mr. blumenthal: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. umenthal: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not. mr. blumenthal: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein, up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: i understand there is a bill at the desk, mr. president, and i ask for its first reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bill for the first time. the clerk: s. 1364, a bill to provide for the recognition of the lumbee tribe of north carolina, and for other purposes. mr. blumenthal: i now ask for a 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 is heard. the bill will be read for the second time on the next legislative day. mr. blumenthal: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to legislative sessi

mr. durbin: you have five minutes. ms. hirono: i thought senator blumenthal had been called. you notice that the average length is 2 1/2 year, it's not sustainable. that's why we need to pass the john lewis voting rights act. so perhaps you can tell me, how effective is the current section 2 in protecting people's right to vote in comparison to the preclearance process that was in place under section 5? >> thank you for that question, senator. let me clarify also, just given the last colloquy, the supreme court actually invited congress to update the formula under section 5, it did not strike down section 5. and while i'm very hopeful that senator lee and others are willing to participate in a process to update the formula so we can pass a new preclearance formula under the voting rights act. the difference is that the preclearance formula allows us to stop discrimination before it happens by introducing a federal process that allows for a neutral review, whether the federal authority is republican or democrat in terms of the attorney general, or the district court in d.c., t

mr. blumenthal: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: thank you, madam president. i feel privileged to speak on behalf of vanita gupta, a dedicated public servant who is devoted -- deeply voted to equal justice, civil rights and the rule of law. i've seen first hand, and i know i'm not the only one who has done so. her consummate dedication to the integrity of the department of justice, which is so vital to be restored at this moment in our history. the support for her reflects a broad professionally and ideologically diverse coalition of individuals and organizations that know that she is eminently qualified to be associate attorney general. when she is confirmed, she will not only be the first civil rights lawyer, but also the first woman of color to serve as associate attorney general. she is, in effect, the leader we need in that position now. and we need it right now. the attorney general needs her right now. he has said so and we should be proud to confirm this eminently qualified woman. her's the character that the depa

mr. blumenthal. now let me organized senator ernst, please. >> thank you mr. and gentlemen, thank you very much for your testimony today and i do want to take time to thank you, your senior enlisted members and all of the men and women within your command for their continued service to our nation. i will move into my questions but what we're doing today, we are obviously discussing the significant challenges that both of you have within your commands. our national defense strategy is still targeted towards five very real threats. china, russia, iran, north korea and then of course, our violent extremists groups and four of those five challenges operate in both of your ao ours and, of course, the way that we operate and resource your ao ours is very different but general townsend, i would like to start with you and within after, we do have various pockets of activities and we do engage special operation forces in those areas and the lake cap bas a very volatile region and there are a number of those violent extreme as organizations they are such as isis, boca h

mr. garner. senator blumenthal? sen. blumenthal: i am intrigued by the arguments that corporations should have been sooner in their opposition to these restrictions on voting rights. and that their social conscience was overdue. or that they needed legions of lawyers to tell them that these restrictions and infringed on the fly and chives -- franchise and curtailed voting opportunities. the fact of the matter that has been established irrefutably today is that these restrictions will impact, adversely, and enduringly, the rights of citizens in georgia another chain -- states where they are being in -- imposed. the positions of the corporations are beside the point. what is the importance is the effect on voters and their rights. in shelby county, the supreme court tossed out the preclearance provision of section five of the voting act. which for decades served to protect communities of color from voter suppression. as the late justice ginsburg noted in her defense "throwing out preclearance when it has worked and continu

mr. blumenthal. there is no hope for republicans here.nyway, i went to the polls in newington and i handed my license to the two teenagers who were sitting at the table. she says, i do not need that. you don't want my license? we do not need it. do you want to know where i live? i said, i live on willard avenue . they never asked me my apartment number. eight families in this place that could have voted. they did not ask me my apartment. i walked over and got a ballot. i filled it out and i put it in the slot and i walked out. do you think my vote was counted? i have been voting since 1954. i have never in my whole time of voting been treated like that. usually, you walk over to the table and they ask you for your identification. this is in newington, connecticut. i mean, are you telling me that this election was not rigged? i went to bed at night. there is no hope. joe biden was going to win this presidency if there was no other way. host: the issue of voter id came up a number of times this week. here is a comment from burgess owens who

mr. ben comeau, we will start with you. >> good afternoon, chairman blumenthal and the members of the committee for this opportunity to testify today. my name is ben comeau, i am a parent, a gun owner, and a proud resident of colorado for 30 years. as a retired combat veteran with 31 years of service in the united states navy, i know what it needs to be a patriot. i have seen the carnage of war and know the physical scars that it -- the emotional and physical scars that it leaves. i'm the president of the -- we are a national organization of gun owners who support responsible gun ownership and common sense gun laws. we proudly support the second amendment, but we can no longer ignore that our country is in the midst of an epidemic. the daily threat of gun pilots -- gun violence is a shocking reality across the country, especially in our veteran community. as a veteran call eyewitness ey fellow service members died at a tragic rate. there are over 600 -- 6400 veteran suicides a year. that is more than all the service members killed in action during the last 18 years of operation iraqi freedom. t

mr. chairman. >> senator blumenthal. >> thanks, mr. chairman. thank you, both, for your willingness to serve. you to your families who are undoubtedly very, very proud of you, justifiably so. and i'm proud to be here as a member of the judiciary committee to be involved in your confirmation. i will support you because you are both superlatively well qualified by your academic background, your professional standing, your service to our nation and your families. so i want to just begin by saying that you both have backgrounds as public defenders. i served for 4 1/2 years as united states attorney in connecticut, the chief federal prosecutor. i then was attorney general of our state for 20 years, involved in law enforcement. and i really welcome the president's emphasis on elevating and showing that public defenders are as deserving by virtue of their background to appointment as a federal judge, as a prosecutor, as anyone else. i know that the positions are very competitive now, but public defenders bring a perspective to judging that prosecutors may not, just as people who come from private pr

blumenthal: thank you, my time has expired. thank you, mr. chairman. chair coons: thank you, senator blumenthal. we are going to have a second round of questioning that may be participated in only by the ranking member, myself, given that there are votes actively going on on the floor. let me think our witnesses and the many members of this subcommittee who have come to question. i understand that 70% of the views on youtube r-rated -- are driven by its recommendation algorithm with 2 billion users worldwide and over one billion hours of video watched each and every day, that makes your recommendation algorithm incredibly powerful. members of the public can see how many times a video has been viewed. members of the public cannot see how many times a video has been recommended and i understand youtube does collect this information and gives it to content providers. if a video ends up getting taken down by youtube for violating its content policies, we have no way of knowing how many times it was recommended by your algorithm before it was ultimately remo

mr. ben comeau, we will start with you. >> good afternoon, chairman blumenthal and the members of the committee for this opportunity to testify today. my name is ben comeau, i am a parent, a gun owner, and a proud resident of colorado for 30 years. as a retired combat veteran with 31 years of service in the united states navy, i know what it needs to be a patriot. i have seen the carnage of war and know the physical scars that it -- the emotional and physical scars that it leaves. i'm the president of the -- we are a national organization of gun owners who support responsible gun ownership and common sense gun laws. we proudly support the second amendment, but we can no longer ignore that our country is in the midst of an epidemic. the daily threat of gun pilots -- gun violence is a shocking reality across the country, especially in our veteran community. as a veteran call eyewitness ey fellow service members died at a tragic rate. there are over 600 -- 6400 veteran suicides a year. that is more than all the service members killed in action during the last 18 years of operation iraqi freedom. t

blumenthal: thank you, and thank you, mr. chairman, this hearing is so valuable and i hope we can build on it in the judiciary committee going forward because it is a key part of what we need to do to reform and improve policing in america. sen. booker: i would like to call on senator whitehouse who is remote. sen. whitehouse:: thank you, very much, chairman booker. it's good to be with all of you. i appreciate the testimony of everyone. miss o'connor, my daughter lives in philadelphia, so i'm very glad your husband's family and your family have been protecting that community through multiple generations and i want to express my appreciation for their service. it is not at all uncommon for police work to be passed on from father to son and now daughter and be a very important part of a families traditions and i am grateful you share your experience with us today. senator cornyn and i have been working for some time on a bill to improve the coordination between law enforcement and behavioral health and mental health, addiction

blumenthal. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you both for your service and to the men and women in your command. i don't need to tell either of you that the definition of success in afghanistan has changed over the 20 years that we have been fighting the war in that part of the world. in october, 2001 president bush set the terms for victory in afghanistan as bringing al qaeda to justice and ensuring that they could no longer use afghanistan as a base to launch terrorist attacks on the united states. coming rights to the point, general townsend, public press reporting states that after he withdraw from afghanistan, it would be a four hour flight for the m29 to be on station in afghanistan to do a counterterrorism mission. and my question is how does that compare the flight to be on station in somalia or libya or other places under your command where countering terrorism is a similar mission? >> senator, we also have some pretty long legs to get our isr on the station. although i don't believe for four hours. our transit ti

mr. rode. now cynthia alexander remotely. thank you. >> thank you, chair blumenthal and ranking member black burn and distinguished members of the committee for this opportunity to testify about covid scams and how we can work together to protect consumers from fraud. i'm an assistant attorney general in the consumer protection division of the washington state attorney general's office. here in washington state, our courts are fond at repeating a quote from the 1914 house conference report on the ftc act regarding unfair business practices and the quote is, there is no limit to human inventiveness in this field. i think it's fair to say more than 100 years on, this observation is still on point. it certainly is in our state. in washington, as in many other states, the consumer protection division of the attorney general's office houses a consumer resource center that receives complaints from consumers about businesses that operate in washington and offers a voluntary complaint resolution process. in the early months of the pandemic last year, we began to see our comp

blumenthal. >> thank you mr. chairman. gentlemen let me begin by thanking both of you for service to our country and your family sacrifice as you dedicate your time to our country. i would like to begin by talking about the challenge we see right now or the possible challenges with regard to regional conflicts that could occur. most recently we have seen very aggressive posturing by both china. there incursions within the taiwantu airspace with larger air groups and second, within the european theater and russia's aggression we were talking about earlier i the committee meeting. can you describe briefly the impact on the ability of your command and your professional military judgment to execute its missions if united states became engaged in two conflicts and force to defend friends and allies in the pacific and inn europe simultaneously? general wolters? >> i can, senator. it starts with the appropriate approach we have been very aggressive in europe to make sure we understand the importance of allies and partners in the

mr. chairman. >> thank you senator blumenthal. >> thank you to all of the witnesses for being part of this hearing to the chair man for holding it. it's a very, very critically important topic and hearing and i apologize that i am late coming in because i was chairing the subcommittee of commerce on consumer protection dealing with covid-19. approving the bipartisan act which i led alongside of senator moran. we've known for a long time hate crimes are authorized. the videos of individual crimes with facebook, twitter and youtube no matter how horrifying, only part of the story well in proof hate crime. more effective action against hate crimes. we know that the platforms play a role in hate crimes and hate speech and they recently found of that as many as one in the three americans experience hate crimes harassment online following the concerning findings. facebook spoke about the break the glass message that it was taking to dial down the hate and disinformation on its platform last week. ms. bickert, you wrote a post about turning the dial down on the speech, violence and insight meant as the c

mr. chairman. >> thank you senator blumenthal. >> thank you to all of the witnesses for being part of this hearing and to the chair man for holding it. it's a very, very critically important topic and hearing and i apologize that i am late coming in because i was chairing the subcommittee of commerce on consumer protection dealing with covid-19. approving the bipartisan act which i led alongside of senator moran. we've known for a long time hate crimes are authorized. the videos of individual crimes with facebook, twitter and youtube no matter how horrifying, only part of the story well in proof hate crime. more effective action against hate crimes. we know that the platforms play a role in hate crimes and hate speech and they recently found of that as many as one in the three americans experience hate crimes harassment online following the concerning findings. facebook spoke about the break the glass message that it was taking to dial down the hate and disinformation on its platform last week. ms. bickert, you wrote a post about turning the dial down on the speech, violence and insight meant as t

mr. chairman. >> let me recognize senator blumenthal. >> thank you for your service and thank you for being here today. first on the topic of vaccines i want to follow-up on some of the questions that have been asked most recently. do you know how many men and women under your command, general, have been vaccinated? >> i do, senator. we have a tier one vaccination plan for tier one constitutes those in military uniform. we're at about 46% of that force being completely vaccinated. those needed two shots. and we're forecast based on the arrival of future vaccines to have the entire tier one force, those in military in europe vaccinated by the middle of july. >> and have you encountered resistance? >> i'm sorry, senator, i didn't catch all your question. >> have you encountered resistance or hesitancy among the men and women in your command to being vaccinated? >> we have not. we've got the traditional deferral rate we've seen across all of dod. but our percentages are within the norms and actually slightly less. >> let me ask both of you as you well know the secretary of defense ordered that ther

blumenthal: thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. >> similarly -- senator lee? sen.: thank you, mr. chairman. under this legislation, it appears that churches, synagogues, mosques, and other religious buildings would likely be considered public accommodations. particularly, if they are also opened up from time to time to the public for any reason, including for use as homeless shelters, soup kitchens, but for that matter, any public gathering can render any building a place of public accommodation. the language is rather significantly broad and would almost inevitably put this law in a position of occupying a more significant place with respect to religious institutions. ms. hasson, does the act exempts churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, or any houses of worship from being considered public accommodation? ms. hasson: no, to the contrary. what this does is it expands the definition of public accommodations from the four categories that were previously in civil rights law, to an almost unlimited number of activities and places that don't need to be actual physical

mr. chairman? i'm so sorry. i saw the -- i thought senator blumenthal had been called. i'm sorry. i'm here. this is for ms.the average is two and a half year not sustainable. how effective is the current dissection protecting the right to vote and a comparison to the preclearance process that was in place under section five? >> thank you very much for that question. let me clarify the supreme court invited congress to update the formula under section five. it didn't strike down and so while i'm hopeful senator lee and others are willing to participate in the process to update the formula so we can pass a new preclearance formula under the voting rights act, the preclearance formula allows us to stop discrimination before it happens by introducing a federal process that allows for initial review, whether the federal authority is republican or democrat in terms of the general or the district court in dc to review and determine what the racial impact would be. and that is before the law is passed. we have filed suit along with other organizations and likely more than a year during that time as i said we are s

blumenthal: thank you very much. i will recognize senator awsat. sen. ossoff: thank you mr. chairman and thank you to both of the nominees. thank you for putting yourself through this process and thank you to your families who are weathering a storm of personal attacks directed at two highly qualified nominees. ms. clarke i want to thank you and commend you for your history as an opponent of anti-semitism and an advocate for equal justice and an ally of the jewish people. i would like to ask you a couple questions regarding your responsibilities should you be confirmed to lead the civil rights division. i do not believe that the state should be in the business of killing its own citizens. that is why i am an opponent of the death penalty. when the killing of citizens is extrajudicial in my view, it is egregious act tourism. this week, yet again this nation is grappling with the reality that in particular unarmed black man are subjected to violence at the hands of the state. another young black men is shot by a law enforcement officer. how will you use the power of this offic

and tone of my friend and senator blumenthal would like to ask some questions first i will yield to him. >> i really appreciate this opportunity mr. chairman. i just want to say how important i think this hearing is, my thanks to chairman booker for bringing us together on this critically important topic. i served as united states attorney in connecticut before and half years than as attorney general and our state for 20 years. so i have worked very extensively with law enforcement and police interactions with people who may have disabilities, or mental illness, or autism ought to tremendously concern as part and i'm sure many of my colleagues have said, as i did, students tuesday's guilty verdict in the chauvin trial provides necessary accountability for the murder of george floyd. but it is not true justice. not for george floyd not for any other black brown american killed by law enforcement. no single verdict in a single case can eliminate the generation of racial justice, inequality and equity faced by black and brown americans in policing and across many other aspects of society. there is so much work to do. and senator boo

mr. blumenthal: thank you.just want to make clear after senator lee's statement, number one, that i appreciate my colleagues from alaska being as cooperative as they have been. these issues are a matter of vital consumer protection and worker safety. we're talking here about defibrillators and a requirement that there be certain minimum numbers on these ships. we're talking about bodies tragically having to be returned if there is a death on one of these ships. we're talking about some rights for consumers that the industry itself has approved and we are just incorporating into this amendment and enabling the department of transportation to enforce. so i want to make clear that these are reasonable, in fact, in my view, very minimal protections. a first step, another step. and i appreciate the agreement that we've been able to reach with our colleagues from alaska on them. and i am disappointed that our colleague from utah has objected. but i will do my best to work with them in trying to resolve senator lee's

mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. i'm honored to follow our distinguished judiciary committee chairman and whip, senator durbin, who has fought so hard for the principles and values that are embody in the -- embodied in the no-hate bill which is part of the legislation and it is, indeed, bipartisan that hopefully we will pass today. the fact is that this august marks two excruciatingly sad anniversaries. it will be four years since heather hyer was killed when a white nationalist drove his car into a crowd of peaceful protest he's and five years since colleague jabara was shot and killed on his own front porch by his neighbor an avowed racist. the temptation is to get lost in the numbers and statistics about hate crimes. and make no mistake, these statistics are horrifying, especially the surge in hate crimes directed against asian americans and pacific islanders. the f.b.i. reported just over 7,300 hate crimes in 2019. the department of justice's bureau of justice statistics estimate that there were an average of 198