wyden: mr. president, to just continue this topic, i think we need to kind of put into perspective a little bit about why this secret hold has become such a detrimental practice. when willie sutton was asked why he robbed the bank, he said that's where the money is. well, secret holds are where the power is. and senator grassley and i have just outlined the enormous effect that a secret hold can have on a piece of legislation, but, frankly, one of the other points that needs to be mentioned is i have long felt that a secret hold is a very powerful weapon that's available to a lobbyist. i expect that practically every senator's gotten a request from a lobbyist asking if a senator would put a secret hold on a nominee, and without the lobbyist's fingerprints appearing anywhere. if you can get a united states senator put a hold on a bill, it's like hitting the lobbyist jackpot. not only is the senator protected by anonymity, but so is the lobbyist. and a lobbyist can play both sides of the a vote st

senator wyden and senator grassley are continuing to try to find a way to reform and make this place more open and transparent and i invite all my colleagues to sign the letter. republican, democrat, independent, sign the letter. we have 43 signatures. that means we're almost halfway there. and if we could get 60, we could move mountains around here when we get to that magic number of 60. i'm hopeful that we can get to 60 by the end of next week and that means we'll have more than a majority in this body to say i don't need a rule, i don't need a law, i'm perfectly willing to make any hold i have open to public inspection. i also want to make another motion today. we have a very important functioning government, and that is investigating accidents. we are getting ready to enter into the travel season. the national transportation safety board is a very body. in fact, they are going to be considering in the next week the miracle on the hudson accident and the problem with aviation as it relates to the danger of birds and possible engine failure. in june they will be investigating the t

the wyden-gregg bill calling for a 24% flat tax, 30% below canada. joining us is senator ron wyden. welcome back. >> thanks for having me. >> your plan or intent is to try to benefit 95% of smaller byes are sales under about $1 million or so with this particular plan. is that a correct read? >> that is correct. what senator gregg and i are trying to do is grow the economy. we triple the standard deduction so millions of middle class families get substantial relief. the reality is the tax system is broken today. we are having in these last few days before april 15, millions of families hunched over trying to figure out these forms. we have a one-page 1040 form. time to simplify and grow the economy. >> senator wyden, i thought there was a certain view in washington that companies don't pay enough taxes. you proposed a bill to cut taxes. that is a pretty big cut. >> we do that and pay for it by getting rid of exemptions and credits. the reality is a whole lot of special interest groups have been very effective in navigating the tax system. they get these tax breaks in, drain the reven

olson just responded to senator wyden's question about. enhanced law income taxpayer access to financial institutions and thus a variety of other things. at any rate, i hope we can consider that legislation this year. i know it's difficult to get anything considered this year. but this ought to be some good government legislation that could be acted upon much of the bill many of the provisions in the bill were passed out of this committee in the 108th congress. but were not acted upon by the full senate. i hope very much we can do -- act on them this year. let me ask ms. olson one the issues that you and i spoke about when you were kind enough to come by my office a few weeks ago was this whole issue of liens and the concern that you've expressed about the irs lien filing policies causing harm to taxpayers without necessarily increasing irs revenue collections in the process. i guess i'd just ask if you could describe the concern you got and the solution you think we should consider. >> well, what we identified was that irs over the last f

olson just responded to senator wyden's question about.his year. let me ask ms. olson one the issues that you and i spoke about when you were kind enough to come by my office a few weeks ago was this whole issue of liens and the concern that you've expressed about the irs lien filing policies causing harm to taxpayers without necessarily increasing irs revenue collections in the process. i guess i'd just ask if you could describe the concern you got and the solution you think we should consider. >> well, what we identified was that irs over the last few years has been instituted policies where liens are essentially filed automatically. if the taxpayer meets certain requirements of without really looking at the taxpayer specific facts and circumstances. and we look further into what the effect of that lien filing on the taxpayer? we learned that it caused the taxpayer credit score to plummet 100 points immediately and even when the taxpayer paid off of the lean or it expired after time it sat on the credit report for years and years and yea

the wyden-grassley effort that spanned a number of years was a bipartisan attempt to change and reform the way the senate worked to provide more transparency. so this is really about transparency and this is about secret holds, and my criticism for secret holds is a bipartisan criticism. i don't think anybody should do a secret hold. i don't care if they were republican, a democrat, an independent or any other party label. secret holds have no place in a public body. mr. president, notwithstanding rule 2, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to executive calendar number 501, the nomination of gloria valencia-weber, member of the legal services corporation, be confirmed, the motions to reconsider be considered made, laid upon the table, no further motions be in order, that the president be immediately notified of the senate's action, that any statements relating to the nominee appear in the appropriate place in the record as if read. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. kyl: mr. president, i object. the presiding officer: objection being heard. mrs. mccaskill: notwi

this amendment is being cosponsored by senators feingold, leahy, wyden, dorgan and boxer, democrats.it is being cosponsored by senators demint, mccain, grassley, vitter, brownback, graham, risch, and wicker, republicans. but quite significantly on the base bill that i introduced from which this amendment comes, this legislation is being supported by 32 cosponsors, and that is 22 republicans and 10 democrats. they run the gamut from some of the most conservative members of the senate to some of the most progressive, and the senators who are supporting the base bill are senators barrasso, bennett of utah, boxer, brownback, burr, cardin, chambliss, coburn, demint, dorgan, feingold, graham, grassley, harkin, hatch, hutchison, inhofe, isakson, landrieu, leahy, lincoln, mccain, thune, wicker, and wyden. that is a very broad cross-section of the united states senate. from some of the most conservative to some of the most progressive members on the base bill who say it is absurd that the fed can lend out trillions of dollars without the american people knowing who has received that money. an

so i am -- and i want to once again give a shout out to senator wyden and grassley who worked on this for a number of years. we're going to open this letter to all in senate. and hopefully before we find out -- and we're all waiting to see what happens in the six days that are looming for all these secret holds, if people step up into the sunshine. if they don't, in the mean time, we hopefully will get unanimous support from the united states senators that secret holds are now out of fashion and no longer are going to be tolerated in the united states senate. and, mr. president, i would yield the floor to my colleague from colorado, senator bennet. mr. bennet: thank you, mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from colorado is recognized. mr. bennet: i'd like to thank the senator from missouri for kickinkicking this off. i rise in strong effort from a group of strong-minded senators to get rid of this ridiculous and insane practice of anonymous holds. the american people have little patience for this political game when they're going through what they're going through. what

think you've got a good shot in wisconsin, paul ayers is a good shot in washington state, gillebrand, wyden, rob simmons has a shot against blumenthal and of those five, probably two or three will come in. so i would predict about a 52-48 republican victory. bill: wow, okay. we've got a few more months to figure out the nails and as they associate with states and we'll handle that another time. you're saying today, republicans win the house, and the senate is this close. >> we're going to win both houses. bill: okay. if that's the case, then, is health care repealed? >> no, we can't repeal it because it's a statistical impossibility to get a two-thirds majority in the senate. there aren't enough democrats up, only a third of the senate is up. but i do believe we can de fund it, we can zero fund the expenditures and veto all of the cuts. those cuts have to be approved affirmtively by congress each year, the medicare cuts, and we can disapprove those cuts. so i think between zero funding the implementation and initiating and vetoing the cuts we can stop any damage from health care and then if

more extremely radical types that we had in our report as senator gregg and senator wyden's bipartisan approach that is maybe somewhat more realistic publicly. the problem on the tax side is that you also have some really big sharks and i guess on like most they're very popular sharks. [laughter] so we are talking about things like the inflation, a huge amount of money. >> home mortgage. >> we have an incredible array of different things to try to encourage savings and they are so complicated i can't figure it out and it's the ones for college savings that blow the mind. so i very much agree with you but then after the sharks, think cbo lists about 70 or is at budget lists about 70 which are small compared to the savings. islamic would like to ask a follow-up question. do you believe that in addition to the sustainable debt of the nation deficit and economic growth we should also take into consideration the growing income disparities in america? .. can you develop a budget while closing this deficit? as i said before, i think all you have to design your initiatives very carefully but c

senator wyden. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i share your view with respect to the tax gap. i look toward to getting that information. i think it's absolutely pivotal. a couple of points, one, of course, ms. olson, if you simplify the tax, you know, system, it'll be easier to collect taxes owed, isn't that correct? >> one would hope so, yes. now the overwhelming majority of taxpayers in this country are honest, they are people who work hard and they play by the rules. there is just no question about that. but it seems to me that taxpayers that i'm speaking about, the overwhelming majority who are honest often make inadvertent errors, they end up over paying their taxes, or they under pay their taxes because the system is so complicated, it's not possible to get an accurate assessment of what's owed. how rev hasn't is that? i'm struck when i listens to folks at home in oregon that there is a very, very substantial problem. could you kind of put some numbers around it? how much people honestly trying to comply with tax law get snared in this bureaucratic, you know, water tortu

my colleagues senator gregg and senator wyden have such a proposal. there's a proposal in the house that offers the same type of clarity and simplicity to allow americans, if they choose, to file taxes quickly and easily. certainly something, mr. president, that we should undertake and be about. but let's also ask this question, is the amount of money that americans are paying in tax actually going to something that effectively an efficiently anyonadministered by the federal government. and let's think about all of the money that washington is taking from americans every day. and not just washington, our state an local authorities. in fact, when you think about the number of taxes that people pay, it's really quite amazing. first, you -- first you go to your job in the morning and you make a salary and you pay tax on your income. and then if you choose to spend that money, you're taxed on a variety of different ways because if not every state, virtually every state has a sales tax. so you're taxed on the money you make, then you're taxed on the money

more extremely radical types that we had in our report as senator gregg and senator wyden's bipartisanh that is maybe somewhat more realistic publicly. the problem on the tax side is that you also have some really big sharks and i guess on like most they're very popular sharks. [laughter] so we are talking about things like the inflation, a huge amount of money. >> home mortgage. >> we have an incredible array of different things to try to encourage savings and they are so complicated i can't figure it out and it's the ones for college savings that blow the mind. so i very much agree with you but then after the sharks, think cbo lists about 70 or is at budget lists about 70 which are small compared to the savings. islamic would like to ask a follow-up question. do you believe that in addition to the sustainable debt of the nation deficit and economic growth we should also take into consideration the growing income disparities in america? .. congressman spratt. [inaudible] >> instead of social security, but human wrote one of the best little polygraphs readable by almost anybody on the

if anyone -- i know that -- let me just once again give kudos to senator wyden and senator grassley. they worked on this for years. trying to clean umsecret holds and thought they got it done when they passed senate bill 1 back in 2007 and like a bad habit that is hard to break, this one evidently has been very hard to break in the numbers that i just went through. those are all the people that have secret holds right now. and hopefully by the end of the week we'll learn who it is in the senate that doesn't want them to be nominated, who it is that doesn't want them to be confirmed, and that they are willing to speak out about their objections so that we can answer them and move forward and get these people to work. for the people of this great country. thank you, madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. burris: thank you, madam president. i would like permission to speak as if in morning business. speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. the senate is in morning business. mr. burris: thank you, mr. president. last week

hutchison, inhofe, isakson, landrieu, leahy, lincoln, mccain, mikulski, risch, thune, vitter, and wyden. that is quite a cross-section of political views in favor of bringing transparency to the fed. mr. president, what my amendment will do -- and we intend to bring that amendment to the floor during this debate -- is, in fact -- would require the federal reserve to release all of the details about the more than $2 trillion in zero interest loans the fed provided to large financial institutions, and also it would call for a g.a.o. audit of the fed. and the bottom line there, mr. president, is that it is imperative that the g.a.o. conduct an independent and comprehensive audit of the federal reserve within one year, and that's what our amendment does. it requires the federal reserve to disclose the names of the financial institutions that received over $2 trillion in virtually zero interest loans since the start of the recession. and, mr. president, this is an amendment that i think plls of people -- millions of people wander -- this amendment both in the house and the senate brings toge

olson just responded to senator wyden's question about. enhanced law income taxpayer access to financial institutions and thus a variety of other things. at any rate, i hope we can consider that legislation this year. i know it's difficult to get anything considered this year. but this ought to be some good government legislation that could be acted upon much of the bill many of the provisions in the bill were passed out of this committee in the 108th congress. but were not acted upon by the full senate. i hope very much we can do -- act on them this year. let me ask ms. olson one the issues that you and i spoke about when you were kind enough to come by my office a few weeks ago was this whole issue of liens and the concern that you've expressed about the irs lien filing policies causing harm to taxpayers without necessarily increasing irs revenue collections in the process. i guess i'd just ask if you could describe the concern you got and the solution you think we should consider. >> well, what we identified was that irs over the last f