i'm grateful that senator shelby, senator leahy, colleagues of ours, including rubio, ernst, thune, blunt, sasse, and others have brought us to this point with their tireless work on this subject. so i'm grateful to the president for his leadership an focus on getting an outcome. i'm glad that we passed this legislation and sent to the -- it to the house. i would urge our colleagues over in the house to support it. i ask unanimous consent to proceed to calendar number 78, s. 1332. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 78, s. 1332, a bill to set forth the budget for the united states government for to 20 and -- 2020 and so forth. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22, do hereby bring to a close debate on, s. 1332, to set a budget for the united states fiscal government for 2020 and setting budgetary levels for 2021 through 2029. mr. mcconnell: i

senator cornyn: thank you. chairman graham: senator durbin. senator dushyib: thanks, general barr. i have i have been listening carefully to my republican colleagues and it appears they are going to work together and coordinate the lock her up defense. this is not supposed to be the mueller investigation, the russian involvement in the election, the trump campaign and so forth, it is really about hillary clinton's emails. finally we get down to the bottom line. hillary clinton's emails and questions that have to be asked about benghazi along the way, travelgate, whitewater, there is a lot of material we should be going through today according to their response to this. that is totally unresponsive to the reality of what the american people want to know. they paid a lot of money, $25 million for this report. i respect mr. mueller and believe he came up with a sound report though don't agree with all of if. but i find, general barr, some of the things you have engaged in really leave me wondering what you believe your role as attorney general is when it comes to something like this.

senator kennedy: senator danes. daines. senator senator daines: thank you. senator kennedy: welcome to the disco tech. i expect john travolta to walk in. senator daines: i'll walk out if he comes in 70's clothes. i want to thank chairman pai and chairman simons for coming today. chairman pai, always good to see you. i wanted to chat a bit about 5-g mid band spectrum. i'm very concerned and fear the u.s. is falling behind on the race to 5-g and we simply can't let that happen in this race with china. the 5-g economy is going to lead through a break through in jobs, connectivity. however, other countries are making four times more mid band spectrum available in the next few weers compared to the united states -- years compared to the united states. mid band spectrum will be a component to make 5-g a reality especially in places like montana. we need to stop talking about 5-g and actually take some action and see some real solutions. an important is the 3.1 giga urts band by i want to -- giga thank you. want to chairman pai: in response to a question, sort of i

debby stabenow, senator stabenow. senator ron wyden. senator chris murphy. so we are pleased to welcome them back. we're very, very proud of how they were trained on this side. [ laughter ] [ applause ] and one way they were trained, we'll see if it works, is that on the house side, we speak for one minute. guided in our house by our outstanding freshmen class and with the leadership of course committee's house democrats, moving forward to hold legislation to do just what we have promised to the american people. in their name we are moving forward with our legislation. last week we passed representative annie custer's protecting americans with preexisting conditions act, and we'll hear from her. [ applause ] and we passed bipartisan legislation to move generic versions of prescription drugs to market. tomorrow we will be strengthening the health care of lowering -- health care, and lowering prescription drug costs with even more action to protect preexisting conditions and bringing drug prices down. i want you to know, mr. leader, i'm eliminating the third c

senate. keep in mind a couple of facts about the senate. in our history and in our system of government. if you remember, the senate is endowed with certain responsibilities unique our politics. senators, for one thing, have six-year terms, longer than any other federal official. the senate has the responsibility to ratify treaties and to advise and consent on appointments to the judiciary and other high government positions. unique responsibilities invested in the united states senate. i want to quote, rather than start with burton k. wheeler tonight, i want to quote one of his contemporaries, a guy named mansfield, mike mansfield. in 1963, mike mansfield was the senate majority leader and was preparing to deliver a response in the senate to some of the critics that he had had encounter in the senate who were complaining about his leadership style. he was too laid-back, they thought, not aggressive enough in pushing the democratic agenda in the united states senate in the kennedy administrat

senator gregg? >> well, the commission was, as senator conrad mentioned, was an idea we worked on together. and the theme of it was that the regular order simply wasn't working in the congress. and so what we wanted was a group of people to come together who were basically players in the congress and the president to have his say in it by putting his membership on it. have it be equally divided between republicans and democrats and between the house and senate. and i think the key leverage point of the commission was if the commission reached an agreement, it had to be voted up and down without amendment. much like the brach situation is with the base closure bills. so the people couldn't hide behind amendments they offered and lost. that's what happens. people offer an amendment, they know they're going to lose it, they lose it and say they can't vote for the final product. so it was an up or down vote on the commission. and the positive of it was it had extraordinary leadership in alan simpson and

senator graham: i echo what senator whitehouse said. i'm no expert but senator whitehouse understands the threats we face from cyber attacks. a couple years ago we tried to incentivize the private sector to harden critical structure in a fashion that if you met the best business practices and invested and did the things to protect your infrastructure, you would be given liability protection. we all believe the regulatory system is not going to be able to keep up with the threat. you've got hardening the critical infrastructure here at home that's mostly private sector based. now we have got developing technology called 5-g that if china dominates this market we may not be able to do normal business or function militarily. we are sitting around looking at each other. we have a bunch of bills being introduced. it's going to take administrative leadership, the trump administration working with the congress, to deal with both problems. i promise senator whitehouse we'll restart the conversation about how to harden critical infrastructure he

up in the senate.ecause they will make a difference. and now i would like to introduce another colleague from the house who i worked with whose very much been involved in the whole affordability issue, and that is senator chris murphy. [applause] murphy: well, thank you for us., for hosting and thank you to all of your colleagues behind us for listening to the american people and stepping up to combat trump's sabotage and to make health care cheaper. i do not know why you run for the united states senate if you have no interest on addressing the number one issue of americans, and that is the state of our health care system. it is not isn't a republican is not a republican issue, and it is not a democratic issue. right? illness and preexisting conditions do not discriminate between people that watch msnbc and fox news. it affects everyone. and republicans in the senate have shut down the body to any ideas that are going to make people's health care more secure and more affordable. our colleagues in the

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: thank you, madam president. yesterday tennesseans were really filled with a bitter sweet pride as president trump awarded posthumously the public safety officer medal of valor to a heroic tennessean, sergeant verdel smith. his watch with the memphis police department ended on june 4, 2016, and on that day an armed gunman stole a car and led memphis police on a chase into the downtown area. officer smith responded to the call and worked quickly to clear the pedestrians from an intersection directly in the path of the speeding car. then the unthinkable happened. before the police were able to apprehend him, the gunman crashed through a barrier and fatally struck officer smith. valor is a word that is defined as great personal bravery. valor, you don't hear it a lot, but valor is that great personal bravery in the face of danger, and i think there is no better way to describe the actions of officer smith. i honor him on behalf of all tennesseans for his service in the u.s. nav

not even the senators. a total surprise. >> (voice shaking): i am here today not because i want to be. i am terrifi. i am here because i believe it is my civic duty to tell you what happened to me while brett kavanaugh and i were in high school. >> when you realized how genuinely terrified she was to be there, it shocked a lot ofe der, longer-serving senators, that once again, this issue was being broughinto the public sphere.ea >> (voice ng): i believed he was going to rape me. i tried to yell for help. when i did, brett put his hand over my mouth to stop from yelling. this is what terrified me the, mod has had the most lasting impact on my life. it was hard for me to breathe, and i thought that brett was accidentally going to kill me. >> it was, of course, a larger-than-life moment. christine blasey ford had to go before the eyes of a nation and the world. >> i thought she was enormously urageous, enormously persuasive. >> she was very polite and just looked deahonest. >> it was a huge burden on her to co

we have been working 4 years in a bipartisan way, senator kaine , senator whitehouse , senator kaine , probably 12 republicans in a very informal way in the last 3-4 years. it is uncanny it is easy to attract asked governors into that debate. attract asked governors. they are 2 asked governors. by law, senator kaine had to provide a balanced budget and had to live with it's. 44 states have that law , i the way. i want to go to a question. my first question is this. we can argue about semantics. both of you said this. the budget is not a law. therefore , the majority crams it down the throat of the minority. it is a political coin. we talk about reconciliation , the conrad rule , all of this is a band-aid on eight 1974 budget lot that is the worst piece of writing i have seen in my life. it was never going to work. it is a disaster. it has taken 45 years for us to be here to try to get this fixed. we need your help. you're not running for office. you can tell us what you would do. it was never a law. it was only dealing with discretionary , 25% of what we spent. no consequence. in sta

senator coons. senator coons: mr. secretary, bipartisan group of senators worked a couple years ago to extend a critical tax credit for emerging clean energy technologies, this includes carbon capture and sequestration, 45-q, and there is companies and investors waiting for guidance from your department so they can can rely on the credit and deploy new technologies. some interim guidance would be helpful. do you have any timeline for when there will be guidance available for this critical tax credit? secretary mnuchin: yes. i can tell you that is a priority of ours. we're working on it as we speak. i would hope that we have interim guidance out shortly. i have personally been on calls recently within the last few weeks and no preparation for this. specifically on this with some of the large c.e.o.'s and very detailed things. we're taking advice. we'll put it out. take comments. i share your view, this is very important. we're taking it very seriously. i hope we get it out soon. senator coons: i think we have promising

over his 36 years in the senate, senator richard lugar became the longest serving senator in the historystate, was a candidate for president of the united states. he will be remembered among a pantheon of senators who commanded the respect of his peers in both parties and who exercised enormous influence in foreign affairs. he was a working senator. he always put indiana first as those of us who served in congress at the same time new. his work on the arab culture committee always put hoosier farmers first. for his years on the senate foreign relations committee, he emerged as an american-statesman whose contributions to our nation were countless. as you have heard described by his partner after the collapse of the soviet union, senator lugar crafted a measure that led to the elimination of more than 7500 nuclear warheads, leaving the world safer as a result. foras a clarion voice american leadership and the world. senator dick lugar understood that america was a powerful nation but more importantly, we were a heroic nation. and that we had, as he said, a moral responsibility to foster t

senator coons is a member of the senate foreign relations committee. this conversation with fred hiatt of "the washington post" is just over an hour. mr. hiatt: good morning. i'm fred hiatt editorial page editor at the "washington post. on behalf of the council, thank you all for coming. thank you to senator coons. as you all know senator coons was elected in 2010 after a previous brief but distinguished career in the law and local government. and has been a leader in the senate in all kinds of bipartisan efforts, particularly of interest to some of us in human rights. co-leader of the human rights caucus. for many years, last time you came to the post had you recently been to africa. today we are here to talk about your turning a little bit ttention to east asia. you were there a couple weeks ago. since then relations have really gone downhill. what did you say while were you there? [laughter] let's start with the news of the day, we seem to be in a trade war, the stock market's unhappy. what do you make of it? senator coons: i'm struck -- first thank

thank you for being here senator greg before he turned to senator cramer to turn to senator conrad i asked the cement to summaries into senator greg's bill into the record without objections ordered, i recognize under cramer to introduce a second witness, senator conrad. >> they give us a triggermen and i think both of you for being here, you're both way too young to read an obituary. i'm grateful they retired at a young enough age to continue serving in any capacity, it's reasonable to be here. it's a special honor to introduce senator conrad. i was saying when we came in i was a tourism structure and he was a senator and introduced him to be the speaker at the grand opening of a tourism information center in washington north dakota, it's been a long time. he was very concerned into. but you have your and really cannot hear from to better people. >> were my wife and i live now, and after actuating went to stanford where he received his bachelors degree and then received an mba at george washington diversity in the macomb with the heart of service and went to work in the tax commissi

a senator: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: i would ask that senator portman and i be recognized for up to 25 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: thank you, mr. president. shortly i'm going to be joined by senator portman. the two of us have been working for well over a decade on retirement savings issues. when both of us were members of the house of representatives, we worked on pension legislation together. it was unusual at that time, a democrat and republican working together. there was a great deal of discussion about tax reform at that time and it seemed like neither the democratic or republican leadership was interested in dealing with retirement savings at that point, but congressman portman and i joined forces recognizing the need to strengthen retirement savings in this country. we authored a bill known as the portman-cardin bill. it was a process more than it was about legislation. we brought the stakeholders together, sat around, listened to each other and came to a consensus bill

we hear first from senator john kennedy of louisiana. senator kennedy: who stopped me? go ahead.eporter: what did you learn in there? senator kennedy: it was very thorough. already been asked, does iran present a threat to america? iran has presented a threat to america for the last 40 years. my personal feeling is that iran is a cancer. it is a cancer on the middle east and it is a cancer on the world. not the iranian people, but the iranian leadership. our actions over the last two weeks have been defensive, and we all hope they will work. there is not much more i can give you in terms of detail. backing awayiran from escalation? senator kennedy i can't answer that. i can, but i won't. reporter: do you have any indication the administration is opening a channel with iran? senator kennedy: the president has made it clear he is more than willing to sit down and the with the ayatollah and other political leadership in iran. feel, arehow do you we closer to negotiations or closer to war? senator kennedy: i can't answer. as the threat significantly higher now than 40 years ago? sena

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: madam president, let me say how much i agree with the senator from virginia. i endorse completely what she said. i make one amendment. instead of just the compassionate approach versus the criminal approach, it's the commonsense approach versus the criminal approach as well. and i do believe that the point has been made and demonstrated by what you said here and what you said in previous meetings, that when we invest in family planning, in sex education, in good health care for women, we have fewer unplanned pregnancies and fewer abortions, period. and those policies that militate against that just increase the likelihood of abortion. let me also add something that i think pro-life and pro-choice should agree to come to terms with in unity. how in the world can we live in a country, the united states of america, with all its wealth and all its expertise, and have in the last 25 years the worst incidents of maternal mortality in civilized countries around the world? more women

mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that the senate be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate armed services committee be discharged from further consideration of s. res. 160 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 160, recognizing the contributions of defense laboratories and so are forth. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. mcconnell: i ask that the motion 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 ask unanimous consent the judiciary committee be discharged from further consideration and the senate now proceed to s. res. 144. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 144, designating may 5, 2019,

he was a senator's senator. he liked to get things done.s totally honest with me and everyone who worked with him. i learned so much from hereby like to thank -- i learned so much from him. i like to think many of the things i have accomplished are due to things that birch bayh said. leon panetta, he was a role model for how you get things done in washington. we shoulduism that, not judge the past by standards of the president -- standards of the present, but to judge it by the voices best heard. , at a ceremony naming a courthouse here after 's father was a referee at lady's basketball 'smes in high -- at lee basketball games in high school. thatwa there was the time birch split the seam of his dance in conner's milk split his pants -- andt the seam of his pants, changed his pants on a helicopter and arrived in good shape in bloomington, indiana. he went on to say that birch bayh wrote more of the indiana constitution than any member since james madison. that is an accomplishment. [applause] day hewatson's tweet the died. i will never forg

host: what are the democratic caucuses like in the senate, with half a dozen democratic senators running for the presidency? >> we are starting to see attendance slipped a little bit. it has not gotten completely ridiculous yet, in terms of having eight or 10 people gone, -- thereainly, it is is going to be more of that. so far, they are all playing friendly, but i do expect, at -- itoint in time, it gets more tense. host: niels lesniewski's senior staff writer for cq roll call and andrew desiderio for politico.com. thank you for your insights on c-span's "newsmakers" program. >> monday, the president will be in pennsylvania for a campaign rally. live coverage begins at 7:00 p.m. eastern on c-span 2, online at c-span.org, or listen on our free radio app. on monday, current and former lawmakers and dignitaries attend a memorial service for the late ellen tausch

host: what are the democratic caucuses like in the senate, with half a dozen democratic senators running for the presidency? >> we are starting to see attendance slipped a little bit. it has not gotten completely ridiculous yet, in terms of having eight or 10 people gone, -- thereainly, it is is going to be more of that. so far, they are all playing friendly, but i do expect, at -- itoint in time, it gets more tense. host: niels lesniewski's senior staff writer for cq roll call and andrew >> the house of representatives meets this afternoon at 2:00 eastern to open the day session and for one-minute speeches on any topic. legislative works starts at 4:00 eastern. among today's legislation, promoting internet access in developing country and ensuring sanitation facilities in refugee camps that get u.s. money. later this week, reversing trump administration changes to the customs and border protection. also plans aimed at increasing retirement savings. watch house coverage here on c-span. >> president trump will be in pennsylvania later today for a campaign rally. live coverage starts at 7:

that the senate passed senate 1693, that the senate agreed to senate concurrent resolution 3. with best wished i am, signed, sincerely, robert f. reeves. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition mr. bishop: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to take from the speaker's table the bill h.r. 2157, the supplemental appropriations disaster bill, with the senate amendment thereto and concur in the senate amendment. >> madam speaker. observing the right to object. the speaker pro tempore: the objection is heard. >> madam speaker, i was seeking recognition. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky objected to the request. >> not before i asked to be recognized. do i not have precedence of recognition, madam speaker? parliamentary inquiry. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does -- for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to take from the speaker's table the bill h.r. 2157, the supplemental appropriations disaster bill, with the senate amendment thereto and concu

host: what are the democratic caucuses like in the senate, with half a dozen democratic senators running for the presidency? >> we are starting to see attendance slipped a little bit. it has not gotten completely ridiculous yet, in terms of having eight or 10 people gone, -- thereainly, it is is going to be more of that. so far, they are all playing friendly, but i do expect, at -- itoint in time, it gets more tense. host: niels lesniewski's senior staff writer for cq roll call and andrew >> caitlin emma reports from politico and joins us with the week ahead from congress. let's start with disaster aid. where does the package in the senate stand russian mark -- stand? what about coming to a deal with the white house? caitlin: negotiations finally took a turn it last night. it feels like there is some real movement, real progress. we have a number of offers back and forth, but democrats have offered republicans a package, which everyone is quiet about, and that is a good sign that negotiations are narrowing, that we are getting closer to a deal. it seems like a lot of the disagreements ov

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: thank you, madam president. i'd ask consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. casey: thank you, madam president. i have two issues i'll speak about. i'll start and also ask consent that the second set of remarks i have appear in a separate place in the record. prohibition without --. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. casey: thank you, madam president. i come to the floor again this morning to discuss several judicial nominations considered by the senate this week. earlier this week the senate voted to confirm michael j. truncale to the eastern district of texas and kenneth lee to the ninth circuit court of appeals seat in california t. today we'll be voting on the nomination of wendy vitter to the eastern district of louisiana. the senate is considering and confirming nominees whose records indicate that they are far outside the mainstream. i've worked very hard over a number of years now -- i guess we're in our eighth

the music back ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ governor, chief justice roberts, leader mcconnell, senator leahy, senatoror daniels, distinguished members of the senate and the house, members of the clergy, friends of his precious family, fellow hoosiers and most of all char, mark, bob, david and the entire family, it is deeply humbling to have the privilege to be here among so many distinguished americans, so many that knew and loved this great man to celebrate and give thanks for a life of service. the bible tells us to mourn with those who mourn and grieve with those who grieve and on behalf of a grateful nation, karen and i offer our deepest sympathies. to you and your entire family and all who cherished and knew hinew ashusband, father, meir, r and true american statesman, richard lugar. richard lugar lived a great american life. he raised a wonderful family and served his country in uniform. he was a dedicated public servant who led the city, state and nation with integrity for more than 50 years. the old book admonishes us to run with perseverance the race marked out for us and for those who knew

as the leader mentioned, there are other senators, senators romney and young, and senators schotts and durbin. and they've invested energies in this effort and we pledge to work with all of them and we can come together on behalf of our young people. with that, mr. president, i thank you for the time and thank you to the majority leader and leave the floor. >> and the senate about to gavel in continuing debate on judicial nominations, this afternoon a vote on 9th circuit court of appeals judge and funding for disaster relief, which members are trying to vote on before the start of the memorial day break which starts this weekend. we'll take you live now to the floor of the senate here on c-span2. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the reverend black will come lead us in the prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. almighty god, we are grateful for life and all of its gifts. thank you for the beauty of the earth, for the majesty of the skies, and for the wonder of your love and grace. draw near to our lawmakers as they seek to see you more clearly, love you more dearly, and

senator schumer: thanks. [laughter] speaker pelosi: and what remains to be seen -- we agreed we would meet again to talk about how it would be paid for. but we are very pleased with the positive attitude towards recognizing the trillions of dollars of need according to the american society of civil engineers, the deficit that we have in our infrastructure. and now we have the opportunity to work together in a bipartisan way building infrastructure for america has never been a partisan issue and we hope to go forward in a very nonpartisan way for the future. with that, i'm pleased to yield to the distinguished the gentleman from senate. senator schumer: it was a very constructive meeting. it's clear that both the white house and all of us want to get something done on infrastructure in a big and bold way. and there was goodwill in this meeting and that was different from some of the other meetings which we have had, which is a very good thing. first, we agreed that infrastructure is crucial to the future of am

quorum call: a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. menendez: i rise today to cast my support for the resolution we will be voting on which sends a message that this body directly representing the american people wishes to end direct u.s. military support for the saudi-led coalition's campaign in yemen. i'm disappointed but not surprised that the president issued a veto choosing to stand by a campaign of devastating consequences for the people of yemen. every time we have a vote on this resolution and every day the numbers get worse, but let us be clear. these numbers are people. three million human beings have been forced to flee. more than 15 million are on the brink of starvation, and more than one million individuals, children, mothers, fathers, are suffering from the largest cholera epidemic in the world. even the coalition countries themselves insist there is no military solution to this man-made conflict. as houthis backed with the st

chairman. >> thank you, senator warner. now senator. >> thank you. treasurer reed, delaware, the constitution, and recovering i tell you i'm a recovering governor and recovering state treasurer and it was pressure to be treasurer of delaware when we had the worst rating in the country and we went to workout to do it and a great republican did a wonderful job and i hope i helped a little as treasurer. and we had a pension fund that was not funded at all and within ten years was fully vested. and we had a deferred compensation program for state employees that was a mess and we worked hard to straighten that out and finally, i think it's pretty good. so i sat in your shoes, in your seat and wish you well. we have a new state treasurer in delaware succeeded kent sempler. have you met her. >> i have. >> and a good role model and maybe if she takes the reins, maybe you could be one of those. this question is for miss ruff and mr. reed. first of all, thank you for being here and helping us with this. it's a great challenge, but an opportunity, too, but half

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. scott: good afternoon. i'm proud to speak today in honor of military appreciation month. our men and women in uniform are true heroes. they risk their lives every day to protect our freedoms and our way of life. i had the opportunity to serve in the united states navy during the vietnam war. my adopted father was one of the few who made all four combat jumps in the 82nd airborne during world war ii. as governor, i made it my mission to turn florida into the most military and veteran-friendly state in the nation, and we succeeded. we championed important legislation and funding to support priorities that matter most important to military families and we took every opportunity to recognize veterans for their service. florida has 20 military bases and three unified commands, more than almost any other state. as governor, i met regularly with florida's base commanders to see how i could help support their missions and their troops. and as a senator, i continue to host base commander meeti

you are the send-youngest senator in the united states senate. >> that's a pretty low bar to neear in the u.s. senate. >> an impressive nonetheless. >> yeah. >> you're on the armed servicesm tee and the intelligence committee. and you also served in the war in iraq and also did a tour in afghanistan. >> mm-hmm. >> being a veter and your service in the military, such a strong part of, i think, your world view as a senator, but it seems to me that you didn't always know that you would be in the military. you were getting your law degree at harvard before you decided join. what happened? >> yeah, i took something of a circuitous route into the military. most young men and women will join after high school or join after college, become an officer.o i was on iw school, and i planned to be a lawyer, but the 9/11 attacks hapned in my last year in law school, and that really changed my direction. i didn't want to practice law so much anymore i did for a couple years to repay all of my loans, but what i really wanted to dwas go serve on the front lines. >> you were paying off law-school loans,

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. ms. hirono: madam president, i would like to thank senator murray for organizing all of us to come to the floor in honor of mother's day. i want to take my time to talk about the ongoing attacks on women's health in this country. i feel a sense of you urgency at the increasingly hostile, escalating, and unrelenting attacks on women's health by donald trump and republicans. from continuous efforts to defund planned parenthood to taking away title 10 funds to trying to repeal the affordable care act, all programs that support health care for millions of women in this country, and i have to ask why. what is the motivation for taking away health care services for millions of women in this country? it's not clear why they're doing this, but what is clear is that that -- is the harm they are causing to women. repealing the affordable care act would mean that insurance plans would no longer be required to cover maternity care and birth control. insurance companies would be able to discriminate a

senate.urprise pick though was this guy who had no statewide profile at all, the superintendent of the denver public school system. school superintendent to u.s. senator, not necessarily dots you would think ever connect. they don't usually connect to each other without anything else in between. but that is what happened to michael bennet. bennet was a yale educated lawyer, at the justice department under president clinton, became managing director at an investment firm run by a really conservative politically active billionaire. bennet was not conservative and not a republican, but he thrived there. made a bunch of money. he did end up becoming managing director. but the public service bug really bit him and when his friend became the mayor of denver, a man by the name of john hickenlooper, you might have heard of him, bennet said yes when the new denver mayor asked him to become his chief of staff at city hall. went on to run the public schools despite not having a background in education.

it has senator byrd and senator warner, senator graham, senator harris. significant support in the house as well. gru targeted u.s. state and local agencies responsible for electronic polling and voter registration. they accessed voter information a motoralled malware on technology companies network. efforts to gain access to florida election data. will you commit to have the fbi provide a briefing to all senators on this? >> on the florida situation? >> on the entire russia situation. >> sure. >> that will be helpful. senator langford and i are trying to get our bill passed. irarding to the report, the purchased over 3500 and on ads on facebook to undermine our democracy. i am pleased that chairman graham as agreed to be the lead republican on the honest advertisements act i introduced last year with senator mccain. will you help us to change our election laws so we can show where the money is coming from and who is paying for these ads? >> the concept, yes. >> thank you. we need that support. in theng i noted opening, he talked about how the major conce

signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. is it the sense of the question that debate on the nomination of janet dhillon, of pennsylvania, to be men and women of the equal employment opportunity commission, shall be brought to a close? the yeas and nays are mandatory. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: the presiding officer: have all senators voted? any senator wish to change their vote? on this vote the yeas are 52. the nays are 44. the motion is agreed to. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. thune: mr. president, very eight requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. thune: mr. president, we reached a milestone last week with the confirmation of president trump's 100th federal judge. frankly, it's a milestone that should have come earlier. and had this been another president, it almost undoubtedly

senator lindsey o. graham told reporters monday, adding that trump's lawyer would have to be an idiot to let him testify again. lindsey graham is an obstruction of justice. this is clearly witness tampering. lindsey graham could be disbarred as a lawyer for and by publicly tampering with a senate witness, lindsey graham violated his oath of office. in any previous senate, the senate ethics committee would begin an investigation of lindsey graham today that would very likely lead to his expulsion from the united states senate. something very serious has happened to lindsey graham and we don't know what it is. something deeply disturbing has happened to lindsey graham, and we don't know what it is. and it is not just the difference between 20th century lindsey graham and today's lindsey graham, it's the difference between lindsey graham three years ago and lindsey graham today. >> he's a race baiting xenophobic religious bigot. he doesn't represent my party. he doesn't represent the values that the men an

i want to thank our senators are with us today. i want to thank senator young, todd.enator young made some very generous comment about my father and about senator lugar yesterday or the day before in our nation's capital and of want to thank you for joining us today, todd. we appreciate it very much. joe donnelly, where is a joke was his jail joe with you or n? so joe and then it myself have something in common. i recalled when the dishes and i were married my father was my best man and as whose beacon can of the aisle, he leaned over to me and he said, congratulations, son, you are catching a great family tradition. i kind of leaned over and said what's that, that? he said you out married yourself. [laughing] and he was right. and i'm right. and our mayor, thank you. i know my father is smiling down at the thought it is birch bayh the interstate, capital city. i know he would appreciate your generous words even about the ice cream. and i know he would say to all here that he spread of the job you're doing as our mayor. thank you for that. i want to thank as the membe

he's been meeting with a lot of republican senators. i'll just say that right now we've had very productive conversations, and i hope that we end up in a place that getshe usind of high-skilled workers we need while protecting american jobs and addressing the urgent crisis we face on the border.e i think weving in that direction. >> some people think that tom cotton's views generally will end up epitomizing trumpism post-trump. one of the places where you haven't been aligned with him is on criminal-justice reform, which was surprisinglyi think to the surprise of many in washington, probably one of the most important sweepingis bipa pieces of legislation that's come through this administration, save the russia sanctions. chuck grassley and cory booker stood together and shook hands and hugged over the achievemt of this bill, and you were one of 12 senators who opposed it.l >> i wticulate why 88 senators were wrong about that bill. so, is effort started primarily as a prison-reform effort, which i strongly support.pr soiding things like

a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: madam president, i really want to thank senator murphy for his long-standing commitment to this humanitarian need. we are now just a senate vote away from making a major difference in regards to the humanitarian crisis in yemen. and every member of the senate will now be on record. so i want senator murphy to know that his work has been extremely important and is well understood. and what he is saying, i just really want to underscore, and that is the u.s. military engagement with the saudi arabia and its partners is counterproductive not just to the humanitarian crisis that exists today in yemen but to america's national security interests. the conflict in yemen has become a humanitarian nightmare. and at this point our involvement does not advance the interests of the united states, our partners, or regional stability. i recognize that we have a strategic partnership with saudi arabia, and that we have a mutual desire to prevent the expansion of iranian influence and terrori

senate and other races. i don't actually think many of those senate races they're talking about are winnable for democrats. bullock might be the lone exception, but the notion that beto and stacey abrams and others could be competitive, i think it's easier to lose that senate race they're being considered for than to lose the white house. >> unknowingly, that's called a setup in the talk show business because i quote from what's been referred to, derisively, as democratic twitter or liberal twitter, social media to you, garrett. here's the first one. "why run for senate and win when you can run for president and lose? by steve bullock, beto o'rourke, julian castro, and cory booker, foreword by stacey abrams." tweet number two, "beto is polling at 2%. he could beat cornyn in texas. hickenlooper polling at 2%. stacey abrams isn't even running. she could beat perdue in georgia. we need the senate in 2020." no proof to back up the numbers but a fun conversation to have. >> if you work from the bottom up, they ar

as the leader mentioned, there are other senators, senators romney and young, and senators schotts and durbin. and they've invested energies in this effort and we pledge to work with all of them and we can come together on behalf of our young people. with that, mr. president, i thank you for the time and thank you to the majority leader and leave the floor. >> and the senate about to gavel in continuing debate on judicial nominations, this aftern a

senator pat toomey. plus. >> i'm jill's husband. >> chris: joe biden is now up double digits against bernie sanders and the latest fox news poll. we will ask our sunday panel how solid his lead really is. and our power player of the week, one of america's greatest historians on his life's work. >> and don't like unless i see it and really understand it, i can't make it. >> chris: all right on "fox news sunday." at hello again today from the gym at stevens high school in claremont new hampshire, home of the cardinals and tonight the sight of our townhome with mayor pete buttigieg on fox news channel. we came to new hampshire, site of the first in the nation primary and just eight months to get a sense of where the democratic race for president stands at this point. if the field is 24 candidates deep with mayor pete rising in the polls varied into a nice town hall, new hampshire voters will get a chance to learn more about the mayor and will see how he responds to moves republicans made this week on aborti