mr. van hollen: thank you. you know, federal law requires -- it requires that agencies bargain in good faith with their workers. that makes for a better workplace and that makes for better results for the american people. the president cannot just repeal that law by executive order. and i hope the courts will strike down these executive orders as being an abuse of process and violating the law. in fact, mr. president, we got some good news on that front today. even before the president's executive orders went in place, secretary devos over at the department of education had already launched her attack on workers' rights. and that attack that she launched was reviewed. it was reviewed by the federal labor relations authority. and as reported today in "the new york times" with the headline stating education department illegally curbed workers union protections, mediators suggest. what we've seen is this pattern that the trump administration has tried to unilaterally put in place is getting some pushback from the

mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. president. i want to start by thanking my colleague from connecticut for his words today and his leadership to protect the integrity of our democracy and the rule of law. mr. president, when it comes to issues of national security and foreign policy, we've had many vigorous debates in this country over the decades and many important debates here on the floor of this united states senate. and there have been deep disagreements over specific foreign policy choices that we make as a country. but there has consistently, consistently been broad, bipartisan support for the view that the united states and strong u.s. leadership benefits not only our interests but the interests of folks around the world. and that has been american leadership grounded in key values and principles, including the promotion of democracy, universal human rights, the rule of law, a free press, and the idea that america is an exceptional nation based not on tribalism but a beacon of hope for all people as symbolized in the sta

mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. president. i want to thank the senator from florida, senator nelson, for introducing this legislation and my other colleagues who have been on the senate floor today. this is emergency legislation which is why there was a request for unanimous consent to move forward today. and it's very disturbing that that consent was not provided because we know that as a result of the trump administration's actions, starting tomorrow people all over the country -- and in fact all over the world -- are going to be able to download on their computers instructions and a whole manual as to how to manufacture plastic guns with 3-d printing. now, this is something that has been before previous administrations. the obama administration fought hard against this ability for people to be able to send at the speed of light those instructions to make 3-d guns around the world. in fact, this administration early on opposed allowing this to happen. but somehow when this whole lawsuit was resolved the other day, the folks

mr. chairman. >> senator van hollen. >> thank you, mr. chairman mr. chairman, welcome. good to have you here. a couple of questions that relate to the tax bill because much has been said about that. senator toomey said it resulted in increased investment. what i've seen is a huge whopping increase in stock buy backs. as of today, the number is 600 billion dollars in stock buy backs. those are corporations that have decided not to invest the money back into their workers or their plant or their equipment but give it to stockholders which include one-third of the stock holdings in this country are foreign stockholders so it is a great wind fafall for accounts of stockholders much has been claimed about the economic impact. i'm looking at the most recent projection that the fed had for median, long term growth as of june 13th report 1.8%, is that correct, for current long term growth >> yes, it is. >> are you aware of what the projection was a year ago before the tax bill was passed? >> i'm going to say 1.8%. >> i mean, the reality is despite the hype around here, it's not really going to have a

mr. van hollen before about reinstating the student loan office. i'm a strong supporter of that. you are going to review that. i would urge you very much to do that. what are your plans for protecting student borrowers? ms. kraninger: this is an important issue and certainly under the law the bureau was provided the responsibility for looking at private student loans. senator donnelly: now it has closed down the office, what are your plans? you said you would look at reopening it. what specific plans do you have? ms. kraninger: there is a position of the private student loans ombudsman and a position still exists and first order of issue is sit down with the individuals in that office to understand the activities they ave ongoing. senator donnelly: you have young people paying incredibly high interest rates who look and feel they may never get out from this burden they have and never be able to buy a home or a car. and that's an extraordinarily discouraging situation for people across our country. one other question i want to ask, mr. mulvaney once called the cfpb a joke. do you

mr. van hollen before about reinstating the student loan office. i am a strong supporter of that. you are going to review that. i would urge you very much to do that. what are your plans for protecting student borrowers? ms. kraninger: this is an important issue, and certainly, under the law, the bureau was provided the responsibility for looking at private student loans -- rep. donnelly: now that they have closed down the office, what are your plans? you said you would take a look at reopening it. what specific plans do you have right now in regards to student loan? -- student loans? ms. kraninger: there is the private student loan ombudsman, the position that still exists. first order of issue is to sit down with the individuals in that office to understand the activities they have ongoing. i appreciate the priority you are placing in this and it is something i want to understand better. with the federal role in student lending, origination with 92% happening at the department of education and their efforts to theg servicing into department of education, i think that is another

van hollen. >> thank you, chairman. thank you, mr. ambassador. i agree with your analyses about china's long-term plan to essentially steal a lot of u.s. advanced technology. and as you said, they do this over a long period of time. some of the most egregious examples of chinese companies that have stolen u.s. technology is waway and zte. here's what tech crunch said about zte just a couple months ago. quote, to get a sense of just how egregious zte's behavior truly is, we need only to consult pacer, the national index of federal court cases, a search of pacer reveals that in the u.s. alone, zte has been sued for patent infringement in astonishing 126 times just in the last five years. they go on to give other examples of how zte in collaboration with the government of china has engaged in wholesale theft of u.s. technology. which is why there was bipartisan support here in april when secretary ross and the department of commerce imposed the denial order on zte. and i was astonished when we let them off the hook. and i want to know why we let the

mr. chairman. >> senator van hollen, thank you. senator caputo. >> thank you, ambassador, for being here. i come from state of west virginia. senator manchin said it correctly, trade agreements have not been traditionallily very helpful to our small state. that's why i join you in advocating for fair trade and protecting american jobs. i want to talk a little about the auto tariff and frame it. we have a toyota company, a toyota plant in our state, 1600 employees. we have peripheral businesses associated with that. but if you track what happens in that supply chain, the raw aluminum comes from canada. it goes to a toyota plant in tennessee that makes the engine block. the blocks come to west virginia, where we make the six-cylinder. very well. we make the six cylinder engines as well as the transmissions. half of those engines go from west virginia back to canada where they're dropped into the lexus rx and brought into this country for sale. we have a lot of cross-border -- crisscrossing the borders. we have a supply chain that is

van hollen. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, welcome. good to have you here. a couple questions that relate to the tax bill, because much has been said about that. senator toomey mentioned it resulted in the increase of investment. what i have seen is a huge increase in stock buybacks. as of today, the number is $600 billion in stock buybacks. those are corporations that have decided not to invest the money back into their workers, or their plans or equipment, but to give it to the stockholders, which include i should say one third of the stock holdings in this country are foreign stockholders. so it is a great windfall for the accounts of foreign stockholders. much has also been claimed about the economic impact. i am looking at the most recent projection that the fed had for median long-term growth, as of the june 13 report. i say it is 1.8%, is that correct for the current long-term growth medium projection? chairman powell: yes. >> are you aware of what the projection was a year ago but for the tax bill was passed? chairman powell: i am going to say 1.8%.

mr. van hollen: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to honor the victims and the survivors of the terrible shooting at the capital gazette newspaper that occurred on june 28. and i want to thank my friend and colleague, senator cardin for his remarks earlier today on this floor and thank the senate for taking up a resolution in memory of the victims. our state of maryland and the country were horrified by the tragic attacks on one of our great maryland institutions, "the capital gazette" newspaper, the local newspaper of our state capitol in annapolis that has been operating since 1827. it is your quintessential smalltown newspaper that serves annapolis, serves anne arundel county, but is also a newspaper read throughout the state of maryland. in that awful shooting, we lost five members of "the capital gazette." gerald phishman, rob hiaasen, john mcnamara, wendi winters and rebecca smith. gerald phishman was an editorial paper. he shed ligh