mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: mr. president unanimous consent request unanimous consent the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the homeland security and governmental affairs committee be discharged from the following postal naming bills en bloc: h.r. 2338 and h.r. 3892, that the senate proceed to their consideration, the consideration of the following bills en bloc which were received from the house are at the desk: h.r. 3869 4389, 6260, 6379 and h.r. 6587. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the bills be read a third time passed en bloc, the motions to reconsider be laid on the table en bloc with no intervening action or debate and an

mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mr. schumer: i have a bunch of things i want to say in reference to my good friend from oklahoma but i know my colleagues from oregon and michigan have a time commitment, so i'm going to just ask unanimous consent they be allowed to offer their amendment and using time on this amendment -- mr. coburn: i would object to that at this point. i have to be somewhere at 7:30. i came down here, but i want to make some points before i leave. i was trying to sum up -- mr. schumer: i'll go after the senator from oklahoma as well. ms. mikulski: did i inadvertently interrupt? mr. coburn: i have to leave but i have to make some points. mr. schumer: let me ask unanimous consent for five minutes the senator from michigan and oregon introduce their amendment, then the senator from oklahoma sums up and then i be given time to rebut those amendments. ms. mikulski: and me to. the presiding officer:. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. menendez: i'm not going to object but i would like to amend th

mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mr. schumer: well, passing this bill was really a very fine accomplishment, and of course we senators get up and stand up and are very proud of it, as we should be, but without our staffs, we couldn't get any of this done. so i would just like to take a few minutes to thank my staff, many of whom were personally impacted by superstorm sandy, who worked tirelessly to ensure that new york's needs were adequately addressed, as my state continues to react and recover to superstorm sandy and her aftermath. because of their hard work and tireless efforts, i know that new york's needs have been addressed in the sandy supplemental legislation that passed through the senate earlier this evening. my great l.d., heather mchugh, coordinated this effort, making sure every type of aid was considered and included in this package. she has great knowledge of both the senate and the house, and it was invaluable in getting this done. my deputy chief of staff, aaron sagervaun who is just so selfless and wond

mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president. first i want to thank my great colleague from pennsylvania, i enjoyed sharing a table last night with him and his beautiful, charming, intelligent wife, who he's lucky he would be the first to admit he's lucky to have married, and their four great girls. but second, thank him for his excellent, as usual, on-target remarks. we have a great chairman of the j.e.c. and every time he comes to the floor, it shows shoas. olympia snowe, bill kristol, congressman mike simpson of idaho, david brooks, congresswoman bono-mack and walter jones, "the national review." we're here to ai seau passing the senate's middle-class tax cut is the right thing to do. you don't have to take our word for it. two-thirds of the american public agrees with us but you don't need to take their word for it, either. just listen to the voices within speaker boehner's own party. there we go. a kent conrad i am not in terms of my facility with charts. it's clear that speaker boehner has needed cover from his right flank

mr. schumer: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mr. schumer: madam president, we saw what happened here, the minority leader filibustering his own bill. he should have trusted his first instincts. imagine if we would have passed the minority leader's resolution. the markets would have been jubilant. stocks would have gone up. one of the great specters hanging over our economy that we wouldn't raise the debt ceiling would have greatly mitigated in terms of damage and danger, and we could move on to the real issues of dealing with the fiscal cliff and dealing with our debt situation and not have a debt ceiling hanging out there as a diversionary but dangerous issue. but for some reason, inexplicable, the minority leader, the republican leader, changed his mind. now, he said on the floor well, important measures deserve 60 votes, but when he brought it up earlier, he acted as if he was in favor of it, he was offering it. and now, of course, essaying no, he's going to object to his own resolution. i wish he would reconsider. again, playing

mr. schumer: thank you, madam president. the presiding officer: under the previous order, there will be 30 minutes of debate equally divided in the usual form. mr. schumer: thank you. i rise in support of each of these judges, fine citizens of new york. first i'll speak on judge geraci. i rise today in strong support of an outstanding nominee for the federal bench in the western district of new york. judge frank paul geraci. the federal district court in the western district of our state serves two large metropolitan areas, rochester and buffaloo these are centers of legal communities of our state. in fact, each city has a population of -- oach each metropolitan area has a population of over a million residents. judge geraci has been an important and respected part of this community for his entire life. born in rochester, he graduated from mcquade jesuit high school, he earned his undergraduate and law degrees from university of dayton in ohio, staying in the jesuit fold by attending that institution. he returned to rocheste

-- weirdly contrive that obama is, and now i'm quoting mr. schumer, senator schumer, far more likely than romney to launch a military attack on iran. it appears that netanyahu fell victim to his own zionist propaganda, alas, internalized by many anti-zionists as well, that jews not only control the united states, but also if called upon, will automatically act at israel's behest. but you did not come here this afternoon for a sociological survey of the american jewish relationship with israel. most of you presumably want to know about the political implications of the end of the american jewish romance with israel. in particular as it bears on israel's occupation of palestinian lands. i would suggest two complimentary conclusions. a broad consensus now exists for resolving the israel/palestine conflict. it includes nearly the whole of the united nations, the most respected legal bodies in the world such as the international court of justice and the most respected human rights organizations such as amnesty international and human rights watch.

mr. schumer: yeah, i rise in opposition to amendment 3382. i guess i have two minutes for that because it's four minutes equally divided between the amendments. and i know my colleague from maryland will debate the other amendment. i urge a strong "no" vote on this. now, this would require -- this would require a huge amount of time and bureaucratic red tape at a time of emergency between disaster victims and the federal assistance they deserve. competitive bidding is generally a good thing, cost savings, transparency, fraud prevention, and it's important that federal disaster assistance be not used as a slush fund for crony contracts. but, folks, this has every is every single contract. we're dealing with an emergency. in most states, it takes 90 days, more, three months, six months. you have people who desperately need help, and you would slow the process down to a fairthewell if you had to invoke the same competitive bidding practice that we invoke for other contracts that are not under emergency. in fact, we're sort of catch-22 here. many

so, mr. president, i would yield the floor. mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president. and first i want to thank our chairman of judiciary and ranking democrat on the appropriations committee for his leadership, his caring, his concern, and his expertise. the people of new york are very grateful to the senator from vermont for his concern and caring. and we thank you for that etch have. -- and we thank you for that very much. mr. president, today we begin debate on one of the most momentous proposals to affect new york's future that we have ever debated, a proposal equal in magnitude and importance to the debate about aid to new york after the horrible attacks on our city after 9/11. and i must say, the debate is off to a good start. our colleagues on both sides of the aisle have shown tremendous concern. leader reid has agreed to allow amendments so that those in this chamber, particularly those on the other side, can make modifications, and leader mcconnell and the republican minority has not insisted on a motion to proceed. so we're beginning this bill in a very us a

aren't i a better shot than chuck schumer? mr. nelson: well, he noted that he learned to shoot at camp and that he was a marksman, so i -- that's probably a dispute i shouldn't get into the middle of. mr. harkin: no, you don't want to get in the middle of that. mr. nelson: thank you, thank you very much for those kind remark. it is obviously a difficult time to -- to speak about leaving the senate, and did i that earlier. i leave with a great deal of melancholy and with a lot of friends and a lot of hope for the future for our country. but i rise today to express my support for passage of a five-year farm bill, to call on the house to act on this critical piece of legislation before congress adjourns this year. but i would like to briefly note how sorry i am in a moment, as i know we all are, about the passing of a good friend, senator dan inouye. i entered a longer statement into the record, but i just would like to personally and briefing reiterate the sentiments expressed by a number of my colleagues. senator inouye was a man o

. >> thank you very much, senator schumer. senator menendez? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i particularly want to say that your leadership in this committee and the appropriations committee is going to be so critical to the reconstruction of new jersey and we appreciate not only your leadership in those position but the leadership you've shown alongside those of white house are trying to restore the lives of new jerseyans. so you're critically important to our collective success for the region. i appreciate the comments of the ranking member, senator wicker and nelson, as someone who has stood with the people o mississippi and florida each and every time there's been an issue of devastation and recovery, i'm heartened to hear the remarks that you both made, because it's critically important to the people of new jersey now. we don't have that experience. this is the first time we had the experience. i lived in the state my whole life, i have never seen the b d bredth and scope of devastatn. i appreciate to give one or two dimensions of that. there are many, but for the purpo

senator schumer. >> thank you, mr. chairman. first, thank you for this hearing but also for your great partnership. new york and new jersey were together as a bipartisan by- date delegation along with our colleagues from rest of the northeast to deal with this awful, awful devastation. it is good you are in so many important positions that will have a lot of say in how we deal with this and we're grateful forthank you, ranking , senator wicker. west hamilton beach was in my old congressional district. it is one of the few volunteer fire departments in new york city. it is right on the water, the great jamaica bay. the generosity of mississippi to west hamilton beach has been noted and much preceded by s. bay. and the generosity of mississippians to west hamilton

we go to mr. ron claiborne who has extraordinary videotape. >>> out of russia. a plane crash outside of moscow. we'll begin with this stunning video. the plane overshot the runway and careened into traffic and abc's kirit radia has the story. >> reporter: you're about to see the terrifying moment of impact as the russian passenger jet slams into a busy highway. watch again. you can see the plane's tire colliding with the moving car. and listen closely. you can hear the squealing brakes and crushing metal. the crash took place on saturday at an airport outside moscow. the red wing airlines flight broke through a barrier fence shattering into three pieces and bursting into flames before skidding to a stop at the edge of the highway. witnesses rushed to pull survivors out of the wreckage. the russian made tupolev 204 was flying back from the czech republic with no passengers and eight crew members on board. officials say four of them were killed including the pilots. the other four were seriously injured. an investigation has been opened but officials have already

on the record to support mr. heigle as did joe lieberman. it is not just conservatives or republicans who are opposed to mr. hoegle -- mr. heigle. >> real quick, he is known to be a con terror yen and out of the box thinker. does that explain these comments? >> perhaps it does, but america's fighting troops don't need a contraian. they need a leader. >> representative, we will see you when the new session gets underway in january. >> thanks. merry christmas. >> you too. >>> former solicitor general robert borke has been laid to rest. former federal judge i should say. he was nominated by president ronald reagan, but the senate rejected the nome make with a consider -- rejected the nomination by a wide margin. he was battling heart conditions and pulmonary disease. he was 85 years old. >>> it is going to be a special christmas for the family of john hammer, the former marine who was releasedded from a mexican jail on friday night after two members of congress took up his case. hammer was detained in august after h

senator schumer. >> thank you, mr. chairman. first, thank you for this hearing but also for your great partnership. new york and new jersey were together as a bipartisan by-date delegation along with our colleagues from rest of the northeast to deal with this awful, awful devastation. it is good you are in so many important positions that will have a lot of say in how we deal with this and we're grateful for that as well as your leadership. thank you, ranking member, senator wicker. west hamilton beach was in my old congressional district. it is one of the few volunteer fire departments in new york city. it is right on the water, the great jamaica bay. the generosity of mississippi to west hamilton beach has been noted and much preceded by s. we are also glad, in a certain sense, not that you suffered the same damage but that to understand what we're going through because of the devastation that katrina wreaked on your community. bill nelson lives with hurricanes as a way of life and we're learning how tough it is. we're learnin

saying that the president is open to supporting a new assault weapons ban which i'm introducing with mr. perlmutter. another bill which i introduced with senator schumer and the ban on high capacity assault weapons which i sponsored with senator lautenberg. this is not something new. this is not something new. we know that with the extension of those large magazines, we did not see the kind of killings we have seen in recent years. so for many people in this country who are trying to reduce gun violence, this moment is different. work with us and i'm asking my republican friends to work with us. it shouldn't be a democrat or a republican issue. it is all of us as americans who are mourning the death in newtown and we don't want to see any more of these shootings again. work with us to save lives. because we can do this. work with us to make sure our children get to grow up and live to their fullest potential. work with us to reduce these tragedies in all of our communities across the country. work with us so we don't have to cover the funerals. ast's not who we are americans. i know the

saying that the president is open to supporting a new assault weapons ban which i'm introducing with mr. pearl nutter. another bill which i introduced with senator schumer and the ban on high capacity assault weapons which i sponsored with senator lautenberg. this is not something new. this is not something new. we know that with the extension of those large magazines, dewid -- we did not see the kind of killings we have seen in recent years. so for many people in this country who are trying to reduce gun violence, this moment is different. when i work -- work with us and i'm asking my republican friends to work with us. it shouldn't be a democrat or a republican issue. it is all of us as americans who are mourning the death in newtown and we don't want to see any more of these shootings again. work with us to save lives. because we can do this. work with us to make sure our children get to grow up and live to their fullest potential. work with us to reduce these tragedies in all of our communities across the country. work with us so we don't have to cover the funerals. that's not who w

mr. reed: without objection, thank you, madam president, and i would yield the floor. mrs. boxer: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. boxer: thank you very much. i think we're trying to make the case here today that there's a very easy way for us to climb down from this fiscal cliff because the senate already passed a bill that would extend tax cuts to 98% of the american people and the house will not take it up. this will mean over ten years about a trillion dollar tril a n savings. and it won't hurt the billionaires and millionaires, they've told us that. so here's when the senate passed the middle class tax cuts, madam president. july 25, 2012. the republicans have been sitting on it over in the house. they didn't do anything july, august, september, october, november, and december, here we are six months later and they refuse to allow a vote on this for reasons that go to their internal disputes. it is time for them to put country over party. it is time for them to put country over their ideological battles. that was a mouthful. i'm

the gun check act were supporting nature dues to senator schumer and the ban on high-capacity assault weapons, which i sponsor senator lautenberg and have been introducing cynthia saw a expired in the year 2004. this is not something new. this is not something new. we know that with the extinction of the search magazine, we did not see the kind of killings we have been seeing in recent years. so for many people in this country who are trying to reduce gun violence, this moment is different. i'm asking my republican friends to work with us. it shouldn't be it democrat or republican issue. it is all of us as americans who are mourning the death of me. we don't want to see any of the shootings again. work with us to save lives because we can do this. work with us to make sure our children get to go up the knife to their fullest potential. work with us to produce these tragedies in all of our communities across the country. work with us so we don't have to cover the funerals. that is not who we are as americans. i know there are differences, but can't we come together this one time to sav

this is at the level of senator schumer indicated that he supported earlier on. i have got to say to my friend from rochester, mr. speaker. we are not planning to adjourn. we want to address this issue. we want to do everything we possibly can to resolve this just as quickly as we possibly can. we are just a few days away from christmas, and we are obviously still here working. we are prepared to come back after christmas. sadly, many of our colleagues are going to the funeral, and that has created -- that service that will take place in hawaii has created a challenge for us when it relates to the schedule itself. we understand that this is a difficult time, but we need to work together to put in place pro-growth economic policies and i think they are, as i said in my remarks, there is a bipartisan call to do that. there is the reduction in the corporate tax rate. real tax reform. something we have been trying to do for a while and i think it can be done in a bipartisan way. real entitlement reform that does not hurt our fellow americans is something that can be

this is at the level that senator schumer indicated he supported earlier on. i'm going to say to my friend from rochester, mr. speaker, we are not planning to adjourn. we want to address this issue. we want to do everything that we possibly can, mr. speaker, to resolve this just as quickly as we possibly can. we are just a few days away from christmas. we are obvious-l still here working. we are prepared -- obviously still here working. we are prepared to come back after christmas. sadly many of our colleagues are going to the funeral of senator inouye and that has created that service that will take place in hawaii has created a challenge for us when it relates to the schedule itself. we understand this is a difficult, difficult time. but we need to work together to put into place pro-growth economic policies. i think that there, as i said in my opening remarks, a bipartisan quest to do that. i congratulate the president for his call in reduction from the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%. real tax reform. something we have been trying to do for a while and

. >> thank you, mr. king. >> bantam chairwoman, thank you very much. i want to thank you for the opportunity to be with you today. we'd also like to thank our home state senators, chuck schumer and kirsten gillibrand who have truly been great advocates for new york state and our country. my name is kevin law, president and ceo of the long island association, which is a business organization in the metropolitan region. for those not familiar, long island is a long island. it goes from brooklyn to montana point, but it's politically part of new york city, so the long island i'm referring to his nassau and suffolk county. we are america's first-ever cover region of 3 million people under the home of the middle class and the middle class is built on our small businesses. the long island economy is made up of 100,000 businesses in 90% of those businesses have 20 employees or less in that small businesses are clearly the back bone of the long island economy. superstorm sandy had a devastating impact to long island including hundreds of millions of dollars in

mr. chairman. first of all, i appreciate your remarks. you have been on this committee for 26 years, and again, i'm not indian. i would just go down a notch. as i go over hopefully to the ranking of appropriations. i won't be far in the secretary on hud. but i enjoy working with this committee. enjoyed being chairman of the committee. the people on this committee are super. this is a very important committee. not only for the senate but for the american people and perhaps the world. banking and housing and everything that goes with it goes right to the heart of everything in america. job creation, the money, the regulations of banks, the insurance exchange commission, money laundering, sanctions from iran, you name it. this is an active committee. so i will be around. i will be moving down one notch. having said that, welcome again, mr. secretary. just days after the president's reelection, the fha released in 2012 action where a report, which revealed the economic tide of the fha fund ha

schumer: thank you, mr. president. and first i want to say i appreciate the true concern that my colleague from indiana and those who have put this amendment together have shown. you're not just giving us the back of yew hand and saying you don't need it or wait three months or what. -- or whatever. unfortunately, though, it would just stop dead in its tracks the recovery effort so desperately needed. you cannot plan a recovery on a three-month basis. the bottom line is, if you want to build a tunnel, you can't say i'll build a fifth now and we'll see if there's more money later. if you need to build a berm of six feed feet, you sant say we'll build six feet and build more later. and because we all know that fema and these other agency work, you have to spend the money first and then they reimburse you, if they are real estate not sure there's going to be the money at the end of the road no more after march 31, maybe congress will or won't, you are a going to get a lot of homeowners, small business and governments not

schumer: thank you, mr. president. this amendment, if passed, would not allow the sandy states or future states to protect themselves against the future disasters. my colleague draws a very clear line between protecting from the present rebuilding and the future. if a do you know is wiped out in long beach -- if a dune is wiped out in long beach and to rebuild it they think it should be seven feet rather than five feet because five feet wouldn't be good enough, we come to the irrational, i think, conclusion we would pay for the five feet and not the seven. it makes no sense. most of the cost of rebuilding -- most of the coast reef building is to -- most of the cost of rebuilding is to restore. if there is an extra amount needed to prevent a future hurricane and it is the same type of project, fine. we have a couple of piers that actually protected the water, protected the houses in the rockaways. they didn't build enough of them. not piers. jettys. under my colleague's proposal we could rebuild those but couldn't build

quorum call: mr. schumer: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: first, i want to congratulate senator mikulski on a fine first day on the floor as chair of the appropriations. we're all excited about it on both sides of the aisle and expect great things of that committee next year and perhaps it'll be a change, we'll get appropriations bills done, get them on the floor, move them under her leadership. i also want to thank senator landrieu, who is not here, who really helped out as well, as well as senator murray, senator feinstein, senator -- one other subcommittee -- murray, feinstein -- landrieu, right. i thank them very much and the staff who really is just professional. we have some -- in england they have a civil service, and it's the highest calling, and it's professional whoever is in charge and does a great job. you are our english civil service, which is a very high compliment. with that, i yield the floor and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will ca