she wrote "i remember mom always telling me that all in all in the end the only one you really have is god. i have come to a place an experience where in every sense of the world i have surrendered myself to our creator because literally there was no one else and by god and by your prayers i have felt tenderly cradled in freefall. i have been shown in darkness light and even in prisoner one can be free. i am grateful. i have come to see that there's good in every situation. sometimes we just have to look for it. i pray each day that if nothing else, you have felt a certain closeness and surrendered to god as well and have formed a bond of love and support amongst one another. i miss you all as if it had been a decade of separation." kayla closed with these words:

"the thought of your pain is the source of my own simultaneously the hope of our reunion is the source of my strength. please be patient. give your pain to god. i know you would want me to remain strong. that is exactly what i am doing. do not fear for me. continue to pray, as will i and by god's will we will be together soon. all my everything, kayla." in a statement today the mueller family reflected on kayla's life and their commitment to work every day to honor her legacy. kayla was a compassionate and devoted humanitarian. she dedicated the whole of her young life to helping those in need of freedom justice and peace. kayla was drawn to help those displaced by the syrian civil war. she first traveled to turkey in december 2012 to provide

humanitarian aid to syrian refugees. she told us of the great joy she took in helping syrian children and their families. we are so proud of the person kayla was and the work that she did while she was here with us. she lived with purpose and we will work every day to honor her legacy. our hearts are breaking for our only daughter, but we will continue on in peace dignity and love for her. on behalf of the people of arizona and the united states congress i want to express the deepest condolences to kayla's parents marcia and carl mueller her loving family and many friends. our thoughts and prayers are with you.

kayla devoted her young life to helping people around the world to healing the sick and bringing light to some of the darkest and most desperate places on earth. she will never be forgotten. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that a letter written by kayla from her imprisonment to her family be included as part of the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mccain: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. a senator: mr. president i ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. senatorshaheen:thank you mr. president. can you tell me what the status of the floor is? the presiding officer: the senate is in morning business with 20 minutes a piece. mrs. shaheen: thank you very much. despite the fact we are days away from the department of homeland security shutting down, we don't yet have an agreement to fund a clean bill to keep the department of homeland security operating. unfortunately, we haven't heard from the majority that there is interest in addressing this issue this week. i think that's very unfortunate. we're ready to work to pass a clean full-year bill to fund the

department of homeland security. last week we actually asked unanimous consent to take up and pass the clean bill that senator mikulski and i introduced to fund the department for the rest of the year and to then have votes on immigration matters. i think we're happy to debate immigration but we don't believe we should do it on the bill that would fund the department of homeland security. unfortunately, that unanimous consent was rejected. now we can pass a clean bill this afternoon and we should. we should stop playing politics with our national security. in just a few days with our nation dealing with real and dangerous terror threats some members of congress have suggested that we should shut down the department of homeland security because of their extreme opposition to the president's executive actions on immigration, they're willing to put at risk the security and safety of this country. well i've come to the floor

today to talk about why we need to put politics aside for the security of our nation, why we need to pass a full-year funding bill for the department of homeland security. a short-term budget, which is what some members of congress are discussing, should be off the table. a short-term budget, a continuing resolution, or a c.r. means that the government son auto pilot and that is extraordinarily bad for business and for security. we need to pass a full-year bill. if the department of homeland security operates under a short-term budget, grants to protect our cities and our nation's ports from terror attacks would be halted. grants to police and firefighters won't be awarded. contracts and acquisitions would be postponed. hiring would be delayed and employee training would be scaled back. homeland security secretary jeh johnson recently said -- and i

quote -- "as long as this department continues to operate on a c.r., we are prevented from funding key homeland security initiatives. these include funding for new grants to state and local law enforcement, additional border security resources and additional secret service resources. other core missions such as aviation security and protection of federal installations and personnel are also hampered." end quote. a little while ago senator booker and i held a conference call with mayor anice parker from houston texas mayor michael nuter of philadelphia and new york city deputy commissioner for counterterrorism and intelligence john miller. they talked about how very real and dangerous the consequences would be for cities if we don't fund homeland security. our big cities and our major urban areas are unfortunately top targets for terrorists. and if we don't pass a full-year

funding bill for d.h.s., the grant programs specifically designed to help cities plan, prepare for and defend against possible attacks will be halted. one of the things that deputy commissioner miller talked about is the fact that there have been 16 plots that have been thwarted against new york city, and that was done to a great extent by programs that were funded by the department of homeland security. at risk is nearly $600 million that is funding to keep our city safe that will be put on hold. without those resources cities and the millions who live there are at risk. that's not to mention all of the other small communities around this country that are at risk. that is just unacceptable. mayor nutter from philadelphia talked about how they are not

able to train first responders because the funding is uncertain. they don't know if we're going to get a bill, and so they don't know if they can continue to train. he said they don't have reimbursement for their fusion centers if we don't get a funding bill for homeland security. he said -- and i quote -- " it's not right to put the heavy burden on those on the front lines, those first responders who are there in cases of emergency. mayor parker from houston talked about her employees at the police department, it the public health agency, the department of homeland security employees who are affected by our failure to get a funding bill. she said right now they're dealing with measles in the city of houston and it's very important that they have public health workers who can go out and deal with that epidemic. and yet those health employees

are going to be at risk if we don't get a clean funding bill. she said they operate three airports in one of the busiest ports in the world and those are at risk if we can't get a funding bill. our major ports are also a target for funding terrorist attacks and if we don't pass a funding bill the port security grant program will be put on hold meaning nearly $100 million won't be allocated to keep our ports safe throughout the nation. and one of those programs where we'll see a gap is in the radiation detection. one of the things that our investigators do as they're looking at making sure our ports are secure is check for radiation for nuclear materials that might be coming in to this country. and yet they won't have the instruments, the equipment that they need to do that if we don't

get a clean funding bill. deputy commissioner miller talked about as i said, the 16 terrorist threats plots against new york city that have been thwarted. but he also pointed out that at virtually every major new york city event when they do the security, whether it's the new york marathon, whether it's new year's eve in new york city, that the security that protects those events is funded in whole or in part by department of homeland security programs. a short-term budget for the department of homeland security would mean that there are no new grants for police and firefighters in every state in the country. and i don't mean that that's a new program. i mean that the grant funding doesn't turn over each year so that our firefighters in new

hampshire won't be able to apply for safer grants again to make sure that we have the force that we need. i heard from our laconia police chief in new hampshire last week who was talking about what the impact would be if they can't get that funding from the department of homeland security, and he told a story about how they had been able to save a young man 22 years old who was snow mobiling who went through a lake in new hampshire. the reason they were able to save his life is because they had four firefighters they could put into water-resistant suits and send them out because they had additional funding through a safer grant to give them the ability both to train those firefighters and to make sure there was somebody else who was there directing directing them and taking that cawvment so there are very real impacts if

we fail to get this funding done. in the last two years new hampshire alone has received more than $7 million in grants to provide training for more than 3,800 first responders across our state. another six million over that same period to help hire more firefighters firefighters like those in lincolnia who saved that young man. police officers have been given live action training in the past two years. we were able to train and equip the state police bomb squad and the gnash would -- nashua bomb squad through those d.h.s. resources. a short-term budget puts all of these critical programs in jeopardy. that's why we're hearing from communities across the country. that's why last week we got

letters from the u.s. conference of mayors, the national association of counties, the international association of emergency managers, and the international association of firefighters, all calling on congress to pass a clean full-year funding bill for the department of homeland security. because they understand that our failing to do that would be disastrous. three previous department of homeland security secretaries -- two republicans and one democrat -- did the same last week. and then on sunday the "wall street journal" wrote an editorial that i ask unanimous consent to place into the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. shaheen: the "journal" wrote -- quote -- "d.h.s. funding runs out this month and they have boxed itself in again. if homeland security lapses on february 27 the agency will be pushed into a partial shutdown, even as the terrorist threat at the forefront of public attention is at the forefront of

public attention with the charlie hebdo and islamic state murders. imagine if the transportation security administration, a unit of d.h.s., fails to intercept an islamic state agent en route to detroit." end quote. well, the "wall street journal"'s right. these are dangerous times. our nation is on high alert for terror attacks. after what happened in paris in ottawa and the sydney. we don't have the luxury of playing politics with homeland security funding. we're trying to keep pace with threats that can occur any time anywhere, with little or no warning and we have to be prepared. and it's not just security grant programs for state and local first responders that would get shortchanged if we fail to pass a full-year bill. border security, maritime security nuclear detection activities would be underfunded

as well. under a short-term budget, immigration and customs will not have the funding they need to meet their legal mandate to have 34,000 detention beds in place for immigration detainees. under a short-term budget there's no additional funding for i.c.e., immigration and customs, to hire additional investigators for anti-trafficking and smuggling cases to combat the influx of unaccompanied children at the southern border. under a short-term budget there's no funding to address secret service weaknesses identified by the independent protective mission panel in response to the white house fence-jumping incident. under a short-term budget, aging nuclear weapon detection equipment will not be replaced, causing gaps that could allow our enemies to smuggle a nuclear device or dirty bomb into the country. a short-term budget would delay upgrades to infrastructure that allows for emergency communications among first responders.

a short-term budget would delay the contract for the coast guard's eighth national security cutter. a cutter that we need for maritime security. and the life-extending maintenance work on the important 140-foot ice breaking tugs 225 buoy tenders and the training vessel would be scaled back. that when last year the deep freeze on the great lakes cost the shipping industry $705 million and 3,800 jobs. upgrading the coast guard's 140-foot icebreaking fleet is critical to dealing with these conditions. that would be put at risk with a short-term budget. a short-term budget would prevent customs and border protection from awarding contracts for new remote video surveillance systems to detect border crossings and track threats. funding d.h.s. should not be

controversial. playing politics and threatening to cut off critical programs that protect the country from terrorist attacks would result in consequences that we just can't afford. we should work together to pass a full-year clean funding bill to continue the important work that the department of homeland security does every day to keep americans safe. thank you mr. president. i yield the floor. mr. coats: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. mr. coats: mr. president each time that i've taken the floor to comment on the ukraine crisis which i've dozen often -- done often the situation in that hard-pressed

country is worse. today we see a renewed evened more violent russian aggression ripping off more ragged parts of ukranian territory and now ten months after russia's invasion of its neighbor, we are again seeing calls for more assistance to ukraine. to include providing weapons that would better enable the ukrainians to defend themselves. but still the white house dithers, baffled again by the complexities of a world that pleads for leadership. once again we are absent. not just leading from behind, which is bad enough, but in many cases not leading at all. and the world continues to look to us for guidance and for support in terms of dealing with some of these crises. the plight of ukraine torn to bits by russian aggression is among many foreign policy problems that have been

aggravated by u.s. policy failures. those failures have come from a white house isolated in a wasteland of confusion. the obama administration has no coherent strategy for dealing with the world other than in a now famous paraphrase, "don't do stupid stuff" whatever that means. but not doing anything is stupid stuff and a lot of times that's exactly what is coming out of the white house. nothing. at the same time, we need to look at ourselves we have to concede that congress also has in a number of ways failed to grapple with these pressing issues particularly over the last ten months relative to ukraine. we failed to live up to our constitutional responsibilities we failed to offer or compel solutions when congressional action could have

helped. and one way in which we can correct that record is by giving the ukraine crisis our renewed attention, and under i'm happy to say under republican leadership despite what we have been prevented from doing in the past ten months, we are now in a position to begin doing just that. and why? why ukraine? well -- and why does it deserve our full attention? well for the first time since the second world war a european state has invaded and annexed the territory of a neighbor. this outrageous contravention of every possible standard of state behavior in the modern world passed by without a response that could have reversed the outrage and without the reaction that might forestall it being repeated in other states bordering on russia. we'll see what happens.

vladimir putin's ruthless ambitions have been backed by a massive soviet style propaganda campaign that continues to include outrageous, balanced-faced lying by the president of russia and his most senior russian officials. they continue to deny what has been obvious to the world and documented verified facts about russian troops and equipment flowing into ukraine and the obvious intentions of further territorial expansion. joseph goingle invented the big lie theory and putin is using it to great effect. hitler famously said that many people tell small lies, but few have the guts to tell really big ones. and when they do, and the lies are repeated over and over, they become a new truth. magically, i believe we are at that stage when in the ukraine

crisis. at the outset of this crisis, i drafted and introduced a resolution supporting the territorial integrity of the ukraine and condemning russian aggression. later i created and introduced the crimea annexation nonrecognition act and the russian weapons embargo act. i cosponsored the russian aggression prevention act and the ukraine freedom support act. unfortunately, none of these measures emerged from the senate foreign relations committee during the previous session of congress. all stymied by the committee's prior leadership. the only measure that did pass the senate was one i coauthored and sponsored with senator durbin a resolution condemning illegal russian aggression in ukraine. so the senate's record of legislating and action does not show a senate that had dealt effectively this international crisis. it is more difficult to criticize the administration for

being ineffective when we in the senate have failed to pass almost any meaningful legislation to provide the executive branch with the advice and guidance it so obviously requires. i trust that that record will improve this year and the change that will begin immediately. and i believe that is happening and we will see that happen on this floor shortly. i trust the record will improve and in the meantime that the civil war in ukraine continues until last week all beneath the radar. the latest in continuing battles for territory in eastern ukraine are being waged by russian separatists newly armed and reinforced by russia. there is little pretense at even trying to disguise the involvement of putin's russia in these renewed attacks. at least 6,000 people have been killed by combat in ukraine more than a thousand since the latest so-called assess fire allegedly took effect.

-- cease-fire allegedly took effect. the even greater ongoing tragedy is the geopolitical cat strove. a newly aggressive russia driven by delusions of nationalistic test he iny poses a threat to the stability of the region and to europe itself. this is a completely self-evident reality for our allies on russia's periphery. including those such as poland and the baltic states who in the past have been crushed into nonexistence die bye just such russian aggression. if we in congress together with the executive branch, if the united states together with our european allies cannot respond to putin's russia in a way that stops this dangerous aggression then he will have won. putin is counting on the force of his troops and his propaganda machine to create a fait accompli to which we will have little or no reply.

he is counting on our distraction and exhaustion to give him a free pass. he is is counting on the political complexity of our democracy to obstruct sound policymaking and he's counting on us to falter just at the moment when his violent aggression is paying off and his people are prepared for more. i'm speaking today to urge the senate to work quickly to change putin's calculations about the costs that he and his nation will suffer should russia not return to rational, responsible, modern state behavior. leading in this manner will not be easy. yes, we are besieged with foreign policy issues and yes providing the needed senate response and meaningful legislative proposals is difficult. and yes ultimately the final responsibility and leadership res. with the president. -- rests with the president. but the senate historically has been instrumental in developing

and influencing united states foreign policy. at this critical time, we must do so again. and we must do so again particularly because so little comes our way from 1600 pennsylvania avenue. mr. president, i yield the floor and notice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ccompanying conditioning mr. president, i -- mr. king: mr. president i rise today -- the presiding officer: the sna is in a quorum call.

mr. king: i ask unanimous ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be suspendedment. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from maine. mr. king: i rise to talk about a little-discussed aspect of the affordable care act. but before touching on the main subject, i should point out that i think as of the tonight there will be more than 11 million americans who will have already signed up for health care coverage under the affordable care act so far this year. and of course the deadline is coming up next week, and this weekend could be a very large influx of new newly insured americans, which i think is something that we should all feel very proud of and should celebrate. but i want to talk about a part of the affordable care act that gets very little mention very little discussion, very little controversy, and it's a provision that enabled local organizations within states to

form a cooperative insurance entities to form nonprofits to provide insurance to their citizens. and today i want to talk about one of those and one of the most successful in the country the maine community health options program. it's a story of an opportunity it's a story of vision, it's a story of an idea, it's a story of risk-taking it's a story of creative and dedicated maine professionals who were willing to take a risk and try to implement a new idea. it's one of the health insurance co-ops that was established by the affordable care act. the affordable care act provided the opportunity to develop something new and different in health insurance a company where purchasers of health insurance also become members and then elect other members to serve on the board of directors

of their insurance company. kevin lewis and robert hillman two of the founders, saw an opportunity in the a.c.a. to develop this idea that they knew was needed to address the challenges of health care coverage for maine citizens. working with a group of people in maine who shared their concerns about health care they built maine community health options built on this vision of meeting maine people's health insurance needs in a direct and hands-on way. would it work? nobody knew. when the enrollment opened last year their goal, their hope, their vision was for 15,000 signups. by the time the dust settled at the deadline last spring, they had 40,000 signups 83% of the marketplace signups in maine had signed up with this fledgling company. and this year i'm told as of today they have over 60,000

signups. i did a tour of their offices recently in in lewiston, maine and we talked about this phenomenon of the signups that came unexpectedly and it reminded me of a tv commercial a few years ago where these young people start an internet start-up and they see sales orders coming in and they're happy and they start to come in even faster and they get more excited and they start to come in faster and they look at each other and say what do we do now? these people in maine exactly experienced that. great, it's working. a few more, wow that's great. and then it went crazy. they all shook their heads when we talked about this up in lewiston a few weeks ago and said that's exactly the way it felt. well this sounds sort of simple and straightforward yet it wasn't. when those 40,000 folks were signing up and the systems were challenged maine community

health options faced those issues head on, figured out where the problems were, addressed them, communicated to members quickly and directly. that's really the maine wairks mr. president. the explosion of the growth of this little company from zero to 60,000 is a jobs story as well. maine community health options now employs over 130 people and has even contracted with a local call center in maine to provide additional customer support during this enrollment period. and even their chosen location is a good-news story. it's great news story for new england and for maine because they're in an old textile mill which of course the textile industry which flourished in new england up through the 1950's but then left, these beautiful old mills and in lewiston, maine, one of these mills first one floor and now two floors is being repurpd -- purposed for

this 21st century project for bringing health insurance to the people of maine. it is humming with activity and new jobs and people supporting their families. it is also a local control story. maine community health options recently held elections for the board, a board that has to be made up of 51% of their individuals who are members who are elected by other members. in other words the people who use the products who buy the health insurance are actually making decisions about how those products should be designed and they're responsible to the folks who elect them. like us. the structure of the organization is only part of the story. they are also -- and i think this is very important -- they're also focused on the business of health, individual health and community health. they're focused on prevention. and, mr. president the cheapest medical intervention of all is the one that never occurs,

because people have preventive care that keeps them from more serious chronic care. they have a chronic illness support program a tobacco cessation program which are both designed to make it easier and cheaper for members to manage chronic care or stop smoking. and that's how we're going to save money in the health care system. they have a behavioral health partnership creating a nearly seamless transition for members in need of short-term mental health services with no co-pay for the first three visits. they're doing community outreach. they recognize that many people who have never had health insurance coverage before don't really fully understand how to use it. their community outreach effort includes informational presentations on health care for members and nonmembers alike. and another part of the good news story particularly in light of the change in the chair

is that maine community health options has just expanded coverage into new hampshire and is providing a new health insurance option to the people of new hampshire whereas last year, as i understand it, new hampshire only had one option on their exchange. now i think they have at least two and perhaps three or four, one of which i commend to the president is based in lewiston, maine. finally, and i think this is very important what has this done for rates? for many years and i think we've lost sight of this in the last couple of years for many years one of the problems in health care in this country was the exaggerated inflation of health care costs. five six seven eight percent a year was not unusual. in the late 1990's and the early first decade of this century that was the typical somewhat expected inflation in the rates

of health care costs -- in the costs of health care and therefore in insurance rates. well maine community health options not only has reduced its already competitive rates -- reduced its rates by 1% this year but that competitive pressure we believe has also brought pressure to reduce rates for other providers and other carriers in maine. madam president, this is a great news story. this is people that saw an opportunity created by the affordable care act to create a new kind of health insurance company that's owned and run by its members that's delivering health care, quality health care insurance coverage to the people of maine and now the people of new hampshire, that is helping to control costs and i think perhaps most importantly is taking an active role in assisting its members in improving their own health.

of course this is about cost and of course it's about access and of course it's about all the mechanics of health insurance. but in the end if the result is healthier people, people that need the intervention of the health care system less frequently, that is a huge win for those individuals for our state, for our region and for our country. so i come to the floor today just to share some good news about an aspect of the affordable care act that is absolutely working and it is making a huge difference in the lives of thousands tens of thousands of maine people. better health coverage, better health at a lower cost. what's not to like about that formula? i'm very proud of what these entrepreneurial individuals in maine have undertaken and the success that they have enjoyed so far and look forward to

working with them as they continue the project that has meant so much to my people. thank you madam president. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from delaware mr. carper: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be vitiated please. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. carper: last weekend, i was privileged to visit our nation's border with mexico. not my first visit but maybe the most productive, most informative visit. i had the opportunity as a member of the homeland security, governmental affairs committee on which you serve to visit our nation's border with mexico, really from california, from the pacific almost all the way across the southern part of our country almost to the gulf of

mexico. i have not covered every square inch of it, every mile of that border but i have had a chance to look up close and personally, if you will, to see what we are doing, what we have been doing in california, in parts of arizona, in parts of texas. we all know those are some big states but we have been there enough talked to enough smart people. i went with ron johnson from wisconsin and benefit -- ben sasse, a new member from nebraska. i felt very productive. i learned a lot. i thought i already knew a lot going down there but i came back even better informed. we had some discussions going and coming about the president's executive orders with respect to the status of some of the undocumented folks who are in our country and i know there is

a fair am of heartburn on the part of republican colleagues here that the president may have acted inappropriately and we understand that -- that unhappiness. my hope is that we won't take that unhappiness out on the department of homeland security. they are working hard to try to do their job to protect us from all kinds of dangers not just on the borders of our country with mexico or canada but all kinds of threats around the world. and my hope is that at the end of the day we'll use this dustup if you will, this disagreement with the president's action to -- to really provide a sense of urgency, to take up and debate again comprehensive immigration reform. not next year but this year. not this fall, not this summer, but the beginning of this year, like now or very soon to now. one of the things we have learned in terms of our own work

on the committee on homeland security and governmental affairs is that the information reform done well -- and i don't know how the presiding officer voted. my guess is she probably voted for it as well. but it was a perfect no -- but was it perfect? no. not by any stretch of the imagination. do i hope there are some things we could change? you bet there are. i hope when we do it again, we will keep what is good and valuable in that legislation. among the things on the positive side that came out of that legislation is, one the bill supported by two-thirds of the senate a year and a half ago does a couple things. how does it affect gross domestic product how does it affect the economy? it grows it by 5% over the next 20 years. that's a pretty good little stimulus to help make sure the academic recovery continues. that's something i always keep in mind. i have had loot of people who said to me immigration back home

in delaware, immigration reform, isn't that going to cost us a lot, make the budget deficit bigger? the congressional budget office which is neither democrat nor republican has actually studied that. here is what they concluded. the immigration reform, imperfect although it was it passed a year and a half ago with strong bipartisan support would actually reduce our budget deficit over the next ten years by $200 billion and further reduce our budget deficit over the next ten years after that by $700 billion. add those together, it's $900 billion in deficit reduction. we're here at a time when as our presiding officer knows we still have all the deficits down by two-thirds from where it was five, six years ago. it's still higher than we want it to be. this is one of a number of things we can do to continue to drive it down closer to zero where we would like to be. i know i would like that and i know the presiding officer feels that way too. one of the things we had in the congressional reform bill, as i recall was a provision some provisions dealing with guest

worker programs. what i have heard in my visits to honduras, guatemala el salvador, visits to the border are a lot of the people -- it's primarily those three countries from which the greatest numbers of people coming across the border in south texas that's where they're coming from. are there still mexicans who come to the u.s.? yes, legally and illegally? yes. but there are last year i'm told almost as many mexicans going back into mexico as the u.s. as are coming into the u.s. from mexico. and the source of -- the origin of the illegal immigration is honduras guatemala and salvador. people say why would anybody allow their 7 8 9 10-year-old daughter or son to literally leave in the hands or the arms of a coyote, get on a train -- not on a passenger train but on the top of a train and try to travel 1,500 miles with all kinds of threats to their life and limb, why would anybody do

that? well having been in those countries. honduras the murder capital of the world and seen in that country and guatemala and salvador police that don't police prosecutors who don't prosecute judges who don't administer justice correctional systems that don't try to correct the behavior. the kids in honduras go from -- my boys are through school and out into the world but in the schools in honduras, public schools, they go from grade one to grade six. about half the kids actually make it to grade six. the ones who make it to grade six, only about half of them can read at grade six level. and the ones who actually make it through grade six only 5% of them can do sixth grade math. that's a problem. seven years ago when the hurricane came through honduras, it wiped out half their secondary roads half their

secondary roads. in that country, you have got -- you have got electricity costs which are two or three times what the countries to the south of them and to the north of them are. most of the electricity is created by petroleum. it's expensive. what they need to do is use natural gas. bring it down from mexico, be able to convert that into electricity, build a grid that helps distribute that electricity. and the other thing they need in that part of the world as a former attorney general our presiding officer knows well how important this is, restore the rule of law restore the rule of law. in visiting the three countries again i will use an example. until last year, i think their murder rate was about 95 per 100,000 people. that was their murder rate. it was the murder capital of the world. the number of businesses that were shut down by extortion because the small business people in honduras just got tired of being extorted, basically from gangs who said

give me money. if not i'll kill you. just small businesses finally gave up and said 15,000 of them, 15,000 small businesses that were there three or four or five years ago closed. and the conscription of gang members. the presiding officer i think heard me tell this story. we heard this from one of the folks in catholic charities in southern delaware, where we have some guatemalan population from way back. they work in the poultry industry some of them. some of the unaccompanied minors who have come to southern delaware, not thousands of them but maybe a hundred or more. one of the stories was told to us by the folks that are trying to provide some help for these young kids. there is a story -- this is again honduras. 15-year-old boy was conscripted to join a gang. he was told by the gang we want you to join the gang. he said i don't want to join the

gang. a week or two later they came back and said we want you to join our gang. he said i'm not interested in joining the gang. a little b-2 later they came back and said if you don't join this gang, our gang, we're going to kill somebody in your family. he joined the gang. and later on he found out about his initiation and what all he would have to do as part of his initiation into the gang. that he didn't want to join. part of his initiation was he had to rape his 13-year-old sister. now, people -- and within a week or two that 15-year-old boy and 13-year-old sister were on their way north with a coyote to get out of that country and ultimately they ended up in the southern part of our state. people say why would all those people risk their lives? can you imagine letting your kids go or my kids go at those ages? i can't imagine that. what has -- it has happened again and again and again. part of what was reiterated for me on this trip is it's all well and good that we continue to

strengthen our borders. we spent a fortune a quarter of a trillion dollars in the last ten years to strengthen our border with mexico. are they stronger? you bet they are. are they totally i impervious? no, there are not. one of the great things about the codel that i was privileged to join chairman johnson and senator sasse on was we basically learned -- had enforced for us those things that were working find out what's working do more of that, and find out what's not working and do less of that. one of the things we have to do is not just continue to address the symptoms of the problem people trying to come across the border. god knows we need to do that. we can. we could do it more smartly more cost-effectively. the other thing we need to do is not forget underlying causes, root causes. the reason why people are risking life and limb to get through mexico, to get to the u.s. is because of the lack of hope lack of economic

opportunity, corruption that they have faced in their lives for a number of years. what are some of the things that we learned that are working? i just want to say the department of homeland employee, folks with whom we met. at the border, folks working at the border, border patrol, aircraft helicopters, homeland security folks watercraft, people who are running centers for minors, people who have been detained and being held and some will be returned, adults, some of the adults will be -- most of the adults will be returned. folks with a criminal record, they will almost all be returned to their native occurrence. but i saw some remarkable work, we saw remarkable work being done by employees at the department of homeland security. coast guard people were doing it. all kinds of folks were involved in it. i.c.e. border patrol. folks who are working at these very very busy land crossings where you have like billions of dollars worth of commerce go

through these from the u.s. into mexico. we have a bunch of them across the southern part of our nation. mexico huge trading partner with us. one of my takeaways is how do we continue to move that commerce, move that commerce? benefit us, create jobs here. how do we do that in a way that makes sure we're doing a good job stopping the human trafficking from occurring across our borders and to do so at the same time to make sure that the illegal drugs not just marijuana but especially the cocaine and the heroin that folks are trying to get across our borders by water by air by land, and it's not easy to do. there is a real tension here. i thought we had some great -- came back with great ideas for how to do a better job of meeting both responsibilities. the stuff we want to keep out of our country including people that are illegal must -- we can do that and we need to do a better job. i think we are doing a better job. and also at the same time to make sure that the flow of

commerce continues unimpeded. the legislation that was passed here by -- 18 months or so ago with strong bipartisan support the -- it -- it sought to double, i believe as i recall, the number of people at work on the borders, border patrol, and doing some of the border security work. we already have 20,000 people there, i think we have got gosh maybe 20,000 or so working the ports of entry trying to make sure we are stopping bad people, bad things including diseases and insects and all kinds of things that would hurt our agricultural economy, too trying to stop that getting through. the bill we had said we ought to basically double the number of people working the border for stewart. we especially need them at the ports of entry. what we really need, though, is some technology.

i call them force multipliers. i'm a big believer in drones i spent a part of my life in navy aircraft and one of the joys was to be on a punch 3 bravo i flew on active duty and later retired as a navy captain 1991, i'd like to be on an a.p. aircraft, much older than you not as old as me but to see it reconfigured new wings and the insides are new the avionics up front and see the changes in equipment we are have. better radars and the ability to put that aircraft over the water and pick up the bad guys any cigarette boats or submersible with a periscope sticking out of the water. and the helicopters to see what we can do with them as we patrol

the rio grande river. low altitudes twisting and turning and finding people trying to get across. to looking at the drones, try to understand what -- what our capabilities are with the drones. i think they're terrific. are we getting full bang for our bucks? no we're not. the spending from the department of homeland security has issued not that long ago a finding that was very critical of the effectiveness of the drones and i am convinced there's a great potential there and i'm determined -- i'm sure working with democrats and republicans in our committee and hopefully the senate and the the house and the administration we need to make sure we getting full value for the money we're putting in drones and getting our money's worth. the taxpayers feel that way as well. the -- so one of my thoughts, madam president, aside from the technology, i want to work with you, i want to work with the

republicans, i want to to work with democrats on comprehensive immigration reform. i want us to finish the work we started, do it sooner rather than later. and i hope the money we have to spend in that bill to strengthen our border we spend it in smart ways and i mentioned a couple of those ways, one is the drones and making sure we take into account the investigation by the inspector general and his folks and make sure they're being honest and straightforward with us i'm sure they wouldn't deliberately mislead us but i want to make sure we're getting our value. a couple of other things, i spent a little bit of my life in airplanes and some of my time in navy punch 3 -- p-3 was to pick up low and turn them over track them to the coast coast and turn them over to the coast guard. that was our job. and did area also going into the

capital of north vietnam hanoi was there and trying to make sure we knew what was going in and out of that country. when we were doing those missions largely we did subsurface ocean surveillance and tracked soviet diesel submarines make sure we knew what they were up to. the other thing from time to time we would be called on to do search and rescue and as we've seen in malaysian aircraft that disappeared a number of months, the indonesian aircraft that disappeared a number of months ago, we put out there p-3 airplanes across the indian ocean and the pacific ocean with in many cases with binoculars, radar running as well trying to listen to see radio signals but also with binoculars. i want to tell you looking for people for wreckage with binoculars from an aircraft,

5,000 or 10,000 feet, that's really hard to do and not very fruitful. we have these aircraft, fixed-wing aircraft that homeland security owns, cessna 206's, single engine, fly for maybe five or six hours. they are a pretty good platform but we essentially use them if we use them at all with binoculars looking for people coming to our border from mexico or trying to get across our border. that ain't very smart. there's a system called vader and vader system is highly advanced sophisticated system that enables us to see from five ten 20,000 people fiat day or night what's coming to our borders in inclement weather. for us to fly aircraft where there's drones or fixed-wing aircraft or whatever and not use that technology is not very

smart. if you've got to go something that good, i've seen wit my own eyes what advantage that gives us to detect people coming to our border, across our border, through our border, that is helpful information to have so we can deploy our forces by helicopter or by foot or by horse. by horse. and our fryer has been -- presiding officer has been to afghanistan a time or two i've been a time or two myself, we've seen the tethered collegibles, the lighter than air, in cobble and other place -- call kabul and other places to surveil what's going in afghanistan in kabul, for example. and they're very helpful. and it seemed to me when i was there the first couple of times at the border one question i asked, why don't we use that technology? why don't we use the technology that tethered lighter than air

dirigibles why don't we use them along the border, bring he bring that technology back from afghanistan? we're starting to do that. we're starting to do that. one of the things we did madam president, we actually were at a tethered collegible collegible -- dirigible site, by the reowe grand river and had the opportunity with the dirigible up and operating to be in the shack if you will, the monitoring shack and see people coming through mexico, approaching, about a half dozen and waiting for sundown or dusk to come across the rio grande river. gave us the opportunity to know they were coming, to marshal our forces and have them positioned appropriately if these folks came across to take them into custody. and if they're folks that were not coming here lawfully or for

asylum or just looking for an opportunity to maybe for a better life or a better economic life or if they're bringing bad stuff and could be drugs and a bunch of them do, then we're in a position to deal with that. but the technology, the deathered dirigibles and the technology we can put on those cameras and radars and so forth, great stuff and we ought to be doing more of that. find out more what works and do more of that. we have towers. these are towers are not tethered dirigibles. and they allow you to look over the horizon. they give you a good idea what's going for several miles either way, two or three miles in radius the d dirigibles can see what's going on and inform us in all kinds of weather. but the towers that are on the

ground air boats we have -- exciting things we do, these fast boats and we're going up and down the rio grande river and gosh, maybe a mile away, a fellow running our -- he was our boat -- i might be getting this confused with our helicopter but in any event because we were, the helicopters up and down, the boats up and down the river one of them, i think it was the pilot, the pilot saw something in our helicopter around the bend and he actually picked up visually, one or two people like approaching the bank of the river on the mexican side and sure enough, we ran in on them and they had a raft there and several people that were apparently trying to come across the river. but we can -- we have some parts of the rio grande river that the kind of watercraft that we're in works just fine but

other parts of the river we need air boats because the water is shallow and the boats we were in would run aground. one of the takeaways in terms of force multipliers is to have the boats, the technology that's appropriate and the communication equipment that we need and also making sure we are using things like air boats when they're needed. the other thing by say i hadn't thought about this until right now but one of the things that's really important here for us to better security our borders is for mexico to better secure their borders. all right. for mexico, when folks trying to get across from the three central american countries and coming toward the southern border of mexico, to make sure mexico realizes they have a dog in this fight and if we stop them at our border,this that means the immigrants will be in mexico and we'll provide

challenges some problems if you will for the mexican people in some cases just as -- a refugee that needs a place and needs work, needs food or shelter and all these challenges that come with a movement of population like this. some cases they're criminals most cases not but in some cases they're criminals and does the mexican government want that to occur no, they don't and they've awakened to that and are doing a better job on the southern border to slow and stop to some extent the flow of illegal immigrants coming from the three frail central american countries i've mention end. the other thing the mexicans can be helpful is shutting down train service. and i say that with a tongue in cheek. there's a train called the beast, they emanate from southern mexico. they run the full length of the country, about 1,500 miles and people are able to -- almost recently climb on top of these

freight trains and hold on for dear life or get in the rail cars and hunker down and travel the length of the country and get off as the trains approach the border with the u.s. sort of like riding the amtrak train from i don't know delaware to new orleans or delaware to chicago, and basically not having a ticket and just traveling along free rider. and i've said the mexican government, why do you do this? we would never let people ride on freight tribes like that. why do you allow this? god bless them, tea thin apply said we're going to stop that and having maybe a couple thousand people on the beast this freight train on top or in the freight cars just holding on for dear life now we have a handful, relative handful of people allowed to do this which is helpful. the other things the mexicans can be helpful and they're doing a better job of this is sharing

information with us, sharing intelligence. they have an idea who's coming, who's coming through their country, who is bringing them we need that information we actually need information from honduras and guatemala and el salvador. we're getting reasonably good information from mexico and the other countries and we need better. to the extent we get better information it enables us to be better positioned to respond with human assets and with some of these force multipliers i've been talking about. i want to mention if i could again go back to the border crossings. and you think of a border crossing maybe as a road or something maybates bridge. these are unbelievable, some of them are huge and unbelievable infrastructures that have been constructed with multiple lanes of traffic going each way traffic backed up in some cases for hours trying to get from the u.s. into mexico, maybe taking

parts down for auto assembly and coming back with finished product. but there's a huge flow of trade which benefits mexico and frankly, benefits us as well. there's a saying time is money and just in time economy trying to move products, move goods and to have to wait for those lengths of time is not good. and we can do a better job, we need to do a better job in terms of people we have working there at the border for us and in terms of the kind of technology we're using. i like to use as an example one piece of technology i saw something a little bigger than my hand-held device here and the woman working the border at the crossing with all the trucks trying to come and go, she showed me with her hand-held device said these are the next six or so trucks coming north through mexico. i said really, she said -- did you know anything about any of them? she clicked on one of the -- one of the trucks and it had

said -- the history of the truck coming across our border. this year, maybe even before this year. and the driver. information about who is the driver how often has he or she come across the border. really good stuff. and the ability to detect radiation, shipments of drugs and people in vehicles coming and going. those are all well and good but we need to continue and update and modernize that technology at the border and frankly put more money into the infrastructure so that flow of commerce is not impeded to the extent it is today. i think that's it, madam president. i've always been taught when i go through a long ramble like this, i should come out of the end and try to put a couple of points in and repeat what i really want to convey. i'm really glad we went to the border. i've learned a lot each time i've gone. i certainly learned a lot this

weekend. one of the things that gives me special joy was it helped me identify and reinforce things like the diewcialsdurable. the other thing that came home to me is again we spent a huge amount of money on this stuff. quarter trillion dollars in the last ten years on border security -- securing our borders. we spent less than 1% of that traig to help, trying to help along with mexico and venezuela to try and help these countries in salvador honduras, guatemala to become less places of desolation and fear, to help them not for us to do this by ourselves. it is not our job. like in home depot what do they say? we can help.

colombia was pressed on the one hand by leafist guerrillas, on the other hand by a narco drug lord. a lot of people said they're going down. well they made it in part through our help. the folks who the presidents of honduras guatemala and el salvador have come up with our encourage. to focus on the rule of law restoring the rule of law going after corruption, making sure policepolice police, correctional systems actually correct behavior, and to make sure that the schools where kids are finishing up after grade 6 without the schools that to do much of anything, to make sure their schools are producing students better-preapped to be gainfully employed, to make sure -- rerks i said half of the

secondary roads were wiped out after hurricane mitch. and there is a need for them, maybe with some help from a bunch of us and mexico and colombia and nongovernment n.g.o.'s nonprofits to work on that. and the other thing is the energy piece. if they're going to have jobs down there they need to have afordable energy. use low-price natural gas and strengthen the grid, really to rebuild their grid, electric grid. that's -- those are some of my takeaway. i wanted to share those with my colleagues. i hope that we don't shut down the department of homeland security. they do important work for us. we need them to be on the job. and frankly we don't need a continuing resolution because that just ham hampers their ability to move goods around. hopefully we're not going to

have the kind of flood that we had of immigrants that we had last summer. we're doing a smart messaging campaign down in the central american countries with cooperation with the government saying look, this is what you're really going to when you try come through canada -- mexico. this is what you're really going to run into this the united states. and with that kind of campaign to try to reduce the attraction for coming. but i come more hopeful than maybe i was when i went down. there's plenty of to do. if we can put our political differences aside and i would hope we'll continue to fund the department of homeland security. there are a lot of good people that are working for us around the world. finally, let's work on immigration reform. let's roll up our sleeves and do this year a better job of what we tried to do two years ago a better job much the american people sent us here to do that. we ought to do t with that,

madam president, i would conclude my remarks. thank you for your patience and attention and i saw one of my colleagues walk onto the floor. it's the gentleman from another small but mighty state his state is to the north of us, rhode island. i'm happy to yield to senator whitehouse for whatever remarks he wants to make. thank you. mr. whitehouse: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator rhode island. mr. whitehouse: i'd point out that not only are delaware and rhode island both small and mighty but they're small might tirks and coastal -- mighty, and coastal, which is relevant to the topic of my remarks this afternoon. i'm now here for the 89th consecutive week that the congress has been in session to urge the senate to wake up to the risks of climate change and to address the carbon pollution that is causing climate change.

we have a particular context for this conversation this week. the founding fathers in article 1, section 8, of the constitution granted to congress a sacred duty, as the constitution says, to provide for the common defense and general welfare of the united states. to that end, we have built the world's greatest military and most sophisticated intelligence and national security services. ment after the attacksafter the attacks of september is 1112001 we trust these national security agencies and the dedicated professionals who lead them and serve in them to ascertain and prepare for the risks facing our country in an uncertain world.

but, the tea party wing of the republican caucus has chosen to hold up appropriations for vital homeland security programs, programs that protect americans from terrorism programs that help our states prepare for disasters all to have a quarrel with the president on imdpraition. -- on immigration. when we get to immigration if our friends on the house side would ever get to immigration well, we could certainly debate the merits of the president's action. and certainly we should pass legislation to fix our broken immigration system, so the president's executive actions are no longer necessary. and, by the way, in the senate we did our job and passed a strong bipartisan bill. but to deny the department of homeland security the resources it needs to safeguard the nation

is foolhardy? now, it is precisely because of that duty to +safg the nation that -- to safeguard the nation that we should take our military professionals seriously when they take seriously the threats posed by climate change. i think we should have a vote on a resolution highlighting the findings the fact findings of our national security, military, and intelligence services about the climate threat. this resolution expresses the sense of the senate that our security professionals' conclusions are not products of some hoax or deception perpetrated on the american public and that they deserve our respect. now, that ought to be something every senator can get behind.

let's look at some of the information. just last week the administration's 2015 national security strategy classified climate change as -- i quote -- "an urgent and growing threat to our national security." it's because this is serious that the united states is out there actively cutting pollution and strengthening resilience at home and leading the international community towards stronger carbon pollution standards. the challenge that climate change poses to national security and to emergency preparedness is clearly laid out in the department of homeland security's 2014 quadrennial homeland security rue review. it describes the effects of climate change as threat multipliers with the poe teption to aggravate hazards to american

safety and health. for example higher temperatures may change patterns of disease and the spread of pests and passagepathgenerals. competition for resources can contribute to kind of social destabilization that engenders terrorist activity all around the world. you don't have to lack far to see that today. extreme weather and temperatures endanger the infrastructure that underpins our economy and way of life from roads and bridges that now run too close to rising seas to power and water treatment plants, to telecommunications and cyber networks. as assistant secretary david hayman of the d.h.s. office of policy and assistant secretary indicate lynn dirk vich explained to our own senate homeland security and government affairs committee just last

year i quote "the projected impacts of climate change including sea level rise and increasing severity and frequency of extreme weather events can cause damage or disruptions that rawlt in cascading -- that result in cascading effects across our communities with immeasurable costs in lives lost and billions of dollars in property damage. why would we not want to take that seriously? and we heard just the same message in the budget committee just last week from o.m.b. director shaun donovan. already the annual number of costly weather-related disasters is going up. according to noaa, in the 1980's in that decade, if you look at the number of natural disasters costing $ed 1 billion or more, in each year of the 1980's there were between zero and five. that was the range for the

1980's between zero and five billion-dollar weather events. in the 1990's that rate rose to between $3 three and nine events each year in the 190's. in 2000 it went up to 11 events per year. and since 2010, in the category of billion-dollar disasters each year the range has been between six and 16. so from the 1980's diseer trough five until this decade 6 to 16. if people can't take that sear seriously, they are simply not meeting that are responsibilities. super-storm sandy caused tens of billions of dollars in damage including terrible losses in my home state of rhode island. sandy across new england destroyed thousands of homes left millions without electric service and caused more than 100 deaths across nine states.

of course, we cannot say that this one devastating storm was specifically caused by climate change but we do know that carbon pollution loads the dice for more and more severe, is he extreme weather just like sandy. and sandy sure showed how vulnerable we are to this kind of catastrophic change. climate change presents security challenges in every corner of the homeland. to the south d.h.s. predicts that more severe droughts and storms could increase both legal and illegal movements across the u.s. border from mexico, from central america and from the caribbean. my republican colleagues insist that protecting our border is a top priority. fine i hope that means they will take seriously the warnings from our national security professionals about the destabilizing effects of climate change and its effects in turn on our border.

if you move up north to the state of maine our former colleague, olympia snowe has just written an article in "newsweek" magic diseen. i will read the opening. "in late 2014, fishery regulators anoinsed that for the second consecutive year there would be no shrimp fishery in the gulf of maine this winter. the culprit? principally warming ocean waters caused by climate change." she goes ton to describe another phenomenon that scientists dubbed and ocean heat wave 2012 thatlet led to the migsmigration of lobsters that caused a supply glut and subsequent price collapse. if you know anything about maine, you know that lobsters are pretty important to maine. senator snowe's conclusion, "the message here is clear: climate change is taking dollars and jobs away from new england's fishing the communities." mr. president, ask unanimous

consent that her article be added at the conclusion of my remarks. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: thank you sir. to the far north melting sea ice opens the arctic to fishing and also to smuggling and environmental disasters. it's a whole new frontier to be patrolled and to be protected by our coast guard, part of the department of homeland security at taxpayer expense. former coast guard comarnt -- commander patt has the job to help manage risk in this remote but increasingly accessible region of the world and he had this to say about managing the consequences of climate change. admiral papp said, i am not a scientist. i can read what scientists say but i'm in the world of consequence management. he said my first turn in alaska

was 39 years ago and during the summertime we had to break ice to get up to theberg -- to theberg straight. 35 years later going up there as commandant, we flew into katzabi at the same time of year. i could not see ice anywhere. so it is clear to me that there are changes happening. but i have to deal with the consequences of that. mr. president, the men and women of our homeland and national security forces deal in real-world consequences. they don't have the luxury of scirgt the evidence or shrugging off serious adult risk analysis. it's just as true at the department of defense as it is at the department of homeland security. as admiral samuel j. locklear, iii puts it it, -- quote -- "not my venue to debate the politics

of any particular issue. all i do is report what i see and what i think i see and the implications." admiral locklear, our chief naval officer in the pacific command, has called climate change the biggest long-term security threat in the pacific. because as he sees it -- and i'll quote him here -- it is "probably the most likely thing that is going to happen that will cripple the security environment." our colleagues may think that it's funny to ignore climate change in this body while they depend so heavily on funding from the fossil fuel industry behind the pollution but they should list ton our admirals who are responsible for our security when they tell us this is probably the most likely thing that will happen to cripple the security environment.

last may the c.n.a. corporation released a report on the risk climate change poses to our national security. this report was led by 15 retired generals and admirals from all four branches of the united states military. here's what they said. i will quote them. "the national security risks of projected climate change are as serious as any challenges we have faced." that's what they wrote. they continued, "we are dismayed that discussions of climate change have become so polarizing and have receded from the arena of informed public disclosure and debate. time and tide wait for no man." mr. president, our military intelligence and homeland security services have been warning congress for far too long about the risks of climate change. it is a dereliction of duty for this body to continue to ignore this problem.

it is time toed -- to heed the warning. it is time to wake up. i yield the floor. i see the majority leader is present on the floor. the presiding officer: majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. wednesday, february 11. that following the prayer and pledge the morning hour deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day. following leader remarks the senate will be in a period of morning business for up to one hour with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each, with the majority controlling the first half and the democrats controlling the final half. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: so, mr. president, if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order following the remarks of senators moran cardin, and

stabenow. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. moran: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. moran: mr. president thank you. i want to comment on an interview that was published yesterday, quoting the president sms in an interview published yesterday the president spoke about a number of issues facing the united states. and during that interview, he had commentary on terrorism and he referenced the january attacks in paris france, from what i describe as a very concerning way. the president described the attacks in paris as -- quote -- "randomly shooting a bunch of

folks in a deli." the president's perception of the hostage taking and murder of four jews in a kosher super market in that way we ought to all be concerned. when he's asked to clarify the president's comments today the white house stated that the jewish victims of this attack were -- quote -- "killed not because of who they were, but because of where they randomly happened to be." the white house today suggested that because there were non-jews in the kosher super market named super kosher, the attack did not specifically target jews. the state department restated this explanation today. refusing to say that an attack on a kosher super market that killed four jesus could be anti-jewish, the absurdity of

this logic is apparent. let me give you a hypothetical. so if there is someone -- if an attack occurs on a synagogue or on a church or on, say the american embassy are we really to accept the idea that it's just a chance that there was diverse people there that that somehow disqualifies the possibility that members of the group who are predominantly frequent that place might be targeted? in other words if somebody who happens to work in an american embassy but is not an american is killed in an attack, would we reach the conclusion that an attack on our embassy is not an attack on america? the obama administration's logic here challenges certainly common sense, and it's truly difficult to understand what they're trying to convey. it is also contrary to the open source media reports on this attack. reuters reported that the perpetrator of this attack had

called a french television station to declare his allegiance to the islamic state and stated his intentions to target jews. given this information the obama administration's now repeated comments that chalked this up to randomness, that's just amazing to me that it's just random, this attack in paris. the fact that four jews were killed at a kosher super market, it's just random. it's dangerous for our government leaders to reach such a conclusion and for us to be operating as we make a determination how to proceed next in the war on terror to reach the kind of conclusions that the president his spokes persons and the state department are reaching. the islamic state the organization that the perpetrators of the paris attack claimed allegiance to, has made it a point to persecute various

ethnic and religious minorities. the denial of antiminority or anti-semitic motivations in this case gives me hesitation about whether the president understands the true nature of the threat we now face. this comes in the context of the report that the administration is soon to present to congress for approval an authorization for the use of military force against islamic state fighters. authorizing a war is a decision that should be made with the fullest of information and the most complete understanding possible. the obama administration should be doing everything it can to clearly describe the threat that our country faces; in fact, that people around the globe face, and the strategy that will be employed under this potential authorization to use force. if we don't know who we're fighting, how can we have a strategy to prevent the death and destruction that those

enemies will cause? the stakes are way too high to operate under anything but a clear understanding of the significant challenges that our country faces. it makes no sense to describe something different than reality. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. cardin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: mr. president, i rise today to recognize february as national children's dental health month. every year since 1981 we have acknowledged the importance of children's dental health and worked to ensure that all children have access to proper oral health. as former u.s. surgeon general general c. everett koop reminded us, there is no health without oral health.

today tooth decay is the single-most common chronic childhood disease five times more common than asthma, four times more common than early childhood obesity and 20 times more common than diabetes. despite the fact that tooth decay can be prevented nearly half of all five-year olds have experienced tooth decay. left untreated tooth decay cannot only destroy a child's teeth and health, but also have a severe negative impact on a child's quality of life. because children with severe tooth decay are frequently in constant pain, they are often unable to learn play, or interact with others. recent studies have shown children with poor oral health are nearly three times more likely to miss school due to dental pain and children reporting recent toothaches are four times more likely to have lower grade point averages than peers without dental pain.

good oral health is essential for our children to thrive. it's simply unacceptable that 16.5 million children are denied basic dental care each year. the health and well-being of the very child depends upon access to affordable care for all or his or her health needs including oral services. tooth decay and oral health approximate disproportionately affect children from low-income families and minorities. according to the national institutes of health, about 80% of dental disease in children is concentrated in 25% of the population. children from poor families face an inordinately high barrier in receiving dental care. to these children, the consequences of poor health care can be devastating. many have heard me speak before, including on the floor of the senate, about the tragic loss of deamonte driver, a 12-year-old

prince george's county resident who died in february of 2007. deamonte's death was particularly traumatic because it was entirely preventable. it is outrageous that only a few years ago a young boy died in our country because his family was unable to find a dentist to remove an infected tooth. by the time he was evaluated at children's hospital emergency room the infection had spread to deamonte's brain. after multiple surgeries and lengthy hospital stays he passed away. mr. president, this was a tragic loss of life that was completely preventible and a waste of terrible resources. a person's life and hundreds of thousands of dollars and all it took was an $80 in dental care to save his life. i recently heard another story which gives me both hope for the future and strength, strength and resolve to guarantee that

all americans have access to proper dental care. ronald shared his story at a two-day mission of mercy health equity festival at the university of maryland where he waited 15 hours at a charity clinic to have a tooth pulled that had been troubling him for two years. prior to the charity clinic, ronald had been living with two choices: endure increasingly worse pain or go into debt for dental care. a working man ronald had spent $800 -- his entire savings -- to get a tooth fixed in 2012 but it continued to bother him. recently he paid a different dentist $795, his rent money for relief. the dentist suggested a more expensive procedure but ronald was unable to pay the high cost so it was just a band-aid, he said. now he's behind with his landlord trying to catch up. ronald talked, however with great pride about his

nine-year-old soccer-playing daughter who waves away candy and drinks water instead of soda. i didn't know about oral health when i was her age he said, like many other children in maryland ronald's daughter has access to dental care through her state's children's health insurance program. she has coverage for pediatric dental and she learns about oral health in her schools and she is taking steps to make sure that she has proper oral health and she has coverage if she needs to see a dentist. thanks to chip, we now have the highest number in the history of children who are insured with medical and dental insurance. chip provides affordable comprehensive health care to more than eight million children from working families. people earn too much to qualify for medicaid but cannot afford private insurance. chip also provides funding for school-based health centers that are critical to providing dental

services to at-historic children. i have visited these schools have seen firsthand how effective they are in delivering dental care to our children. however, if congress does not act to reauthorize funding for chip before september 30, the program funding will run out and millions of children will again be at risk. i'm very proud that my state of maryland has been recognized as a national leader in pediatric dental health. the 2010 pew center report on the children's state of dental health maryland earned an a. it was the only state to meet seven policy benchmarks in addressing children dental health needs. in addition, in the maryland health benefit exchange, every plan except one includes pediatric dental coverage as part of the comprehensive medical plans so families don't have to pay a separate premium for pediatric dental coverage and they don't have an additional out-of-pocket cost.

in the affordable care act we included pediatric dental as part of the essential benefits, so therefore every family has access now to affordable pediatric coverage. in my state, that is primarily offered to most of the people in our state through a universal policy meaning that they don't have to pay a separate premium or co-payment. dental diseases are chronic progressive and destructive over time. yet too often oral health care is overlooked or ignored. we have made great progress, but there are still millions of children in our country without dental care. we must continue to work to ensure that all americans have access to both medical and dental care. as no citizen of our country should ever have to choose between going into debt and receiving proper health care. the health care system was not there for ronald, but thanks to chip and the affordable care act, it has the potential of helping his daughter stay healthy for years to come.

let us pledge to do more for our children starting with the reauthorization of the children's health insurance program, chip, including the guaranteed pediatric dental benefit. with that, mr. president i would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

ms. stabenow: mr. president, i would ask suspense of the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection, the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: thank you. we are in a countdown of sorts right now. and it's one that i'm deeply concerned about. and that is the fact that on february 27, the funding for the homeland security of our country

runs out and that's 17 days from now. only 17 days from now our border and customs and air traffic controllers, air security, coast guard, all of those things, all of the people that are involved in protecting us from the terrorist threats all around us will lose their funding in one way or the other if we don't act. sunday morning in michigan we had a reminder of the threat that exists within our borders. a man crashed his truck into a u.s. coast guard station in grand haven on the west side of michigan. then he assaulted members of the coast guard, which is, by the way, a homeland security facility affected by what's going to happen. the man claimed to have explosives in his truck.

fortunately, that turned out not to be true. still, local officials initially called it -- quote -- "an act of domestic terrorism." homeland security officials have been working alongside other federal agencies and local law enforcement to investigate and you can imagine how people on the west side of michigan are feeling right now and how members of the coast guard are feeling about this. this is the work that the men and women of homeland security do every day in every part of michigan every part of our country, every part of the city, the district of columbia, the communities that we all represent. and, frankly mr. president people are scratching their heads right now about what in the world is going on? you know, i appreciate the fact that there are disagreements with the president regarding immigration policy, and certainly we can debate that. we can discuss it.

the republican leader can bring that up at any time -- any time -- on the floor of the senate. but that should not -- that should not be tied to whether or not we fund homeland security for our security. homeland security funding should not be held hostage to what i view as the politics of the moment on immigration and we may have disagreement on that in terms of the immigration issues. but we should not have any disagreement about the need to fully fund homeland security. we rely on homeland security to provide our transportation security at shipping ports. all of our airports -- we all go back and forth every single week. millions of americans counting on the fact that people at our airports people we see and people we don't see are keeping us safe from attacks. passengers cargo --

in michigan we're a border state. we have the largest northern border crossing in the country both of goods services, people coming back and forth from detroit to windsor. and it's the department of homeland security -- i.t. the men and women of homeland security border and customs that are keeping our borders safe every day. we rely on the department of homeland security to protect us against nuclear attacks chemical attacks cyber attacks every day. in recent years major american financial institutions have been attacked by hackers. we all know -- i've been in a situation as a customer of a major company getting that notice in the mail about my credit card. millions of americans have found that. we expect that we're going to make sure we are protecting people's information their financial security, their financial security of businesses. that's what's done through homeland security.

17 days from now if we don't act to fully fund homeland security we will see the funding for that department stop stop. chinese hackers targeted the u.s. transportation command which directs the global movement of u.s. military forces. hackers have gone after america's transportation and communications infrastructure over and over and over again. so this is very serious. this is very serious. this is not about politics or differences of opinion with the united states or having some leverage by holding funding up in order to get something else that a group of people want to get. this is about whether or not we are going to straight up fund the security operations of our

country. we have terrorists, terror threats all around us. look at the globe. all around us. this is not the time to play politics with homeland security funding. now we passed last year, with a huge majority, a bipartisan immigration bill. immigration deserves a debate. there will be differences of opinion. i still think that there is a broad bipartisan coalition to do comprehensive reform that makes sense for everyone, makes sense for america. but this is not the time to say it's either my way or the highway. either i get the changes iptd -- i want or i want to say the president is wrong he's playing politics and i'm going to hold up the security of our country in order to do it? i think most people watching us are going what in the world is

going on here? terror threats all around us, and we're 17 days away from a shutdown of the department of homeland security. this makes absolutely no sense to me. frankly, we can do better than that as an institution in the united states senate. we can do better than that in congress than constantly having these roller coasters, up and down, and threats of government shutdowns. we've seen it before. and we're now seeing the possibility of it again. well 17 days from now if homeland security is shut down, if we aren't funding our border and customs and airport security and ports and the coast guard and all the other things that keep us safe, there's going to be a big party.

you know who's going to throw that party? the enemies of america. the terrorists who want very much to have the opportunity to attack our country. that makes absolutely no sense. let's come together this week before we leave -- we're not in session next week -- let's get this done. let's pass the homeland security budget and get on with important debates on other topics that we all care about. i would hope that we can do that and get this done as soon as possible. thank you mr. president. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until 9:30 a.m. tomorrow morning. arizona.

mr. flake: mr. president, i want to take this opportunity to express sorrow both mine and that of the people of arizona at the news that one of our own kayla mueller prescott has died at the hands of isil. kayla's entire adult life cut

short at the tender age of 26, has been dedicated to the service of others ending that suffering. when she was taken hostage in 2013 kayla was leaving the doctors without borders hospital in syria. she had been in the region working with syrian refugees. kayla once said that what inspired her work was that she found -- quote -- "god in the suffering eyes reflected in mine. if this is how you are revealed in me, this is how i will forever seek you." regardless of the exact circumstances surrounding kayla's death the fact remains that had isil militants not kidnapped this sparkling young woman she would still be with us today. her death can and should be laid squarely at their feet. it is yet another example of this group's mindless, alarming

savagery. the best thing congress can now do is to authorize the mission against isil and to let our allies and our adversaries know that we mean business and that we are united in our resolve. we should remember kayla not for her death but for her life and for her devotion to the highest calling -- dedication to the service of others. our deepest hard felt condolences go to kayla's family and her loved ones in mr. mccain: i rise today to mourn the tragic death of 26-year-old humanitarian aide worker kayla jean mueller of press scott arizona who had been held which isil terrorists since august of 2013. we and i are heartbroken for the mueller family at the loss of their beautiful beloved kay lavment the thoughts and prayers

of the people of her home state of arizona the country and the civilized world are with the mueller family at this terrible hour. i want to take the time today to share a bit of kayla's story. this wonderful young woman represented the best of us. she had a remarkable impact on the lives of so many people who never had the honor of meeting her and her story will forever be an inspiration to us. kayla attended high school at tri city college prep in arizona where she was recognized as a national young leader who received the president's award for academic excellence in 2007. a philanthropist of the year award in 2005 and the gold presidential award in 2007 for her volunteer efforts with youth count, americorps, america's

promise, open inn for troubled youths big brokers big sisters and other youth organizations. after graduating from northern arizona university in flagstaff in 2009, kayla committed her life to helping people in need around the world first in india, in israel, then the palestinian territories and back home in prescott where she volunteered at an hiv-aids clinic and a women's shelter. but it was the conflict in syria that drew kayla's greatest interest and again sparked her desire to help those in need. in a youtube video she made in october 201 1 kayla said, "i am in solidarity with the syrian people. i reject the brutality and the killing that the syrian authorities are committing against the syrian people.

silence is participation in this crime. i declare my participation in the syrian sit-in on youtube." in december 2012, kayla traveled to the turkish-syrian border where she worked for month helping the thousands of syrian refugees whose lives were torn apart by the humanitarian catastrophe created by basser assad and the syrian civil war. according to her family, kayla found this work heartbreaking but compelling. she was extremely devoted to the people of syria and their struggle. kayla explained to her family her call to service this way: "i find god in the cuffing eyes reflected in mine. this is how you are revealed to me. this is how i will forever seek you. i will always seek god.

sosome people find god in church. some people find god in nature. some people find god in love. i find god in suffering. i've known for sometime what my life's work is: using my hands as tools to relieve suffering." when kayla traveled back home to visit her family in arizona in may of 2013, she spoke about her experiences at the prescott kiwanis club where her father was a member. after recalling helping a syrian man whose wife had been murdered to reunite with a 6-year-old relative he was desperately searching for after their refugee camp was bombed, kayla said "this story is not rare in syria. this is a reality for syrians two and a half years on. when syrians hear i am an men

they ask 'where is the world? ' all i can do is cry with them because i don't know." after spending time with the refugees kayla told the kiwanis club she was totally drawn in and that she -- quote -- "can't do enough to help." she recalled stories of children being hurt by unexploded bombs women forced into early marriages, elementary schools targeted for bombing by the syrian regime, and people living in caves to escape the bombing. kayla went on. she said, "syrians are dying by the thousands and they're fighting just to talk about the rights we have. for as long as i live, i will not let this suffering be normal. i will not let this be something we just accept." it's important to stop and realize what we have, why we have it and how privileged we

are and from that place start caringnd get a it's important to stop and think about what we have, why we have it, and how privileged we are and from that place start caring and get a lot done. she she described part of her work helping the children in the refugee camps. many of them were badly scarred physically and psychologically by the war. she she said we give and get joy from playing these children. half the 1.5 million refugees the un have registered our children. in the chaos of waking up in the middle of the night and being shelled you are hearing of more children being separated from their families by accident. asked what a recommendation for addressing the conflict she said a no-fly zone over refugee camps would be number one. she also believed that if

the terrible reality of the conflict were better known to americans our nation would be more heavily engaged the people of the united states would see that something needs to be done. today the today the family released a letter written to them by kayla in the spring of 2014. i want to read a a bit of it to get a sense of this young woman her deep faith in god, the profound love for family and her and her remarkable strength in the face of grave danger. she wrote, i remember mom always telling me that all in all in the end the only one you really have is god. i have come to a place in experience where in every sense of the word i have surrendered myself to our creator because literally there was no one else. by

god and by your prayers i have felt to -- tenderly cradled. i have been shown in darkness life and have learned that even in prison one can be free. i am grateful. i have come come to see that there is good in every situation sometimes we just have to look for it. i pray each day that if nothing else you we will have felt a certain closeness and surrender to god as well and form a bond of love and support amongst one another. i miss you all as if it had been a decade of forced separation. kayla closed the thought of your pain is a source of my own, simultaneously the hope of our reunion is the source of my strength. please be patient, give your pain to god. i know you would want me to remain strong. that is exactly what i am doing. do not fear for me. continue to play -- pray, as well i.

by god's will we will be together soon. the statement today the family reflected in our commitment to work every day to honor her legacy. a compassionate and devoted humanitarian who dedicated the whole of her young life to helping those in need of freedom, justice and peace. gone to help those displaced she 1st traveled to turkey in december 2012 to provide humanitarian aid to syrian refugees.

on behalf of the people of arizona and the united states congress i want to express the deepest condolences to her parents parents, marcia and karl mueller, the loving family and many friends. thoughts and prayers are with you. healing the sick and bringing light to some of the darkest and most desperate places on earth. i ask unanimous consent the letter written be included as part of the record. >> without objection.

>> house speaker john weiner had this to say. the tragic death underscores the brutal nature of the enemy we face group of terrorist ties that have brought medieval savagery to the 21st century. >> white house press secretary briefed reporters today on the death of american hostage and reiterated that there was no confirmation on the process causing her death. he also answered questions on the progress of the authorization for the use of military force the counterterrorism strategy in yemen and combating isis and syria. this is about an hour. >> is there anything you can tell us specifically about what kind of evidence or family and the administration received over the weekend and what you no about when and how she died? >> began by restating

something of the president indicated in the written statement we issued earlier today which is simply that the thoughts and prayers of everybody who works at the white house are with the family at this time. that includes kayla's parents, carla, marcia, her brother eric and his family and all those who worked with kayla and her all too short life. somebody who dedicated her life to serving others serving those who were in a crisis situation who faced dire circumstances and were relying on the generosity and kindness from fellow human beings to try to meet the needs. kayla was a young woman wanting to put herself in harms way to try to offer that relief. she saw this as a a way to honor the garnishee worshiped and i will indicate that i was personally moved by her comments that she saw god

in the eyes of people who were dealing with terrible crisis. that is a particularly profound statement from such a young woman. i think it does go to the character and generosity is. that she embodied. over the weekend her parents received a private message with additional information about her death. the information that they review did not allow them to arrive at her inclusion. it did allow them to conclude that she had.

>> do you no if they were able to rule out whether she was killed in a jordanian air attack? >> i have seen those claims. again, the intelligence community did not have a specific assessment. there are some things i i can share with you about this airstrike that i know has been referenced and something the military officials of reference as well. the the airstrike that was carried out by the royal jordanian air force was against an eye isi our weapons compound that that group maintained. a facility that have been struck on previous occasions and is not unusual for

targets like this to be hit more than once. in previous strikes this facility have been damaged but it is not unusual for strikes like this to be carried out once again. the information that we have is that -- and we have this because the air strike was coordinated with the united states military. the information we have is that there is no evidence of civilians in the target area prior to the coalition strike taking place. and that certainly would call into question the claims being made. it is not possible to call into question that i sil regardless of cause of death is responsible for it. this is the organization that was holding her against her will which means they are responsible for her safety safety and well-being and are therefore responsible for her death. >> held that the

counterterrorism campaign as a model for what he is trying to do with the islamic state. can you realistically hold that up now as the model for what you are trying to do given the problems that have been happening with the government rebels and now having to close the american embassy? >> at this.i don't have an update on the status of the embassy. we have indicated for number of weeks now that we have been closely monitoring the security situation on the ground with an eye toward taking necessary steps to protect the safety and security of american personnel who are in yemen. in recent weeks there have been some personnel that have been drawn down because of concerns about their safety and security but for a status update about the

facility itself i refer you to the state department. if their is announcement to make it we will come from the state department. but the president has indicated that the counterterrorism strategy that we have successfully pursued in yemen is consistent with the kind of strategy that we are pursuing. and the reason for that is that it is consistent with our broader national security interest. we have sought to work with local officials sought to support ground forces who can take the fight to the extremists in their own country and backed up those ground forces with intelligence and airstrike capabilities that have succeeded in applying significant pressure to extremists operating in that country and curtail their ability to strike american targets. targets. this is a threat that we remain very vigilant about, a dangerous organization operating, and we continue to be focused on taking the necessary steps to mitigate the threat.

the.that the president has made on previous occasions and when you have heard me talk about is that is consistent with the type of strategy we are employing that this administration is working closely to build up the capacity of local forces to take the fight on the ground. they they are being backed by coalition military airpower and with some training capability to maximize effectiveness and have succeeded in blunting the advance and rolling back the progress that they have made. there is an analogous strategy in place. there is, of course, no central government which means we have to draw on different resources to coordinate. you have seen this administration try to work with the moderate syrian opposition and partners in

the region to train and equip those spiders that they can take the fight on the ground against i i sil in their own country and will be backed by coelho -- coalition aircraft. one example example, a border town that local fighters have succeeded with the backing of coalition airstrikes and driving i sil out of that town. it is an indication that the strategy can work. >> can you give us an update on the president's plan? 's. >> i don't have a timing update for you. as you we will recall the president convened a news conference during which somebody in this room as the president about an authorization to use military force.

the president at that time and has been clear every sense that he wanted congress to take that action not because he believed is legally necessary the president's lawyers have concluded that he already has the authority that he needs to order military action,, but he does believe it we will be a powerful symbol for the congress to send to the american people, our allies, and our enemies that the united states of america is united behind the strategy that the president has laid out and we are hopeful that congress will act on authorization to use military force relatively soon. i should say that in the intervening times as the president 1st discuss this in november and even before the president made this announcement administration

officials have been engaged with conversations with democrats and republicans in both the house and senate to try to arrive at language that could be supported by democrats and republicans in the house and the senate. the president does believe that this message is even more powerful with bipartisan support. certainly in recent days we have stepped up our engagement to try to finalize language that could be submitted by the administration to congress and are hopeful that we can provide that information relatively soon and hopefully there we will not be a significant delay in congress acting upon a -- legislative language's. >> the language will be coming this week. is that no longer the case? >> relatively soon would include any of the days remaining in this week. >> it could also be the following week with a week thereafter. can you give us a time window for when we should expect this to happen? >> i am not aware of any delay. this is part of a continuous effort. there there have been senior national security council officials involved members of the

counsel's office and have been involved, the involved there have been other senior members of the president's national security team officials of the department of defense department of state and other places. this is a broad effort with a number of conversations taking place. the fact that some of these details have been leaked by congressional sources is an indication of the large number of conversations that are ongoing between administration officials and officials in congress but i do not have a more detailed timing estimate to offer you other than relatively soon and the knowledge that that could include any of the days that remain in the week >> newsweek magazine magazine twitter account has been hacked and the hackers issued a threat against the president and his family. how concerned are you and how seriously do you take that threat? >> i have know response -- i

don't have any response to the claims that are made by these hackers. i can tell you that we have seen a number of high-profile incidents in recent months is where media organizations and other important institutions have been compromised in some way. this particular intrusion is one that is already being investigated by the fbi, so i refer you to them for specific questions that i can tell you as a general matter it is a good reminder of how important it is for congress to act on cyber security legislation at the president put forward last month and there are common sense things that we can do to better protect the american people and their data and better response to incidents when they occur. >> getting back to the amf, it is fair to say that the president wants this to be tailored to the war? >> well i don't want to get into the contents of the legislative language produced by this ongoing process. it is fair for you and your

viewers to assume the reason the president is seeking this right sized a umf is because of his desire to see congress act in support or at least demonstrate their support for the strategy to degrade and ultimately destroy. >> and will they be defeated cuemack's. >> i think we we have been pretty clear about the fact that this -- what we are looking at is a long-term challenge and the president has been pretty forthright about that. there are a couple of reasons for that, and the most important is that ultimately this is not a situation where it is the united states alone that is at war. this is a broader effort that involves the

entire international community and that is focused on ensuring that they're are local capabilities that are built up to take the fight to them on the ground. the president does not believe it is any longer in our national security interest for us to put a a large deployment of american military personnel on the ground in a combat role. what we need to do -- >> no one is advocating that. we hear that from the administration, a large deployment of ground forces, who is recommending that? >> i have seen a number of people who imagine himself sitting in an office in 2017 that advocated keeping on the table sending a large number of combat troops. they are certainly welcome to make that case. it is not a view that that the president believes is in the best interest of the united states. >> can i ask i ask you about an interview that the syrian president did with the bbc? during that interview he said that communications have been occurring between the united states and syria through 3rd parties.

the telegraphing are communicating about airstrikes so as to avoid any potential confrontations between the us and syria. >> i can tell you and we have said this from the 1st day that airstrikes commenced the united states is not coordinating actions with the syrian government and we're not going to. the simple fact of the matter is prior to initiating strikes in syria we did inform the syrian regime through the ambassador to the united nations and to the -- through our ambassador to the united nations through the permanent representative of the syrian people, so we made clear that we were planning to begin military action against isi l target in syria but what was made clear in that communication was it was the responsibility of the syrian government to stay out of

the way. >> that occurred prior to the airstrikes beginning? >> that's correct. >> it has not happened since? >> to the extent that can be counted as coordination their has been no coordination as it relates to the specific details. dlx it was put out yesterday, one comment raised eyebrows the president said my 1st job is to protect the american people. just to be clear, that clear, that shooting at the deli in paris was not random >> i believe the.the president was trying to make is that these individuals were not specifically targeted.

the adverb in the sentence. you can. >> just wanted to check on that. >> thank you. i understand you have been moved by the involvement. go on the ground. so what do you tell them? complicate the us and coalition operations when they are -- they might corn off and then get caught and situations's. >> the state department has given specific guidance that they should not travel to syria guidance that they have issued and weird people take seriously.

and the president has been very clear that he we will use significant resources of the united states government and commit significant resources to securing a safe return of american citizens being held hostage. >> you are not going to try to stop? >> you know, the very clear guidance has been shared by the state department to american citizens, and we urge them to heed that advice. he overstates the level of alarm that people should have about terrorism done a couple of weeks ago. the latest news about kayla mueller, the president still believe that the threat of terrorism is overstated?

>> i think what is true is that the threat from chair that is faced by the american people in the united states

we take very seriously the threat that they pose. but what people should be mindful of is that terrorists are much different than they used to be. >> let me just read the 2nd part if the media overstates the level of alarm people should have about terrorism the president saying as he seems to be implying that the threat of climate change is greater than the threat of terrorism. >> the.he is making is that they're are many more people on an annual basis to have

to confront the impact, the direct impact on their lives of climate change or on the spread of the disease than on terrorism. >> of the answer is yes. >> the.that the president is making is that when you talk about the direct daily impact of these kinds of challenges on the daily lives of americans particularly those living in this country that that direct impact is more -- that more people are directly affected by those things. >> so climate change is more of a clear and present danger? >> even the department of defense has spoken to the significant threat principally because of the impact it can have on countries with less well-developed infrastructure. >> i would not have a whole

lot more to say. >> back to the question jim was asking about, his description of the shooting at the kosher deli in paris as being randomly shoot a bunch of folks i mean this this was not a random shooting of a bunch of folks this was an attack on a kosher deli. is there any doubt that those terrorists attack that deli because they would be jews there? >> it is clear from the terrorists and the writings that they put out afterwards what their motivation was. the have her that the president chose was used to indicate that the individuals who were killed in that terrible, tragic incident were killed not because of who they were the because of where they randomly happens to be. >> they were not killed because they were in a jewish deli? >> the individuals were not targeted by name.

>> but by religion. >> well, there were people other than just jews in the deli. >> the deli was attacked because it was a kosher deli >> i answered the question. >> so why didn't the president acknowledged that? >> because he has had the opportunity to speak about it. >> but he didn't there. in terms of the media hype you think a jordanian pilot being burned alive is the media hyping something? >> we have talked on a number of occasions to talk about how the united states of america will stand shoulder to shoulder with our partners in jordan as they confront the terrible triology -- tragedy. i do think it exposes the bankrupt ideology and is a pretty clear illustration of

how the international community has been galvanized to take on a threat that the president has led the creation of this international coalition to confront, degrade, and ultimately destroy. >> if it is a big threat why did the president compare himself to the big city mayor fighting crime? >> what the president is talking about is the necessity of assuming. sixteen members of this broader coalition. the president has succeeded in leveraging the influence of the united states of america to build a coalition and to get countries in the region to fly alongside american military pilots as they carry out airstrikes. >> but he was not talking about the coalition. i'm sort of like a big city mayor.

the threat that was posed. the.that the president made and i will restate is that the president certainly has a responsibility to take these seriously. this when it comes to the american people's level of concern it is clearly different than the kind of risk that the american people face in the days before september 11. >> the prayer breakfast. what did he mean when he talked about these horrible deeds by christians? was he trying to make a moral a moral equivalent to misdeeds by christians and radical islam?

>> i encourage you to take a careful look at the president's remarks. i think what is unquestionably true is that throughout history we have seen individuals perpetrate terrible acts of violence in the name of religion and regardless of what religion you are trying to use to justify a terrible act of violence it is the responsibility of people of all faiths to step forward and say that it is wrong. >> doesn't it sound like he is trying to say this has been going on for a long time i am i am like a mayor in dealing with this kind of thing? >> i don't think the president's record of fighting terrorism reflects that at all. >> a top recruiter killed. back in january 60 minutes asked general john campbell about isis. this is not iraq. how could he be so wrong if you now have someone laid out who is now a a commander

in afghanistan. doesn't that suggest contrary to what the general said? >> the analysis i have seen of this particular scenario is that the one individual claiming ties has much more about the divisiveness and the disintegration than it really does say about the spread of isis what i think i think it does indicate is the commitment of the united states the commander in chief and our military to take the necessary steps to protect american military personnel. >> her family put together a a video soliciting donations from wealthy people to help pay a ransom. what does what does the administration make of that? ..

>> >> as a source of funding operations and one of the

goals in the elements of this strategy is to shut off. the other impact to pay ransom to secure the release of american hostages that makes americans the greater target than they already are. and for them to financially benefit to take american and the hostages or americans around though world and put 70 more vulnerable position because it places of value is. >> one of my colleagues has said that there is a feeling the u.s. policy puts americans in danger. that people from european countries are free because of the ransom and she was not.

and that makes them passive? >> the president has demonstrating a willingness to secure the safe return of american hostage -- hostages. to of all the large number of u.s. personnel to secure their release. that is an indication the president takes it very seriously trying to secure the safe return. the reasoning behind the previous administration it is not difficult to explain. it doesn't require a significant cognitive leap that by refusing to pay ransom without potential

hostage takers they could not benefit from taking a hostage. if we send the opposite signal to pay a ransom of italy increase the danger or the likelihood that americans would be targeted in this way. >> i have a question for this afternoon. >> with the congressional black caucus to have to meet with those members. that is why they have a lot -- a wide range of issues.

and to focus on middle-class economics. the vast majority strongly supports the president's focus. to advance the agenda. but there should be some bipartisan common ground around trade promotion authority to make it easier to negotiate to be in the best interest of american workers and american businesses. it is something congress should support. so making that case to democrats and republicans on the hill. and to share the president's view.

>> and the timing of that? >> i know there are members of congress working on legislation the you should contact their offices. >> with a multi-party deal could you consider changing the demarcation line? >> generally the united states is closely engaged with our partners in germany and france s.a. tried to pursue a diplomatic solution. and then scheduled to meet later in the week and as

they indicated yesterday to be strongly supportive of those efforts and we will continue to be. of the united states has encouraged them to live up to the commitments that they made. and we have been disappointed by the fact that the russians have failed by every measure and have refused to live up to the commitments that they made from eastern ukraine and to allow effective monitoring and they refuse to live up to their commitment at the ukrainian side. it is to free all the hostages and also refusing to live to their commitment with a peaceful resolution. we are supportive of

continuing diplomatic conversation for both sides to come to the table to live up to them. >> day benedetti says the same thing. >> any observer would acknowledge that it has paid significant cost for destabilizing activities in the ukraine. there is a financial interest to live up to the commitments that they made. and once russia begins to live up he is working with the sanctions that have been so effective with of russian regime.

the governor of the central bake of russia. is just another indication of the stance show -- substantial sieved told -- substantial of toll. >> how do know you couple this? >> i certainly m not be economic analyst. the base summit on observation we do know that the value of the russian currency has been cut in half. is started before we saw the

of a precipitous decline. related to project shoes of economic growth then after that imposition of sanctions we saw that most observers downgraded those projections into the negative territory. for est capital fights out of russia and that is a broader concern of the way that russia has isolated. no question in the fall of energy prices has been good with energy exports. but the weakness of the russian economy is attributable to the regime this administration has worked in painstaking fashion.

>> it with that aggression but given the fact there is a plan out there by russia and france to do something quickly? >> the president had a chance to speak about this yesterday with the agility merkle. the president was clear that france and germany is pursuing all on the ukrainians it is worth pursuing it is the conflict resolved diplomatically any military support does that change the calculation. the diplomatic negotiations will be required to end the conflict.

that is what the president is focused on an. >> the outcome if there is the agreement reached. >> i guess i am saying that the decision about offering additional military will be affected by how seriously russia participates in the negotiations that their living up to their end of the bargain. we will evaluate that moving forward. >> day you have the time line? >> the president has been clear that this diplomatic opening worth pursuing the matter what happens and the addition of additional to the ukrainian military only

increases the likelihood of more widespread violence. >> that some people are analyzing as a direct hit much to enjoy lover paul and her amusement but maybe not. but for her to come speak before congress but parted east coast consumption that said that congress needs to stop by rand. from what the president said yesterday if there is a back-and-forth going on between the tiers. >>. [laughter] they see this as a deepening

rift between israel and the americans. >> bid has demonstrated to national security of israel that the ongoing cooperation to use a word is chosen by president madani of who himself is a precedent. and the best running is last summer fired by extremist located principally in it because the there is a significant infusion of america resources into the iron dome program the president received a request from the israeli government to help replenish their stockpile and to expedite that request is a vindication with a

demonstrated willingness to protect the national security of our allies and israel. he does because he believes it is in the national security interest in the united states. to make sure that party politics don't trump how critically important this relationship is. because is really and political leaders have succeeded to focus on the best national security interest in the country and that is why the president said he will not meet with the prime minister when he meets with him in early march but it comes a couple weeks before he is on the ballot and he does not want to be in a position to appear with the outcome for

the united states and israel so it shouldn't just be reduced to political parties. it is between the two allies >> is there a deepening rift ? >> i did not see their whole editorial. that this administration continues to be admitted closely with counterparts to protect the security of the nation of israel. the president is determined to be as described as of unprecedented. >> has he received any calls

confirming her death from a coalition leader? >> from other countries? >> does this change the strategy your calculus with the u.s. coalition? >> the president did have the opportunity in ukraine that we are, focused on the conflict in ukraine. is set to destroy ijssel continues but we need to work closely with the members of this coalition and to do take the fight to myself -- isil with syria and iraq to train and equip the moderates during opposition that means we will continue to work with countries in the region to

shut off financing for the isil operations including tracking down on the black market and to shut off the revenue that isil derived from hostage taking. also working with leaders from the muslim world from that messaging we saw isil agues to radicalize people in a coordinated fashion. to counter that radical message. >> what is the status. >> i will make it clear the white house bid engaged the

way that the federal government interacts with families that find themselves in this terrible virtually unthinkable position. and it is the way that government resources are integrated. for the needs of individual families and what we have found with the bride interagency effort for the loved ones that often times it is from a large number of officials. so getting phone calls from the fbi or the military or then it is the white house or the state department. b1 to make sure all communications are carefully integrated so families can have confidence to provide

as much information as possible to the families. the hope is that they can complete this some time later this spring. >> the office of the president agreed to come to washington. >> i am not aware of that i will check with my colleagues at the national security council. >> i want to ask. >> did you make it through all 520 pages? >> no. [laughter] but there was up passage that the president released in 2008 that gave marriage should be right. and that it was advantageous

when it was david axelrod? >> what i can tell you is i have not had an opportunity to read all five are under 20 pages. -- 520 pages but that first hand account is not one that i would disagree with the war quibble with he shares his views as he remembers them and it is also informed by his front row seat to history. that is one of the reasons for the book. as it relates to his views on gay marriage talk about evolution it is consistent that people all across the country has gone as it relates to the topic. i don't have more to contribute to. >> bed did the president

undergo that? nt intentionally misrepresented his position i think the republicans are looking at the president over the last year to say why doesn't he practice what he preaches? >> we thank you can look at the comments that time and again he has chosen hope relating to this specific issue when he made his first public comments his support for gay couples to marry was viewed as a controversial political stance in all sorts of people wondered if the president would pay a political price adjustments before the election to indicate if he were to support gay is the one did

to very. certainly he is not the first person that at the beginning of a broader change we saw across the country and that reflects the record this president has amassed while in office fighting for justice including lgbt americans. "don't ask, don't tell" tell", riding the executive order banning federal contractors gore for speaking out in support of gay marriage the president has time and again been fighting for justice and equality that is one of the most important legacies of this presidency. >> but as the civil-rights issue? remind his record speaks to that better than i possibly

could. >> one more thing. last fall you made clear you did not want any restrictions. the president repeatedly said that was not the intention on that matter but as we get close with the next few days is there any restrictions? >> once we have the opportunity to put forward that legislative language with that painstaking effort with the house and the senate to have an opportunity to discuss why certain things are included or other phrases may not be included. i am not sure we have said with detail what we would like to see or not seek any authorization to use

military force. that is the product between democrats and republicans and members of the senate and the house. have an opportunity to evaluate what comes from the process. >> did it say there were no other americans held by isil? >> no. there is a least one other hostage held in the region. the u.s. may specifically about isil. but we are aware we have not avoided discussing individual cases of americans who are being held but we are aware of others being held in the region. i will not give in to this specific discussions of the cases of those individuals principally because we all believe it is in their best interest to be discussed

publicly but there have been reports of at least one other american hostage being held. >> he said one and then the plural. >> i said at least one. >> earlier you mentioned the war on isil is a long-term challenge. can you say the president is satisfied with the pace of the war on isil? >> they think it is fair for you to assume as we see bloodshed in this region of the world carried out by isil of president no doubt sees that but it will take time and patience from the international community and the american people as we confront this challenge. gutted is trying -- it is

trying so the president pushes his team to do more than into faster with the recognition this is a long-term endeavor that we are confronting. >> here in washington that the press care from two days ago, what is your reaction to that? >> i didn't say i did not want you to note i try to articulate the conclusion of professionals that it is not beneficial to their case to highlight the circumstances of individuals. i know families that our envious in that situation

that have different strategies to talk about this publicly. and because of the sympathy that i feel for them. how difficult it must me to deal with this situation. i would not judge by the national security professionals for this contest to discuss the names of individuals. with that region of though world. >> is that in its fight against isis? >> the american people understand what is at stake

for i do think they understand why the president has worked hard to read the credibility of the united states of america with the national coalition. and they have declined to commit ground troops of the combat role in american ground troops iraq and syria but they recognize he tries to calibrate our national security interest. for the extremists like this. >> they have an understanding of the president's strategy.

so if there is a long-term endeavor but it is committed with the strategy that we employ against isil with the national security equities that we have at stake. >> did the president speak to the family? and as a follow-up with the language of the new legislative initiative in three years so is that significant because the president believes that is how long you will defeat to isil. >> we can get to the language included in the

aumf legislation so i'd want to get ahead at this point i am not in a position to talk about the timeframe that may be included in that language. >> the president did on two occasions have the opportunity to call the family specifically kayla's parents. in every conversation to offer condolences on behalf of the american people on behalf of their daughter. it was in recent-- sedum have a specific day. >> there was a gap from the time we thought and the president put that out. >> i will say the administration did believe it was appropriate for us to abide by the wishes of the family to make the first

statement that their daughter had been killed. >> you want to say something about the ruling on anwr? in where do things go from here? >> guide to have a statement that many of you may have received from my colleague the united states is deeply disappointed following a government appeal of the original verdict finding. the decision to prosecute him has raised concerns in the fairness of the judicial system in malaysia. they're compound by the government's intent to expand law but they pledged to repeal to prosecute government critics. meeting with malaysian opposition leaders last april she reiterated the

president's message that country's upfold rights of all citizens regardless of sexual orientation or ethnicity or race for kootenay states and malaysia have a strong and comprehensive partnership to be committed to expand shared economic security challenges in asia and around the world. peerage the government to apply the rule of law fairly in transparently to promote confidence and in the democracy. thank you.

>> wisconsin governor gave his state of the state address speaking in medicine he discuss economic progress which she called the wisconsin come back. he was reelected to a second term last november after winning the recall initiative in 2012 over collective bargaining rights. his comments are about a half-hour. >> majority leader and

members of the wisconsin supreme court constitutional officers tribal leaders distinguished guests and members of the legislature and fellow citizens of the great state of wisconsin is an honor to appear before you begin tonight. [applause] before we get started having to introduce the first lady of the great state of wisconsin, my wife. [cheers and applause] also in the gallery are our sons and my parents as well.

[applause] sitting next to my wife is the general of the national guard general done by. [applause] -- doug barr. last friday the general and i saw 522 members of the 115th fighter wing here in san wisconsin to answer the call of the commander in chief of being fully prepared period wisconsin this is the strength of the national guard. [applause]

with all of you here and those to go to bed to lie i asked to keep these men and women as those being deployed from wisconsin and their families in your prayers for a safe return. [applause] and how about the packers? [cheers and applause] [cheers and applause] then it is even better them last year's initiative. [laughter] that is pretty good. one thing to bring democrats and republicans together

here in wisconsin is the green bay packers. [applause] forgive me tonight if i am a bit coarse but like most of you we spend a fair amount of time cheering on sunday. i had fun at the gate -- hugging the owners in the stands. [applause] best of luck to the man who should be the mvp eric rogers and the rest of the team this sunday. [applause] much like our military and the packers i am proud to report to each of you that the state of our state is strong. is a source of our strength is our people. i see with factories and farms and small businesses and places of worship ball across the great state. the citizens of wisconsin

decent and smart and hard-working. of the past four years they put the power back into their hands and in turn was constant is more free and prosperous. if you remember nothing else remember more people are working while fewer are unemployed. state governor is more effective and accountable and efficient and the condition has improved. budgets are set based on the public's ability to pay you rather than the government's honker to spend. school scores are up and more are graduating. and transition in from government dependence the wisconsin come back is working. [applause]

according to preliminary numbers of the department of work force development there are 7600 more private sector jobs in wisconsin and then there were before the recession. peaking at nine-point to% jaime very 2010 is now down 5.2%. continuing to drop this year paul the job numbers for the state's come out next week the preliminary numbers shows we have the best monthly private sector of job growth in more than two decades. [applause]

specifically the year over year numbers show the creation of 51,000 private-sector jobs that is the best since the 1990's. [applause] budget reforms on the hard-working taxpayers of this date by $2 billion and we will continue to reduce that burden every year i am in office. [applause] in particular i am proud to say property-tax is for a typical home were $141 lower in december 2014 and there were four years ago.

property-tax is are literally lower than 2010. how many governors can say that? [applause] if property taxes had grown at the rate they did between 2006 and 2010, a typical homeowner 1/2 to pay $385 more in property taxes the past december. over the last four years combined the cumulative difference is more than $800. that is real money. [applause] we heard you loud and clear and thanks for the nice notes and the males and calls to tell us your

property taxes went down. we heard from people in sheboygan or john from a milwaukee or karen from jefferson or diane from alcorn. we heard from people all across the state. my pledge is property tax is four years from now will be even lower than in 2014. [applause] and restarted to take less of paychecks for withholding last april said you could keep more of your hard earned money you. on top of the economic success we empower local

school boards to hire and fire based on merit but nonperformance to keep the best and brightest in the classroom and it is working. [applause] over the past five years graduation rates are up in scores are up and wisconsin ranks second in the country. [applause] the al looking is strong. each year with a surplus if we will close again this year to five. [applause] the wisconsin pension system is only one that is fully funded in the country that is one of the best in the bond rating is positive and

every day fund is the largest in state history history, 165 times bigger than when refers to office. [applause] >> while the state of the state is strongly wanted to be stronger in the future. i will they all plants for part of the legislative agenda for the future of this great state. to get the education and skills they need to succeed or the opportunity with the outcome to each and every one. our plans to have people live their piece of the american jury right here in wisconsin. [applause]

we will build off of our successes to offer trading through the blueprint for prosperity we announced last year. so far we have 5,000 more students in into the class's of 16 technical colleges some are here tonight. one of those is amber that i've met at the technical college, 24 and on a waiting list to get into the building program. the fast for grant opened up a spot for her and she knows she is getting the training she needs for a high-paying career to support her and her five year-old daughter and those are here tonight. [applause]

>> / every announced a new program patterned after an idea from my friend the delaware governor when he was a chair of the national governors' association to help identify the unique abilities as by having a disability. i will recognize the people i've met this year through a better bottom line. here tonight is spencer, and syrian who uses her computer skills in milwaukee, and peter who works at cold storage and demand whom i met at the pharmacy. give them a round of applause.

[applause] and then as part of the better bottom-line expanded programs with people lufkin's disabilities into the workforce with the needs of employers. for the first time in more than a decade the division eliminated day waiting lists for people with significant disabilities. we will expand these programs in the coming year.

[applause] in addition to worker training we will insurer regardless of background or birth rate has access to quality education and we will continue to have families make a choice that is right for their sons and daughters for cry:members of the legislature to pass legislation to ensure that information is available for every school receiving public funds in the state to allow parents to make a choice. no need for bureaucrats or politicians to make a choice. i trust parents. [applause]

[cheers and applause] give them access to objective information and they will make the choice that is best for their children. and speaking of what is best calling on members of this legislature to pass legislation that is crystal clear that no school district in the state is required to use common core standards. [cheers and applause]

ever play at the local level. [cheers and applause] looking ahead to have reforms of state government more effective, efficient, accoun table to the public. we will consolidate state agencies and provide the real objective to improve services well-being better stewards of the taxpayers' money. currently the state has two different entities directly involved with economic development, at one is the development corporation created four years ago to replace the old department of commerce and the other the housing authority was created four decades ago.

tonight i ask the legislature to pass legislation combining these into one so resources could be shifted from the overhead and more development. [applause] our plan will put an even greater emphasis on working at the grass-roots level with local and regional and private sector partners. there are several agencies which oversee financial institutions and tonight i call on members to approve legislation combining these agencies into a one-stop shop of professional and financial services. [applause] in addition the package will include several other consolidations as well as further rate to the tory reforms.

we want common sense solutions not bureaucratic red tape. there are some in washington that believe government should play a growing role in our lives to we are of the question in the expansive and others have such a distain for government instead of half a chance to be here in wisconsin and. the government has grown too big but the government that is left must work. we should demand of functions of the government that it should do well and demand government that is more effective or efficient or accountable to the public [applause]

top down regulations and mandates from the federal government can get in the way of innovation and growth of wisconsin are states like ours. i am working with our new attorney general to prepare a lawsuit challenging the new federal energy regulations. they could have a devastating impact on wisconsin because we're so heavily dependent on oil manufacturing. according to recent reports me to do is tens of thousands of jobs and they could see an increase of 29% we will fight to protect wisconsins hard-working families. [applause] instead of fighting with states like wisconsin the government should work with us to find reasonable

alternatives. we can be environmentally and economically sustainable these are a few of the big bold ideas to move wisconsin for word. in a few weeks we will return to the historic chambers to share the state budget proposal. as we close tonight tonight, remember what unites us to make a strong. here in wisconsin support of the packers transcends personal religious differences. i was sitting one row ahead from a guy on sunday he did not care much for my policies. i told them we were all packer fans by the end of the a game but we were hiding another green bay victory. [applause] true story. green and gold runs the.

here in america support for military transcends those same differences. [applause] [applause] that was not always the case but thankfully we have learned from our past transgressions. we support our men and women in uniform and thank our veterans, red, white, and blue runs even deeper. [applause] there is one more place we must also stand united. last week innocent people were targeted in france by terrorist. these cowards are not

symbols of confidence they're overwhelmed by fear and afraid of freedom those have the freedom of the press or freedom of speech or those who have freedom of religion we must band together democrats and republicans and to denounce those to threaten freedom anywhere in this world. [applause] [cheers and applause]

[cheers and applause] we needed to proclaim that an attack against freedom loving people anywhere it is an attack against us all. and we will not allow it. [applause] when we take a stand, we make it easier to work with freedom and prosperity right here in wisconsin. thank you for taking that stand. may god bless each and everyone of you and the great state of wisconsin and may god bless freedom loving people all over the world. [cheers and applause]

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it's modeled on the national counterterrorism center created after 9/11 to foster sharing of terrorism related intelligence. white house cybersecurity and counterterror and terrorism adviser lisa monaco discussed the agency at the woodrow wilson center in washington d.c.. this is an hour. >> good afternoon. we have an overflow audience inside this room. obviously lots of cameras