congratulate you and the president. i think you have thought hard and long under difficult circumstances. i want to applaud your efforts with the drone program. it has helped us in afghanistan and pakistan and i just believe this is a tactical tool that this president should be using and using it responsibly. is al qaeda actively involved recruiting american citizens to their cause? >> i certainly know of efforts that al qaeda has made. >> we don't disclose that the al qaeda organization is actively involved in seeking american citizens' support. in every war we have had, unfortunately americans have sided with the enemy, few in number. we had american citizens helping the germans who tried to blow up infrastructure in the united states. >> those cases were tried right d

whitehouse: thank you. with the quorum call be lifted, i ask to speak for perhaps up to 15 minutes as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: thank you. madam president, i noted last week the republican leader came to his desk, and he spoke about the budget. and he described our democratic budget as a left-wing manifesto. left-wing manifesto. we have done $1.8 trillion in spending cuts already. we raised $600 billion, a third of that, in revenue by restoring the clinton-era tax rates for families earning over $450,000 a year. so in the balance between spending cuts and new revenues, it's already three to one in favor of spending cuts. and in our budget, we propose to fill the gap of the remainder with 50% spending cuts and 50% revenue. and that's a left-wing manifesto. the republican budget changes medicare into a voucher program. the republican budget cuts non-defense discretionary spending to levels lower than at any time since o.m.b. started keeping track a half

. >> senator whitehouse. >> i will speak briefly. i think it is clear where this is going and where the political forces have arrayed hemselves. i would hope that as we go to the floor i can work with senator feinstein and others to make sure we get a separate vote on the high-capacity magazines question. it is clear that the assault weapons ban has become the -- the other party is locked in against that. i don't see us getting 60 votes. i do think it is possible to get 60 votes on the high-capacity weapons ban. it is hard to imagine it could be a violation of the first amendment for somebody to yell fire in a crowded theater but it is not a violation of the second amendment to prevent someone from bringing a 100 round magazine into a crowded theater in aurora, colorado. we've heard specific testimony about lives that would be have been saved if there had not been high-capacity magazines. we heard from representative gifford's husband in the shooting, he mentioned the child of the 13th shot victim that would not have happened if he h

whitehouse. >> miss klobuchar. eye. >> mr. franken. >> eye. >> mr. coons. >> eye. >> mr. blumenthal. >> mr. grassley, eye. >> mr. no by approximately. >> mr. graham. >> no by proxy. >> mr. cornyn. >> no. >> mr. lee. >> no by proxy. >> mr. cruz. >> no. >> mr. flake. >> no. >> mr. chairman. >> aye. >> mr. chairman votes are 11 yeas, seven nays. >> the senator from texas. >> so you don't think i'm trying to pull your leg, there was a complete substitute -- >>ure' not the one that talked about my brother-in-law. >> there was a complete substitute at your office at 4:16 yesterday. is when we got the language. >> i was on the floor introducing it on monday. >> i'm not saying you personally delivered it to our office. i'm saying your shop emailed it to our office at 4:16 yesterday. that's my only point. thank you. >> all right. and trust me my brother-in-law's a good guy. >> i had the honor of meeting your brother-in-law. >> i know you have. and he's done the prayer at the opening of the session several times. i must say just for -- it has nothing to do with this thing, but one

the senator is next on my list, and then senator whitehouse. >> thank you. senator feinstein. general holder, thank you for being here thisi would like to address three areas and i would like to start at the topic you were discussing, the topic of drums. -- drones. in your response yesterday, you suggested there may be circumstances in which is permissible to use drones to target a u.s. citizen on u.s. soil. you pointed to deed -- two, you pointed to two, pearl harbor and 911, both average -- both of which were extreme military attacks on the homeland. i want to ask a more specific question. quietly at a cafe, in the united states, in your legal judgment, does the constitution allowed a u.s. citizen on u.s. store -- u.s. oil to be killed by a -- on u.s. soil to be killed by a drone? >> sitting in a cafe having a cup of coffee? >> if that individual is not posing an immediate threat of death corporate bodily harm? >> i do not think you could arrests that person on that>> the person is suspected to be a terrorist. have abundant evidence. he is involved in a terrorist spot. he is

have you talked to senator wheist whitehouse about his solution? >> i have not. i have talked to him in the past and found that he and i are essentially in sync on those discussions. >> i am with him in that the concept is that we would identify critical infrastructure in the power supply, things that every american depends on and if they went down would hurt our nation and hurt our economy and could do harm to our citizens. i think the concept, lets even lets identify critical infrastructure and come up with the best business practices within their industry and submit their proposal to a collaborative body with homeland security certainly a key component of it and if these best business practices are in the minds of the government meaningful, we would grant liability protection to those who met those standards. it would be voluntary. does that sound like a reasonable way to proceed? >> senator, i think in part that is reasonable. the issue that it leaves not addressed is the information-sharing part. >> right. that has to be done. that is a critical part of it.

a fall whitehouse in missouri wakes up to ten inches of snow i'll colorado and kansas are closer to 3ar from over. it's moving fast. maria molina in the fox weather center. first to steve centanni in haigers town, maryland. what is the situation where you are right now? i can see it's snowing. >> it is snowing, and it's cold and the big question is whatever happened to springtime? we've had a lot of these pesky snow storms during the winter dropping one to two to three inches of snow and its still the end of march and we are expecting warm weather later not now and we still have this. take a lock off into the trees here, it looks more like januaryer march. winter wonderland, very pretty, a lacey tap is tree of snow in the trees. it's not what any of us expected or wanted and it's a problem for people trying to get to work to drive around. take a look at interstate 70. traffic light here, but this highway by the way the storm has barreled all the way along this highway, all the way from colorado where a foot of snow was dumped in denver, all the way through illinois, indiana, ohio and

the self-guided white house tours were canceled either by the secret service or the whowt whitehouse, i've not been able to get a clear answer to actually who made that decision, but regardless, they were canceled in order to save a minimum of $2.14 million according to the secret service. this amendment proposes to transfer $2.5 million from t.s.a. to the u.s. secret service to pay for the security staff necessary for the white house tours to continue for the remainder of fy 2013. why go after t.s.a.? in my view, t.s.a. can absorb these costs. last just last week, t.s.a. signed a contract that would allow it to spend up to $50 million on uniforms related to the expenses of -- over the course of the next two years. so last week t.s.a. spends $50 million for new uniforms, and now we have no money for tours at the white house. prior to signing that $50 million uniform contract, the t.s.a. uniform allowance for security officers had already doubled last november as part of a new t.s.a. collective bargaining agreement to an estimated $9.57 million annually. this works out to $443 per t.s.

whitehouse: i thank the chairman. mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: i have similar stories to those that have been described on the floor already. indeed, a former member of this body who is now the governor of our state -- governor chafee -- wrote to me about a bookstore owner in middle town, rhode island, who told him about patrons browsing books in the store, you know, only to leave without actually making a purchase. and the bookstore owner is concerned that what they had done is they made a list of the books they wanted to buy and then they went to try to to get them more cheaply on the internet. i've been approached by a rhode islander who works in a shoe store and has seen people come in and have them bring out the boxes of shoes, try on the different shoes, decide on the exact size and model of shoe that they want, and then walk out the door. and they've seen it happen enough that they think what happens is they're going to go to an internet site and they're going to buy the

i would like to hear what they are. >> thank you very much, senator whitehouse. senator flake is not here. senator klobuchar is not here. senator graham is here. >> thank you, mr. attorney general. we have been talking about the war on terror ever since you have been doing this job. and i want to congratulate you and the president. i think you have thought hard and long under difficult circumstances. i want to applaud your efforts with the drone program. it has helped us in afghanistan and pakistan and i just believe this is a tactical tool that this president should be using and using it responsibly. is al qaeda actively involved recruiting american citizens to their cause? >> i certainly know of efforts that al qaeda has made. >> we don't disclose that the al qaeda organization is actively involved in seeking american citizens' support. in every war we have had, unfortunately americans have sided with the enemy, few in number. we had american citizens helping the germans who tried to blow up infrastructure in the united states. >> those cases were tried right d

used to hang out together at the whitehouse. >> all the time. >> with newsweek.rtner down there. so what is this monsanto protection act? >> the montansano is the unofficial name. it's a smart part of the continuing resolution, the big budget that president obama signed to avoid a government shutdown. a tiny part of that. >> like a poison pill. >> exactly. two paragraphs that essentially says that companies that do biotechnology for agriculture like monsanto and other ones, too, cannot be held up in federal court over some of these patents over their technology. they are producing general theically modified seeds, organisms of different sorts. the federal courts can't challenge them. people can't try to stop monsanto from taking seeds. >> there may be other companies but monsanto is the big mama here? right? >> right. >> this provision in that bill which the president did sign wasn't just that. it was one tiny part of the bill but gives them a free ride. >> monsanto and everything they produce has to be cleared at the epa. at the federal level someone has to say

whitehouse: okay. mr. mccain: my question is, do you think the american people appreciate and understand what this does to the lives of the men and women who are serving -- for example, those who are serving on that aircraft carrier that they said was going to deploy for many months and it was canceled at the last minuteg plans that are now going to have to be canceled? the deployments that will be changed? not to mention the massive layoffs in the defense industry which sometimes are not easily replaceable. that's my question. mr. graham: i don't know if they do or not, senator mccain. we've done everything we could, the three of us, to tell them what's coming our way. all i can say is that every admiral who's told us the same thing, i respect what they're telling us. leon panetta is a democrat but he's dead right. he's been a gre secretary of defense. i trust their judgment. i know enough about the military budget to know if you take $600 billion out of the budget on top of the $487 billion plus the $89

just as an example, senator whitehouse and i pointed out to the attorney general yesterday that we still await answers to questions from the last oversight hearing we had with the attorney general in june last year. with a response time like that, we may never know how the department works. an annual report would require the department to provide this data regularly, and likely faster than if we ask the attorney general himself to sleep urge my colleagues to support this amendment so we can collect data, we need to ensure the department prosecutes the laws on the books and i would like a roll call vote at least. >> thank you, mr. chairman. this amendment is a big, broad amendment. it seeks to determine whether a decision has been made to charge an individual with a firearms violation. in cases where no charge is made, a description of will and a -- of why no charge is that the whether an indictment, or other charges been brought against any person, whether in any case his charge, whether a firearms violations is alleged. whether in any case where a firearms violation is alleged, a plea a

quoting unnamed sources like singers adele and beyonce have been asked to perform for her 50th at the whitehousey saying she will do it for free. no word from beyonce. one would assume she would say yes with the obama family but no comment on this from the white house. >> no lip sinking. >> we shut down tours but we let celebrities inyncing. >> we shut down tours but we let celebrities in. >> last week we talked about joy bay hair leaving the view -- behar is leaving. us weekly reporting elizabeth hasselbeck is being pushed out by producers. market research showing people are not watching the daytime chat fest specifically because much her. >> barbara walters will clear up her intentions on the view later this morning. >> regarding? >> that's all they said. we will find out later today. >> suspension is killing me. is back, john kerry, world tour good impression? >> i think it was well covered. it was great to see, it came into play a little bit on this 10 day trip. the president was making fun of him at the grid iron. >> more john kerry pant suits are needed or something. shaping the style. he

. >> i have talked to senator whitehouse in the past and found that he and i are essentially in these discussions. >> financial services, and if they went down, it would hurt our economy. i think the concept is that it allows the industry in question, like utilities come in to come up with best business practices within the industry and submit their proposal to the government agency with homeland security and a key component of it. and if these are meaningful, we will grant liability protection to those who have met the standards. is that a reasonable way to proceed? >> the issue is the information sharing part. >> that is a critical part of it. let's assume that we get the information sharing right. the regulatory regime, my belief is that regulations are moving too fast. >> i do. if you separate the two and you have information on one side and those that work together, in essence, that is where the executive orders try to go as well. >> yes, i would like to encourage that we can find a path forward that would allow the private sector to have the critical infrastructure area. because

views to be included in the design no longer than the 15 so that she's budget and also senator whitehouse and senator berkley are unable to be your ticket to rope in a state of severe bouts that i ask them animus consent they be allowed to do so. i have one final matter of housekeeping. i know members will have scheduling called pixel becoming a going. we have a committee corner there requires at least eight of us to be here in order to conduct business. if senator sessions and other members would agree, it would keep america moving forward, even if they're less than eight of this year. at this point we ask and ask and suffer purpose of opening statements the offering of the men in debate during the markup a quorum requirement be considered for the remainder of the market. >> madam chairwoman, with regard to back him and it's a good policy. i would suggest that to my colleagues that there's no objection i've been according to that. >> without objection, that's how we perceive to be expeditious as possible. i appreciate consideration of that. what that come up her seat to my opening statem

senator schumer, senator durbin, senator whitehouse, senator blumenthal, as well as many others off the committee introduced legislation to prohibit the sale, transfer, manufacture, and importation of assault weapons and high- capacity magazines. as the members of this committee know, we in acted a ban on assault weapons and high- capacity magazines, which i authored in the senate and senator schumer sponsored in the house in 1994. unfortunately, that law had a 10 year life. congress failed to renew it when it expired in 2004. since the ban expired, many people have been killed with assault weapons. over 450 have been wounded. they're more lethal today than they were in 2004. let me give you an example. you can watch this on the screen. you can buy a bump fire stock legally. you insert it into an ar-15 or other assault rifle. this is legal. it is not cosmetic. it allows a semi automatic firearm to be fired quickly as a fully automatic shotgun -- excuse me, machine gun -- which has been banned for decades. there is the slide. [bang] [bang] [bang] [bang] [bang] [bang, bang, bang, bang] >>

. >> senator whitehouse. >> i will speak briefly. i think it is clear where this is going and where the political forces have arrayed themselves. i would hope that as we go to the floor i can work with senator feinstein and others to make sure we get a separate vote on the high-capacity magazines question. it is clear that the assault weapons ban has become the -- the other party is locked in against that. i don't see us getting 60 votes. i do think it is possible to get 60 votes on the high-capacity weapons ban. it is hard to imagine it could be a violation of the first amendment for somebody to yell fire in a crowded theater but it is not a violation of the second amendment to prevent someone from bringing a 100 round magazine into a crowded theater in aurora, colorado. we've heard specific testimony about lives that would be have been saved if there had not been high-capacity magazines. we heard from representative gifford's husband in the shooting, he mentioned the child of the 13th shot victim that would not have happened if he

whitehouse. >> aye. >> miss klobuchar. >> aye. >> mr. franken. >> aye. >> mr. graham. >> no by proxy. >> mr. cornyn. >> no. >> mr. lee. >> no by proxy. >> mr. chairman. >> aye. >> mr. chairman votes are 11 yeas, seven nays. >> the senator from texas. >> so you don't think i'm trying to pull your leg, there was a complete substitute -- >> you're not the one that talked about my brother-in-law. >> there was a complete substitute at your office at 4:16 yesterday. is when we got the language. >> i was on the floor introducing it on monday. >> i'm not saying you personally delivered it to our office. i'm saying your shop emailed it to our office at 4:16 yesterday. that's my only point. thank you. >> all right. and trust me my brother-in-law's a good guy. >> i had the honor of meeting your brother-in-law. >> i know you have. and he's done the prayer at the opening of the session several times. i must say just for -- it has nothing to do with this thing, but one of the things that he's found the biggest thrill when he has been the visiting clergyman for the senate is

this amendment is cosponsored by, senator harkin, hirono and whitehouse. this amendment is strongly supported by the american legion and all of the veterans' organizations. it is supported by the aarp and all of the senior organizations because they do not want to see cuts in social security. it is supported by the afl-cio and the national organization for women, among many other groups. mr. president, after all of the fine memorial day speeches about how much we love and support our veterans, the disabled veterans of america, the gold star wives, the -- the presiding officer: the senator's time has expired. mr. sanders: -- they want to know if we're going to balance the budget on the backs of disabled veterans. i hope very much we will not do that. mrs. murray: the senator from north carolina. a senator: mr. president, i rise in support of the sanders amendment and i urge my colleagues to support it. mr. burr: you see, i -- i support chained c.p.i., just like the president, as it

whitehouse: mr. president, and colleagues, we have a new pope, pope francis, who said last week that our relation with god's creation is not very good right now. god's creation runs by laws, the laws of nature, the laws of physics, the laws of chemistry, and god gave us the power of reason to understand those laws. but they are not negotiable. they are not subject to amendment or repeal. and arrogance of our thinking that they are is an offense to his creation. we can ignore obvious facts, we can ignore the essentially unanimous science, our generals and commerce, we can ignore the insurance industry but we ignore carbon pollution at our peril and subsidized it long enough. it's past time to wake up from our sleep walking. this vote is a test whether we pass or fail is a measure of us. i urge that we support this amendment what will allow to us put a price on carbon and protect the american people. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. mr. blunt: i would have som

whitehouse: mr. president, except for perhaps in congress and in the boardrooms of exxonmobil, it is no longer credible to deny what carbon pollution -- the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. mr. whitehouse: -- it is no longer credible to ignore what carbon pollution is doing to our atmospheres and to our oceans. we aid and abet that harm by subsidizing carbon, distorting the market, by violating the rule that the cost of a product should be in its price. nonrepealable laws of nature, laws of physics, laws of chemistry are at work and history's judgment will be harsh if we continue to fail in respecting those laws. i urge a "no" vote and yield back to the senator from washington. the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: mr. president, i raise a point of order that the pending amendment is not germane to the underlying resolution and therefore violates section 305-b-2 of the congressional budget act of 1974. the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. mr. b

this is not from sheldon whitehouse. this is not from the environment committee. this is from the g.a.o. "the impacts and costliness of weather disasters -- resulting from floods, drought, and/events such as tropical cyclones -- will increase in significance as what are considered 'rare' events become more common and intense due to climate change." you know, when i started in this work, a very long time ago, we talked about the 100-year flood. and we could protect against that 100-year flood. no now as governor cuomo has stated eloquently, we we're seeing thoe hundred-year floods every couple of years. taxpayers are on the hook for events like spoarm sandy and because the federal government owns buildings across the nation, insures property and crops and provides disaster assistance, let's see what else the g.a.o. says. climate change impacts, pose significant financial risks for the federal government which, by the way, means us all, taxpayers. which owns extensive infrastructure, insures property through federal flood and crop insurance programs, provides atinl