mr. cardin. aye. mr. brown. aye. mr. bennett, aye. mr. casey. ay me, aye. mr. warner. aye. mr. chairman. no. chairman votes no. amend >> amendment is defeated. as i understand it, senator cardin has an amendment and that should be our last, am i correct? >> mr. chairman, i have one amendment i'm going to be offering. one i'm going to be offering i'm going to be withdrawing. >> okay, that's fine. you'll be the last one. >> and the amendment i'm offering is 109, cardin amountment three. >> please, proceed. >> this amendment would make the trade, the good governance sections that i have been talking about that was in the original bill would make it a principal negotiating objective

mr. cardin: mr. president thank you very much. i want to thank senator corker on this first amendment that's being offered. we've used the same process that we used in the senate foreign relations committee. there are several members who have brought this to our attention, that it is important in reviewing the agreement assuming agreement is reached by congress that we have at our disposal the documents that are being used. we expect certainly we'll have an english version but there could be information in other languages, including farsi. so it's important we have the original documents that are being used so that we can review and determine ourselves as to what the -- all the details of the agreement. so that's the purpose of this. this is a bipartisan amendment. we believe it strengthens the underlying purpose of this bill which is to set up an orderly way for congress to review a potential agreement reached between the united states and our negotiating partners and iran have an opportunity to rev

mr. cardin: mr.president. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: i ask consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: mr. president i thought i would take this time -- i know that senator corker is at a lunch with some of our colleagues and is going over some of the issues concerning how we're going to move forward but i thought i would take this time to at least go over for our members that we're working very hard to try to resolve some of the amendments that members want to offer. i must point out there have been no requests on the democratic side for amendments, so i know senator corker is a little bit more busy than i am trying to work with the number of amendments that have been filed by the republican colleagues, but we're trying to go through those amendments, see if there is a way consistent with the purpose of the bill that we can work out language that would accomplish what the author of the amendment is attemptin

mr. cardin. and the senator from hawaii -- the senator from hawaii, ms. hirono. the speaker: members of the escort committee will leave through the lobby doors. >> mr. speaker the acting dean of the diplomatic corps. >> mr. speaker, the president's cabinet. >> mr. speaker the prime minister of japan. the speaker: members of congress i have the high privilege and the distinct honor of presenting to you his excellency shinzo abe prime minister of japan. prime minister abe: mr. speaker, mr. vice president distinguished members of the senate and the house, distinct guests, ladies and gentlemen, back in june, 1957 my grandfather standing right here as prime minister of japan began his address by saying and i quote it is because of our strong belief in democratic principles and ideas that japan associates herself with a free nation of the world. prime minister abe: 50 years has passed. today i'm honored to stand here as the first japan prime minister ever to address your joint session. i extend my gratitude to you for inviting me. i have lots of things to tell you, but

mr. cardin? >> aye. >> mr. brown? >> aye. >> mr. bennett? >> aye. >> mr. casey? >> aye by proxy. >> aye by proxy. mr. warner? >> aye. >> mr. warner aye. mr. chairman? >> no. >> the chairman votes no. mr. chairman, 12 ayes, 14 nays. >> the amendment is not agreed to. any other amendments for the taa bill? senator cantwell? >> mr. chairman? yes, i wanted to thank you and ranking member wyden for including my amendment to approve collection of labor statistics in the chairman's modified mark on the customs and enforcement bill. i filed two amendments that i believe are critical to our competitiveness. one amendment is the expansion of the apprentice program and work force development which i think is a very important one as we talk about how we're going to open up economic opportunities in other countries. we also have to talk about how we train and skill a work force. we had two witnesses yesterday at the hearing. both labor and business supported the apprentice program. so i would hope that we can look at this moving forward so appreciate looking at that. the othe

mr. cardin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: mr. president i just really want to thank senator kaine and i appreciate you outlining how this legislation went from unlikely to have much impact because we just didn't have the consensus and the numbers necessary to get it through to the finish line. it would have had a very, very difficult time getting through the committee let alone the floor of the senate and the house and signed by the president but how people listen to each other. so i'm glad the two of you went on the trip together because i think we need to do more of that here. and senator kaine and senator corker are both kids who have a deep respect for the proper role of the united states senate and the senate foreign relations committee and a united states senator. and i think -- i'm proud to serve with both of you and i'm pleased to see that we have found ways that we really can bridge differences in order to achieve a common purpose and we were not interested in scoring political points. we're interesting in doing what our

mr. cardin: let me thank leader reid for his comments about the circumstances in baltimore. i spoke a little bit earlier today about baltimore. it is my home city, it is the city i love. it is the people i love. and we are really hurting from what happened, and i appreciate the leader's comments about it. we're going to get through this. we're going to restore order in baltimore, and there will be justice for freddie gray, and we're all going to work together. i appreciate the outreach we've received from the white house and from the federal state in >>'s remarks run about 10 minutes -- his remarks run about 10 minutes. mr.ush: tha you, madam ker. damspeaker,otr's day i on aapprohing.and a, r nation takes tto hon o mothersi would li ke a special appeal to acan-america mothers acssth cntry. th theyeg to use eir es powe to take ba our streets fro dly vlence at far tooma of our youth, far o o far too many of our communities are experiencing each and every day. it is now time, time right now for black mothers to once again rise up to stop the unmitigated and endless violence tha

mr. cardin: madam president i first want to join senator corker in thanking senator menendez for his leadership on this issue. i've said that on previous occasions on the floor. clearly his leadership working with senator corker, working with senator kaine who developed the bill for the appropriate review for the congress. so to senator menendez, thank you very much for all of your hard work on this bill. i want to identify myself with the comments of senator corker in opposition to the johnson amendment. but let me just give you one more reason. i -- i respect the intent of the the -- of those who support this amendment but let me tell you what it means. it means that if this were, in fact, a treaty that we would be saying that we would be delegating to other entities the decision on whether to eliminate the sanction regime that we in congress imposed. now, i've listened to my colleagues particularly on the republican side who say they don't want to delegate that authority that congress should keep its legislative authority. well if you believe congress should keep its legislative authority, t

mr. chairman. no. chairman votes no. amend >> amendment is defeated. as i understand it, senator cardin has an amendment and that should be our last, am i correct? >> mr. chairman, i have one amendment i'm going to be offering. one i'm going to be offering i'm going to be withdrawing. >> okay, that's fine. you'll be the last one. >> and the amendment i'm offering is 109, cardin amountment three. >> please, proceed. >> this amendment would make the trade, the good governance sections that i have been talking about that was in the original bill would make it a principal negotiating objective rather than an overall negotiating objective. this is straightforward improvement in the act and makes no changes in the language that was negotiated on a bipartisan basis by the committee. the only change is the is to move it from section 2a11 to the end of section 2b. the reason relates to effective enforcement in the rule of law dwoesh dwoesh negotiating objectives. in particular, the dispute settlement objectives require ustr to seek provisions that treat the united states principal negotiating ob

mr. cardin: reserving the right to object. mr. president, we have been proceeding now for about a week, have had good debate on issues. many members are working with senator corker and me to clear their amendments that are consistent with the overall objective that was supported by the senate foreign relations committee by a 19-0 vote, and we're going to continue to work on that process. and the orderly consideration of amendments. and for that reason, i must object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. johnson: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wisconsin. mr. johnson: perhaps if the senator from maryland will listen to my explanation of what this will amendment does, perhaps he will withdraw his objection. during our debate, during our discussion on tuesday when i offered an amendment to deem the agreement between iran and america well actually and the world, a treaty subject to the advice and consent of the senate, the senator from maryland spoke. and one of the objections to the treaty he said sec

mr. chair, senator cardin, senator menendez, and all my colleagues. senator murphy: thank you mr. chairman and to the ranking member, as well as to the white house for bringing this incredibly productive compromise before us today. i have been of like mind with senator boxer. i have believed that this has been a largely unnecessary endeavor in that the legislation we are debating today does not really reserved for congress any power that we don't already have . we had the ability already before this debate to be able to review this agreement once it is submitted to congress and to be able to take away from the president the power to waive sanctions. after the passage of this bill we still have that power. all along, my concern has simply been whether we are engaging in an effort that is going to make it less likely rather than more likely that we will get a deal to review. i reserve the right to be able to weigh in on that agreement, i just don't want to be taking any steps that lessen the chances that we will be able to conduct that oversight when the time is appropriate. i would

cardin. >> a few mr. chairman. i would like to call up the cardin amendment, cardin portman to amendment number 113. i would ask consent in addition to senator cardin portman cap well schumer menendez case case and hell or be as co-sponsors at the emet -- to the amendment. mr. chairman i think you are familiar with his amendment and it deals with one of our trading partners israel. this amendment only applies to the ttip negotiations so it would not affect tpp negotiations. it's interesting that as we are meeting on april 22 it's exactly 30 years ago this date that the united states and israel sign the u.s. israel free. agreement. at that time it was considered an unprecedented trade agreement in the history of united states and the first fda entered into in the signing ceremony at the house ways & means committee minister minister of commerce and industry ariel sharon especially u.s. trade represent william brock stressed it would benefit the economies of united states and israel and serve as a precedent for future

mr. chairman the final tally is 10 ayes, 16 nays.>> is understand that senator cardin has an amendment and that should be our last amendment. am i correct? >> mr. chairman i have one amendment i'm offering and withdrawing.>> that is fine. it will be the last one.>> the amendment that i'm offering is amendment 109 which is cardin amendment 3.>> please proceed.>> is amendment would make the good governance sections that i've been talking about in the original bill would make it a principle negotiating objective rather than an overall negotiating objective. this amendment is straightforward. improvement of the act makes no changes in the language that was negotiated on a bipartisan basis by the committee. the only changes to move it from section to a11 to section 2b. the reason for this amendment relates to effective enforcement of good government -- governance in negotiating objectives. the dispute principle negotiating objectives require the ustr to seek revisions that treat the united states principle negotiating objectives equally with respect to the availability to resort to the settleme

mr. chair, senator cardin, senator menendez, and all my colleagues. senator murphy: thank you mr. chairman and to the ranking member, as well as to the white house for bringing this incredibly productive compromise before us today. i have been of like mind with senator boxer. i have believed that this has been a largely unnecessary endeavor in that the legislation we are debating today does not really reserved for congress any power that we don't already have. we had the ability already before this debate to be able to review this agreement once it is submitted to congress and to be able to take away from the president the power to waive sanctions. after the passage of this bill we still have that power. all along, my concern has simply been whether we are engaging in an effort that is going to make it less likely rather than more likely that we will get a deal to review. i reserve the right to be able to weigh in on that agreement, i just don't want to be taking any steps that lessen the chances that we will be able to conduct that oversight when the time is appropriate. i would

mr. chairman. >> senator cardin. >> thank you very much. thank you for holding this important hearing. and i thank our witnesses. there's no question that there's strong consensus on this committee in the united states senate that the united states needs to do more to help the ukraines defend themselves. i want to make that clear from the beginning. the ukrainians need defensive support so they can defend themselves as far as weapons are concerned. and this committee has spoken and many of us have voiced this and the hearing i think has been pretty clear about your position in that regard. it's also clear that we need to take stronger action against russia. the tragic assassination of boris nemtsov really points out just how extreme the putin regime has gotten. i think what we could do, madam secretary, and i would just urge you to look at mr. nemtsov exposed individuals of gross violation of russian rights. it would be appropriate for us to review as to whether we should be imposing the meninski type sanctions against those individuals that he worked on within russia. let's not forget

appropriate role for this committee and for the senate, and i can't praise senator kaine and intense cardin and you, mr. chairman, for the incredible work you've done. and i yield back spent thank you. either anymore opening comments? singh not i would entertain entertain a motion that we consider the manager's amendment by roll call vote. is there a second? >> mr. chairman? attribute of a time like to make a comp with regard to it we incorporate in the manager's amendment. >> actually i think even go ahead and do that now. that would be fine. thank you. thank you for involvement in this and making this bill better as it is today. >> i just want to thank chairman corker in ranking member cardin for the cooperation today. as many of you will remember for five years i've worked to see to it that the 44 living americans who were hostages in iran in 1979 are compensated for the loss and the type you remember when we negotiated the algerian accords to release those people at the time it was 52 living people. we negotiate away the ability to get compensation from the iranian government. i have a bill what yo

cardin: proceed. secretary johnson: thank you mr. chairman.ers of the committee for hearing me today. let me say a few things. in my view counterterrorism needs to remain the cornerstone of the department of homeland security's mission. it is the reason i excepted service as the secretary for this department. in my view, the global terrorist threat has evolved to a new phase. it is more complex decentralized. in many respects, harder to detect. there are more groups and we therefore need a government approach to our counterterrorism efforts that includes the department of homeland security. we have a phenomenon of foreign fighters who leave their home countries, go to places like syria, and return. we need to track foreign fighters, foreign fighters from countries from which we do not require a visa. my staff is developing as a follow on to what we did last summer, greater security measures that can be taken with regard to travelers from those countries. we continue to focus on aviation security and what to build a preclearance capability on t

mr. dent, chairman dent, the new chairman of this subcommittee. this is his maiden voyage as chairman of this subcommittee. he's a cardinal now. he's done a great job putting together this bill. and i want to thank mr. bishop, the ranking member on the other side for his cooperation in making this bill what it is today. this is the first bill of the process and i'm pleased that we are off to a very early start. i'm told the earliest start since 1974. continuing our good work from last year. i'm optimistic that we are going to have a successful appropriations year. finishing on time and under regular order. we are beginning the year on the right foot with a bipartisan bill, madam chairman, that i believe we can all get behind. fiscal 2016 military construction and veterans' affairs appropriations bill includes, as has been said $76.6 billion in discretionary funding for important veterans benefits and services. and for the infrastructure that supports the brave men and women serving in our armed forces and their families. this is a total of $4.6 billion over last year. no one can call this a cut. and be realistic about t we incr

mrs. obama, governor baker, senators mccain, warren and markey, dr. jean mccormick, keith motley, cardinalmembers, and elected officials who have joined us today, the boston pops, the children's choir friends on behalf of ted's's sister jean, and all of his family, we are standing next to each other literally and in spirit, we are all grateful that you all could be here. 36 years ago, my husband came here to dedicate the presidential library next door. speaking about the older brother that he loved and admired so deeply, he called the moment a culmination and a happy run to view with history that makes memories come alive. today, our same -- the same is true for all of us who loves edward kennedy. it seems like only yesterday i was standing with teddy at a window on the seventh floor of the jfk library, looking down on the plot of land where this institute now stands. it was an empty low-lying field, but he had a vision that something extraordinary could rise because of it. as we looked out that window, he pointed to a little pine tree, and said to me, that is where the institute is going

mr. chairman have you requested a discussion? >> i -- lack ben cardin'sm kaine, all of them outstanding, as is our republican members. we've kept this from my perspective, at that level. but, look i think you've seen them making some comments recently i think they see this possible -- who knows? we may feel today in committee. i don't think so. i don't ever -- the next step is successful passage. i think we're going to be there today. but the fact is i think they're beginning to see momentum around this very common sense piece of legislation and, therefore, they're beginning to act as if -- i don't know what they're going to do. we'll see. >> how strongly are you going to push for the provision that iran must recognize israel's right to exist? that's something that netanyahu is pushing for, marco rubio as well. >> i think we have -- it's my understand, i know we finished up last night at 11:30, it's my understanding we've added some language that accommodates the concerns that worked for us. >> mark halperin? >> what's the best argument to conclude this d

mrs. weinstein going on to say that i want to thank congressman john delaney and senator ben cardin for efforts husband. unfortunately, she adds the assistance we receive from other elements is inconsistent and disappointing over the course of three and a half years. she is asking that at this difficult time where we cannot begin to address our pain we ask for privacy as we go through this devastating ordeal. >> reporter: good to visit with you. i think you indicated the sentiment of that family and the sentiment shared here with the administration, their deep regret over this loss of life but it was obviously from the statement from the wife of dr. warren weinstein, the depth of frustration they had with the administration's handling of the situation over the past 3 1/2 years since weinstein was kidnapped in the pakistan border region and pakistan itself in 2011. one of the points the president was clear to communicate was the fact that the strike that killed the innocent civilians, both hostages, weinstein and giovani laporto was the fact that it was a mistake despite hundreds of hours of sur

mr. vice president governor baker leaders senators mccain, warring, markey, maher walsh doctor jean mccormick robert caret chief keith motley, cardinalf of ted's sister, jean, teddy junior and kiki, patrick and amy, karen, caroline and the entire kennedy family standing beside me literally and in spirit we are honored and grateful you all can be here. thirty-six years ago my husband came here to dedicate the presidential library next-door. speaking about the speaking about the older brother he loved and admired so deeply teddy called the moment a combination a happy rendezvous with history that makes his memory come alive. today the same is true for all of us who loved edward m kennedy. it seems like only yesterday i was standing with teddy at a window on the 7th floor of the jfk library looking down on the plot of land where this institute now stands. it was an empty low-lying field but he had a vision that something extraordinary could rise from. ascould rise from. as we looked out the window teddy pointed to a little pine tree and said to me that is where the institute is going to be. and we and we stood they're for a moment imagi

mr. reid: i am grateful for the work done yesterday and during the entire process of working toward an agreement on the important iran legislation. senators corker and cardinhave done a magnificent job. they're both good managers, and i would suggest to everyone that is concerned about amendments that they should come appeared talk to the two managers before -- come and talk the two managers before they lay down their amendments. there is a process for moving the amendments forward. it's been pretty well articulated by both senator cardin and corker. we know there are difficult issues with this bill, and that's what -- some of the things that we do here is work on difficult issues. not always but some of the time. and i would just note, mr. president senator mcconnell and i we love our jobs. we realize how important things are that we work on, but once in a while we take a minute and talk about one of our hobbies and that's watching baseball. and because we're back here and have been for sometime, we've been focused recently on the nationals. and they've -- they started off in a very bad fashion losing -- they were last night in the process of a six-game l

mr. chairman. i won't repeat all of the eloquent statements that have been made but i want to reiterate what has been said about the leadership or new senator cardin senator menendez and senator came relative to getting an agreement on this legislation. i think as you have said it's not only important to the future of the foreign relations committee and a very important work that we should be doing but i think it also sends a very important signal to the people of this country that we can work together on big issues to address common problems that face the country and we should be doing that as often as possible in the future. i just want to congratulate you again for the great work that you have done and i do intend to support this legislation. >> senator johnson. >> mr. chairman i also thank the chairman and the people that i work on this agreement. i understand it's been a tough row to go and your challenge in trying to accomplish creating legislation that could get bipartisan support and overcome the presidential veto so i understand what you have been working with here. i understand the challenge but i did offer a number of amendments to prov

mr. royce said we are being rolled. other news from the foreign relations committee on the senate side. minority reader reid's offices that with memnendez's decision to step aside as ranking member, ben cardintake over. caller: good news to see that thinkers and peace seekers managed to evolve this thing and create a peaceful situation between the shiite and the sunni, we are at each other's throats in the middle east. then next question -- the next question should be, how are we going to have a nuclear-free zone in the middle east, including israel? host: charlie is next in california. independent line. caller: hi. this is charlie from california. my question is, if we have a nuclear proliferation of an arms race in the middle east, who is going to stop that, who is going to be responsible? who is going to verify the inspections in iran that they are basically abiding by their agreement? i'm very upset on this. host: you posed the question. who do you think should do that. -- do that? is it the united nations? caller: it is a role for the world, because our president has agreed to this agreement between iran and the u.s. in the world. my question is, hattie say -- how do you say, we are at

mr. cardin for himself and others proposes an amendment numbered 1119. mr. cardin: mr. president i explained in amendment a little bit earlier and i would ask unanimous consent that senator klobuchar be added as a sponsor. this deals with the therapy cap that we now have had 12 patches. it is almost the identical problem we have with the s.g.r., which is the underlying bill. it deals with seniors medicare beneficiaries having access to therapy services, those who have had strokes, who have had serious issues and need rehab therapy. the cap never made sense in 1997 when it was put into effect. it was not the right policy. we've had bipartisan support to correct this, as we have the s.g.r. my underlying amendment does that. with that, i would ask my colleagues to support the amendment. mr. hatch: mr. president? the presiding officer: senator from utah. mr. hatch: this bill is far from perfect but we cannot let -- the presiding officer: we'll have order in the senate. we'll have order in the senate. would the ladies and gentlemen please take your conversations out of the w

mr. cardin: i'm sorry. mr. cotton: time and time again, a nuclear armed iran is the greatest threat this country face. i've said time and again the senate needs to have votes object the merits of this agreement. the president has taken us down a very dangerous path. the president has backtracked on his own words. he said that iran needed to live up to all of its obligations under international law. yet iran still has not disclosed the past military dimensions of its nuclear program. the president said after this negotiating process began in december of 2013, that iran has no need for a fortified underground military bunker in fordo you -- fordow yet they have conceded its existence. the president has said we have to have fully verifiable, anywhere any time access to all sites in iran to ensure they're not cheating on any agreement, to include their military sites. yet the leaders of iran continue to say that we won't be able to access their military sites there will be no intrusive inspections. i, the senator f

mr. cardin: thank you mr. president. i'm hopeful dirnl ale hopeful -- i'm sure most of us all -- that sortly we'll be able to consider comir legislation that has passed the house of representatives. it is known as the s.g.r. medicare fix a payment system that affects physicians under the medicare system. it's badly broken. on 17 previous occasions we've extended the current policy in order to make sure that physicians don't get an automatic cut that would deny many medicare beneficiaries access to their physicians, that these are pretty extreme measures. we all understand that it's time to permanently fix this, not just to eliminate the problem but to substitute a payment system that encourages physicians to provide high-quality care and to deal with incentives that reduce the volume of care. and that is what the legislation that passed the house of representatives does. it does it -- it fixes the problem on a permanent basis and i'm certainly hopeful that we can get that enacted shortly because we've already passed the