vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote? if not, the yeas are 94. the nays are 2. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: the judiciary. rebecca grady jennings of kentucky to be united states district judge for the western district of kentucky. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, i know of no further debate on the nomination. the presiding officer: if there is no further debate, the question is on the confirmation of the nomination. all in favor say aye. all opposed say no.

the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nomination is confirmed. mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action with the nomination confirmed during today's session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. mcconnell: i ask the chair lay before the senate the message to accompany s. 140. the presiding officer: the chair lays before the senate a message from the house. the clerk: resolved that the bill from the senate, s. 140 entitled an act to amend the white apache quantify indication

act reduce the settlement fund do pass with an amendment. mr. mcconnell: i move to concur in the house amendment to s. 140 and send a cloture motion to the desk on the motion to concur. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion, we the undersigned senators in abg korpdance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to close debate on the house amendment to 140 an act to amend the white apof patch khaoe act to classify phi the use of amounts in the settlement fund. mr. mcconnell: i ask the reading of the names be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum call be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i move to concur tph-rt house amendment to s. 140 a with a further amendment. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from kentucky, mr. mcconnell moves to concur in the house amendment to s. 140 with an amendment numbered 2227. mr. mcconnell: i ask the

reading of the names be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask for the yeas and nays on the motion to concur with amendment. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the yeas and nays are ordered. mr. mcconnell: i have a second-degree amendment at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from kentucky, mr. mcconnell proposes an amendment numbered 2228 to amendment numbered 2227. mr. mcconnell: i ask the reading be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i move to refer the house message on s. 140 to the committee on indian affairs with instructions to report back forth with. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from kentucky, mr. mcconnell, moves to refer the house message to accompany s. 140 to the committee on indian affairs to report back forthwith with instructions with an amendment numbered 2229. the presiding officer: i ask for the yeas and nays on my motion. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. mr. mcconnell: i have an amendment to the instructions.

the presiding officer: the yeas and nays are ordered. mr. mcconnell: i have an amendment to the instructions. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from kentucky, mr. mcconnell, proposes an amendment numbered 2230 to the instructions of the motion to refer. mr. mcconnell: i ask the reading be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask for the yeas and nays on my amendment. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. mr. mcconnell: i have a second-degree amendment -- the presiding officer: the yeas and nays are ordered. mr. mcconnell: i have a second-degree amendment at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from kentucky, mr. mcconnell, proposes an amendment numbered 2231 to amendment numbered 2230. mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: it today the senate completed its work on the personnel business for this week the way we started, by confirming a talented nominee to be a federal district judge in kentucky. president trump nominated rebecca jennings to be the first

woman to serve as u.s. district judge for the western district of kentucky. widely recognized for her outstanding legal talents and judgment, ms. jennings has earned the support of kentucky's legal community. in fact, dozens of her peers wrote she has a first-rate analytical mind and suburb judgment. she is principled, thoughtful and hard working. these qualities are exactly what i believe we need on the federal district courts. our colleagues on the judiciary committee agree advancing ms. jennings' nomination to the floor on a voice vote. moments ago the senate fulfilled its responsibility confirming another well-qualified nominee for kentucky and for the nation, both of which will be well served by rebecca jennings on the bench. i hope the senate can build on this momentum and continue confirming more of the president's abundantly qualified nominees without undue delay.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator for kansas. mr. moran: thank you. i ask unanimous consent that dustin eldsberry be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the day. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. moran: judges and litigants in our state of kansas have been anxious to have the

vacant positions in our state filled. one of those two vacancies in district judgeships is the longest opened vacancy in the country, and today we accomplished the filling of one of those positions with the confirmation of john broomes. i rise to express my pleasure to my colleagues and to mr. broomes, my pleasure in his willingness to be considered for this position, to be nominated by the president and now to be confirmed by the united states senate, and to my colleagues for seeing his qualifications, experience and capabilities and making that confirmation happen just a few moments ago. he is a highly qualified individual. he is a well-respected attorney, and he has the intellect and legal and legal mind and legal experience to be and to receive this lifetime appointment as a federal judge. i take these lifetime appointments very seriously and i want to make certain that as a

kansas senator, as a united states senator, i'm doing my part to put highly qualified and soundly principled judges in place to serve kansas and the country. john broomes meets these qualifications. in my conversations with him over the last year, he expressed a judicial philosophy that is dedicated to the interpretation of the law as written, recognition that no person is above the law and treatment for all litigants in a fair and legal fashion. i appreciate mr. broomes' naval service to our country, his willingness to serve is a mark of his character and his love for our nation. i want to highlight a note from a distinguished professor at washburn law school in topeka, kansas. he indicated in his letter that he found mr. broomes to be, quote, the most gifted legal mind he has ever encountered. equally important, he is an honest and principled person and

among the very best lawyers i know. dr. david pierce, the law school professor, is a highly regarded member of the faculty and chair of the wash burn business and transaxial law program and his confirmation of my view of john broomes is very fulfilling to me as well. it gives me great confidence that we have made a wise decision today. mr. broomes served as a law clerk to united states, one a magistrate and one a district judge, judge bollot and district judge bosswick and their experience adds to mr. broomes' qualifications. i met mr. broomes' family and i was so impressed with him as a father and the family. i was impressed with his wife and their children. he has a reputation as a solid, decent, and conscientious person and a man with a conscience. but he also has a reputation for

well managing cases and solving complex litigation. he has been a valuable attorney to the heupb kel law firm, a highly regarded law firm in wichita, kansas, and that firm is known for employing associates and having partners who meet the qualifications that we would want to be a judge. he focuses on businesses and natural resource law, and that knowledge of those kind of cases will be very valuable to litigation that is heard in my state. mr. broomes was unanimously confirmed by the senate judiciary committee in december, and i appreciate the support my colleagues have demonstrated on his confirmation today. thank you, mr. president. mr. sullivan: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator for alaska. mr. sullivan: mr. president, every week i've been coming down to the floor to talk about my

great state and a person in my state who has made a difference in their community, in the state, sometimes throughout the entire country. i call this person our alaskan of the week, and it's actually one of the best things i get to do each week here in the united states senate. there's a lot to brag about with regard to alaska. and, frankly, while i love my job here, i wish i were home right now. my wife's there. *6 -- and though the temperatures are still only in the single digits in some places, particularly up north in alaska, springtime, what we call breakup in alaska, has hit much of our state. now, i'll admit it, breakup is not always pretty, and the state gets a lot of snow. dirty, melting snow, sloshing through the slush, big, huge puddles everywhere, but the sun is now high in the sky and

staying up longer and longer every day. birds are migrating back by the tens of thousands, and the excitement of spring is everywhere. you feel it. you sense it. the changing seasons is no more extreme and no more profound in alaska where the weather, where the hunting and fishing and passing on of traditions and culture is literally a way of life for many. so, mr. president, what i'd like to do today is take you to bethel, alaska, a town of about 6,000 people, about 400 miles west of anchorage, which is in the full throes of breakup in order for you and everybody watching to meet our alaskan of the week, mr. john active. john is an extraordinary alaskan who has spent decades, season after season on the radio, telling stories and

passing on traditions that are helping to keep the yupic culture of alaska alive. john was 70 years old, has lived a storied life which began in a village outside of bethel. after he was born, his mother unfortunately passed away, and his father couldn't care for him and he was adopted by james and elise and brought to live in bethel. his grandmother, maggie lynn, was a well-known storyteller, and john's childhood was filled with stories about yupic legend and wisdom and culture. john's experiences growing up lid him to an incredibly important vocation -- translathing his native language into english. now, mr. president, you might be asking translathing. well, yes, that's actually very important in alaska. you see, we have about 20

different indigenous languages still spoken by the native peoples of my great state throughout the state. thousands of alaskans literally speaking these languages. during john's senior year of high school, he worked for the bureau of indian affairs where he was able to travel to different villages, translathing the yupik language and helping applicants fill out paperwork for housing, which was great training for the rest of his life. he also became passionate about the news and spreading the news. so in the 1970's, k.y.u.k., bethel's new local public radio and television show, which are so important to get the word out in these smaller communities, was born and john was there as one of the very first yupik language broadcasters. many people in the area,

particularly the elders, still only read and speak in yupik. john was so intent on letting them know what was happening in the world, in the early days, he would wait for the cargo plane to arrive from anchorage to grab the "anchorage daily news," the daily newspaper, and rush into the radio station to simultaneously translate the news from english into yupik as he read it. now, mr. president, there are very few people in the world who can simultaneously translate english to yupik. among many other challenges, there aren't simply yupik words for some english words. take, for example, the word computer and what a computer does. it can take an entire paragraph in yupik to explain that. when a bank was trying to inform alaskans in the region about home loans, john found that it could take an entire paragraph

to translate the phrase home equity into yupik. so he had a really hard job. but he did it really, really well. over the years, john became known as starting his newscast with a short yupik story, stories that he learned from his grandmother, such as how the fox turned red, how the crane got its blue eyes, stories that eventually were broadcast around the state. some of them were even picked up by national public radio for the country. he also became a columnist for the anchorage daily news and other papers across alaska, sharing the stories of his ancestors and his humorous views on the world. he's such a delight to listen to and to read. he has become a beloved figure

throughout alaska. john's work goes way beyond entertainment. his work goal has been to preserve the language, the yupik language which goes hand in hand with preserving the yupik culture. it's so vitally important in our state where, mr. president, as i have mentioned we have 20 indigenous languages. not a lot of people know that. in the not-so-distant past, alaska natives were unfortunately discouraged and sometimes even punished for speaking in their native languages. now, however, there are more and more efforts encouraged by people like john active and kyuk to help keep native languages alive and thriving and the cultures that belong to them alive and thriving. for example, my wife julie, is

now taking classes in koyakan at the baskin, her family's native language. john wants to spread not just the culture but the values of the yupik community. in his words, to yupify alaska and the world. and with the help of kyuk, the amazing station that serves over 22,000 predominantly yupik residents in this region of alaska, he and his other co-hosts have been able to do that. there are so many people in this region who can understand what we're now saying, john said. quote, i feel it makes them proud to hear their language being spoken over the airwaves. i am helping to keep their language and culture alive. unquote. mr. president, march 30 was

john's last show on kyuk. he's now taking a well-deserved retirement, but his legacy and the radio's commitment to their yupik culture continues. kyuk will continue still to be a pioneer in bringing one hour a day of local news in the yupik language and five and a half hours a week of yupik public affairs and talk shows, all in the language of the region. so i want to thank kyuk for being a pioneer in bringing bilingual content to alaskans and public broadcasting, and of course i want to thank john for being one of the major conduits for that pioneering work. your work, john, has touched so many and you have certainly done your part to serve your fellow alaskans while yupifying the

state, the country, and even the world. so thanks, congratulations on being our alaskan of the week. i yield the floor. and i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: mr. president,

i ask consent this further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i i ask unanimous consent that the senate be p a neared of period of morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 461 submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: commending the university of central missouri ginnys for winning the national champion vice president in the division ii tournament. the presiding officer: there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i understand there is a bill at the desk. i ask for its first reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title fer the first time. the clerk: s. 2 of 67, a bill

to amend the agricultural marketing act of 1946 to provide for state and tribal regulation of hemp production and for other purposes. mr. mcconnell: i now ask for its second reading and in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule 14, i object to my own request. the presiding officer: objection having been heard, the bill will receive its second legislative reading on the next legislative day. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 3:00 p.m. monday, april 16. furthering that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be 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, and morning business be closed. finally, i ask that the following leader remarks, the senate resume consideration of the house message a company s. 104 and that notwithstanding

the provisions of rule 22, the cloture vote on the motion to concur be at 5:30 p.m. monday. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: so if ness no further business come to before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until senate stands adjourned until >> this hundrethe senate today d patrick to be deputy labor secretary and andrew wheeler as the vap epa administered senators also confirmed to judicial nominees to be candace district court and rebecca jennings to the district court on western kentucky. these are the last votes of the week and live coverage of the senate always here on c-span2. >> earlier today general joseph chair of the joint chiefs and defense secretary james mattis testified before the house armed

services committee on the military 2019 but a request. here is an exchange for hearing between representatives of california and secretary mattis on possible literary action in syria in response to the recent chemical weapons attack. >> as you are considering possible step forward with military actions you may take what you hope to achieve by any military actions that the administration might eventually decide to take? >> congresswoman, i don't want to get, as you will understand, into the details of a potential decision by the commander-in-chief due to this latest attack which is absolutely inexcusable and there have been a number of these attacks in many cases and you know we don't have troops that were not engaged on the ground there so i cannot tell you that we have evidence even though we certainly had a lot of media and

social media indicators of the gas being used. as far as our current situation, if like last time, we decide we have to take military action in regard to this chemical weapon attack then like last time we will be reporting to congress just as we did when we fired a little over a year ago, slightly over a year ago. as far as the counter violence extremist -- >> let me go back and taking any action you report to congress as to the nature of what that action might be? >> i will speak only to the fact that we will report and will keep open lines of medication and there will be notification in the leadership of course prior to the attack that will give a full report to congress itself as rapidly as possible. on the counter violence. >> let's stick with -- would you take action support from our

allies? i know that the administration is engaged in talks with france in the uk and would you seek to have them involved in an action might take? >> as you know, ma'am, congressman -- be a precondition? >> the strategy is to engage and i don't want to discuss the current situation because i owe confidentiality to our allies to the sensitive nature of operations and the need to keep those secret. i think you'll find nothing inconsistent in what we are doing without going into detai details. >> what worries you most want any military action we might take given the highly complex landscape in syria and the many actors that are engaged there? >> there is a tactical concern,

ma'am, that innocent people we don't add to any civilian deaths to do everything humanly possible to avoid that and we want to stop the murder of innocent people but on the strategic level it is how we keep this from escalating out of control. if you get my drift on that. >> i get your drift. are you back. >> watch all of secretary mattis is testimony. the senate at 8:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span2. >> steve murphy and javier former dea agent who inspired the netflix series marcus talk about investigating colombian drug lord pablo escobar, counterfeit medicines and illegally imported fentanyl. the partnership for safe medicine hosted this event.

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