senator thune and the snrt democrat on the commerce committee bill nelson worked together on this bill and they only allowed provisions to the bill that had bipartisan support. host: so now that goes to the house. and there's some question whether or not congressman shuster will take up key elements of the f.a.a. bill. can you explain? guest: yes. one of the things that senator thune did to make the bill acceptable to both sides and to get it through the senate was to keep proposals to privatize air traffic control out of the senate bill. senator shuster is determined to get a bill that does craft privatized air traffic control. that is spin it off into a private nonprofit corporation. and that's very controversial. so if he insists on doing it that way, it may wind up with no bill this year or it will be very hard to get a bill out of the house that's also acceptable to the senate. host: that was my next question. what is the time line? because it did drag longer than expected in the senate. so what could we expect in the house in the coming weeks or maybe the coming months? guest: we

garland sat down with democratic senator bill nelson of florida.outh dakota, and he had an unconventional joint meeting with oklahoma's republican senators jim imhoff and langford. it was almost 21 years to the day since the oklahoma city bombing a case that then associate deputy attorney general garland prosecuted. imhoff and langford wanted to thank him for his service during that difficult time. 16 republican senators said they're open to meeting with garland. he has met with 14 of them. >>> on the other side of the capitol, the house armed services committee required women to register for the military draft. it passed 32-30 and comes a few months after the defense department lifted all gender based restrictions on front line combat units. it comes as america's first female infantry officer is set to graduate. the measure will be included in the 2017 defense budget that will be taken up by the full house soon. >>> meanwhile, tennessee's republican governor bill haslam has signed a law that allows mental health and therapists to refuse to treat t

julio castro, former governor deval patrick of massachusetts and amy klobuchar, bill nelson and bill booker. clinton was mum when asked about this topic on the campaign trail yesterday. >> has your campaign started to consider who to pick for vp? >> i'm just working hard to win on tuesday. >> at the very least it seems to signal that clinton is ready to move past the primaries, while her opponent, bernie sanders, insists that the fight is far from over. joining me now is democratic presidential candidate bernie sanders, joining me from the great state of rhode island. senator, thanks so much for joining us. >> great to be with you, jake. >> senator according to the "new york times," hillary clinton started compiling a list of 15 to 20 potential vp picks that she wants to start vetting in late spring. broadly, regardless of which of the two of you ultimately wins the democratic nomination, should the other one be first on the vp list? >> look i'm focusing right now on dealing with why the middle class of this country continues to disappear. why would the only country on earth that doe

other names, julian castro, elizabeth warren, amy klobuchar, cory booker, and then there was bill nelson, which i may have made, and it seemed to have been thrown in there, you're the flor riddian -- >> for florida. >> hillary clinton loves the idea that bush and obama have had running mates who basically were not going to pursue the presidency while being vice president. >> i think ross perot said when he was running for president, in his corporate life, he didn't hire anyone who did wan't want job. that's the antithesis of that. but don't real out secretary castro either. he's an extremely caharismatic person. and tim kaine speaks perfect spanish, reaches out to the community, the hispanic community through tellemundo regularly. these are people who may be hidden, have hidden weapons. >> i'm hoping it's brown because i can do a shaerrod brown. deval patrick was intriguing to me. >> the identity politics reek -- >> you don't think we'll see it on your side? >> the debate on the republican side isn't who they would pick. it's who would do it. we're in a totally different place, being hon

senator john thune south dakota republican senator john thune worked with florida democrat senator bill nelson to draft much of these changes. "the only person who's going to get the airports off their duff to limit the access into their airports is going to be you and your administration." "yes, sir." the changes to security will include doubling the number of bomb-sniffing dogs, and doubling the number of visual security outside of checkpoints at airports and transportation hubs. senators create more in- depth background checks on certain airport employees after some in atlanta were caught smuggling drugs and guns. "these incidents have raised a lot of questions about if our airports are vulnerable to an insider threat." the on certain as the teammates. how the uncertainty surrounding the amazing journey one woman is taking to help raise awareness about the bryan stow foundation. the stock market turned in a solid gain after a two-day slump the dow climbed more than 112 the wolf was huffing and puffing. like you do sometimes, grandpa? well, when you have copd, it can be hard to breathe. it c

government watchdogs, the commerce committee has already approved bipartisan legislation that senator bill nelson and i have offered to address airport security vulnerabilities. our bill is cosponsored by the homeland security committee's chair and ranking members, senators johnson and carper. among other provisions, our legislation improves the vetting process for airport workers seeking or holding a security credential that grants access to restricted sections of an airport. over the past few weeks, a number of badge aviation workers have been caught in the act helping criminal organizations. on march 18, a flight attendant abandoned a suitcase with 68 pounds of cocaine after she was confronted by airport security officials in california. florida on march 26, an airline gate agent was arrested with a backpack containing $2,824,000 in cash that he intended to hand off to an associate. according to press reports, the agent told authorities that the money was connected to illegal activity but he knew few other details. mr. president, some of the perpetrators in the deadly attacks in brussels were

and senators amy klobuchar, bill nelson, and cory booker.what bernie sanders thinks about that talk. >> if she is the nominee, i would hope she puts together the strongest progressive agenda, and if she has a candidate for vice president who is prepared to carry that mantel, prepared to engage in that fight. i think that would be a very good thing for her campaign. >> so let's talk about some of the possibilities with alexandra smith, president of the college republican national committee. and capri cafarro, democratic state senator in ohio and former ohio senate minority leader. welcome to both of you. >> thank you. >> capri, you're on the democratic side. who would you like to see as hillary clinton's running mate? >> well, you know, i think i'm a little bit biassed for some of the folks that are on the list. certainly u.s. senator sherrod brown is someone that i think could assuage the bernie sanders people who are looking for someone to balance out a more progressive ticket. he obviously also brings to the table, theoretically, the elect

bill that i introduced along ways back along with my friend and ranking member senator bill nelson and our aviation subcommittee leaders, senators kelly ayotte and maria cantwell. the bill includes reforms benefiting the traveling public, and we shouldn't let them down. let's vote yes on the motion to end debate and start moving these historic reforms forward. madam president, as i mentioned we have -- i have a list here of 26 amendments that we would like to clear, amendments offered by both sides. it's a package that we could adopt. we've got a couple of objections to doing that. if the members who are -- have put forward those objections would be willing to release those objections, we'd be able to get another 26 amendments adopted, many of which have been offered by colleagues, as i said, on both sides and many of which contain measures that i think will make the bill even stronger, and make it a product that we can all be proud of as it moves over to the house of representatives where i hope it will receive consideration and action and ultimately end up on the president's desk. th

. >> bill nelson of florida, there's people -- the one that doesn't make too much sense to me, elizabethuse she comes from massachusetts, a state that's likely to vote democratic anyway. has pretty -- >> women would love that. >> they would love it and there is precedent as they have been talking about for selecting somebody from the same gender for a long time. >> never been done. >> we'll see. but i doubt -- that one is a little far-fetched. >> great to see you, joe. thank you for being with us. >>> one police department has a message for parents -- that you are the problem. >> parents, please stop telling your children that we haul them off to jail if they are bad. >> the chief of that department is going to join us live with a message for every parent. there he is. coming up next. >>> but first on this day in 1983, michael jackson was topping the charts with this song, "beat it." ♪ you show up. you stay up. you listen. you laugh. you worry. you do whatever it takes to take care of your family. and when it's time to plan for your family's future, we're here for you. we're legalzoom, a

ideologically to sanders, the most liberal than the most conservative democrat florida senator bill nelsonfort go to mavis, lauderdale, supporting hillary clinton. good morning. you are on the air. do you think hillary clinton is progressive? aller: yes i think she is progressive. i think she would make a wonderful president. the good thing about her is she will work with both sides. she will bring republicans along. she has proven that from when she was in the senate. she knows how to get along with the other side. they cannot be so progressive -- we are not able to compromise. we have to be able to do that. we have proven, she has fought all her life for small and for the small people. sanders, i like him but he is not a democrat. he is a socialist. he's only now running as a democrat but we have proven also say,-- and i'd he keeps say she takes money from big business and big business. at hae has to realize i'm person in fort lauderdale. i worked for a fossil fuel company. i have donated to her. and he needs to show where one of those companies has caused opposedote for them, as to voti

in the bill that senator nelson has filed, he said those funds will be spent until they're gone. and of course it's emergency spending, it's deficit spending as to the debt, but it completely lacks any sort of accountability that would only come through a regular appropriations process where we consider this in a deliberate sort of way. so i have a number of questions for the senator that i would like to ask. i would just say that i have traveled to the galveston national laboratory that's done some world-class research in this area and also on the ebola virus and also infectious diseases. last friday, i was in houston at the texas medical center talking to the experts, trying to learn more about this so i could do my job as a senator in a responsible sort of way. so we all agree that this is a serious matter and it should be negotiated on a bipartisan basis, but we should at least have a plan from the administration for how the money's going to be spent. there is no plan. it's a blank check. and until we get a plan and can sit down and avoid the histrionics and the gamesmanship

in conclusion, let me thank again senator thune for his leadership and senator nelson, too, in bringing this bill to the floor. i look forward to a robust amendment process. in fact, i would encourage right now, i would encourage anyone who has an amendment to come down, present his amendment, talk about it because one of the problems we had back during the highway bill was we couldn't get the people to bring their amendments down and it delayed it several weeks. it was totally unnecessary. so i encourage people to do that. then i would encourage the house to take up this bill and hopefully to pass this bill. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. i suggest the absence. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. a senator: i ask unanimous consent to vitiate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. a senator: mr. president, today, april 12, is equal payday. ms. hirono: equal payday means women have to work more than four months longer to catch up to what on average men made in 2

nelson: we're close to the vote on the f.a.a. bill. i want to underscore the importance for the senate because it contains some of the most significant passenger friendly reforms and airport security enhancements that we've seen in years. and to get to this point has been no small task, especially, as you know, in this era in which it's so difficult to find consensus in a bipartisan way to pass something. and we've been able to do it with the able leadership of the chairman, john thune. the two of us have felt like we needed to focus on areas where we agreed. and, as a result, the entire commerce committee came together to get this done. and now we're about to pass this and get it on to the house. now, in a complicated bill like this, it doesn't contain everything that everybody wants. but we hope that our counterparts in the house are going to take up and pass this bill without delay. we've given them a good bipartisan blueprint to follow and one that they ought to pass easily because, if they don't, by adding controversial or partisa

i'm grateful to the contributions of our staff to those of senator nelson's and the many members who are involved in shaping this bill. it's another accomplishment that we can all be proud of. mr. president, with that, i yield the floor. mr. nelson: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: the feeling is mutual. i made my comments earlier, so i won't go into the substance of the bill. certainly senator thune has been a delight to work with, and his committee staff as well. and i want to personally thank our staff, tom chapman, jenny solomon, chris day, mossad sayed, melissa alvaria, maria stratinko, nick russell, christian felled, petr mcgee, brad torpee and our staff director kim lip ski and i also want to thank the democratic staff here on the floor. day in and day out, they make this place run and they make it possible. gary myrick, tricia engel, dan tinsley and all the cloakroom staff. and so i thank the senate for responding so affirmatively for this f.a.a. bill. now, let's get the house to understand the wisdom of this bill and so we can get it into law. mr. thune: mr. preside

nelson jr. will get full scholarships room and board from the bill and melinda gates foundation both autumn andd are ap scholars and varsity athletes. >> ♪ most new wealth flows it's called a rigged economy, and this is how it works. to the top 1%. it's a system held in place by corrupt politics where wall street banks and billionaires buy elections. my campaign is powered by millions of small contributions. people like you who want to fight back. the truth is you can't change a corrupt system by taking its money. i'm bernie sanders. i approve this message. join us for real change. across pennsylvania, he's praised as a progressive champion with a record of reform. josh shapiro the democrats most compelling candidate for attorney general. he'll protect seniors from scams and stand up to polluting frackers. he's backed by law enforcement, supported by planned parenthood and he's endorsed by president obama - who says shapiro "represents the next generation of progressive leadership". democrat josh shapiro an attorney general...for us >> sprinkles out there. let's see what's happening with the ra

bill much stronger. and so i appreciate his good work in making that possible. i want to say, too, again what i mentioned earlier today. and that is that senator nelson and i, as we put this bill together, it was done in regular order. we had, i think, on the order of seven hearings, where we took testimony, tried to assemble the best ideas. we worked together with members of the committee, including the presiding officer, in shaping a bill that we brought to a markup and getting to the markup and through the markup, we adopted 57 amendments -- 57 amendments, 34 democrat amendments, 23 republican amendments, before it came to the floor. after coming to the floor last week we've had now 19 amendments that have been added. we've another 30 or thereabouts that have been cleared, if we could get, you know, objections withdrawn so that those amendments would get cleared. but we have some other amendments that we have members who would luke to get votes on, and i would ask unanimous consent, madam president, that the following a.m.s be called up and be reported by number:, sessions number 3591, paul number 3639 as modified, and rubio number 3722. further,

as for the controversy, eyewitness news reporter rob nelson is here with that part of our coverage. >> good evening to you, bill. sanders' interview with the daily news is again giving his critics plenty of fuel. this time the controversy is about whether families of the victims of the sandy hook massacre should in fact be able to sue gun manufacturers. sanders is against that idea and that's unleashed a lot of criticism and again put the vermont senator on the defense. >> reporter: sanders faced a front page assault by the daily news this morning, all of it stemming from this exchange with the paper's editorial board last week. >> do i think they should be able to sue? no, i do not. his d rating from the nra. he did express support for some lawsuits against dealers and manufacturers. sanders told the board, i do believe that gun manufacturers and gun dealers should be able to be sued when they should know that guns are going in to the hands of wrong people, so i think there are grounds for those suits, but not if you sell me a legal product. still, critics wasted no times pouncing, including jillian soto, sist

and something that we have heard from big hedge fund inv investors like bill ackman even though he trimmed the stake, and also, nelsonr board, and what can we expect on the margins as you continue to reform your supply chain and open up new factories? >> well, without a doubt, the margin is a critical part of the story, and we have a critical target this year of 15 to 16% margins up about 200 basis points, and well on track to do that with the 15.1% margin we delivered this quarter, and good visibility to get to 15% to 18% margins by 2018, and lot of it is coming from the number of initiatives in terms of reducing the overhead costs, and investing in the supply chain around the world. >> and you mentioned that the currencies are a pressure for you, and you are uniquely exposed interfashlly with a majority of the sales coming from abroad and why didn't you boost the guidance for the year given the weak nness in the u.s dollar, or is it just too early to do that? >> well, simply, 40% of the revenues come from the emerging markets, sarah, and it too early to make a move. without a doubt, we see the currency is looking m

bill. i appreciate his work with the aviation subcommittee chair, senator ayotte, and their counterparts, senator nelsonnd senator cantwell, to move this important bill forward. there are several good security measures included in the bill, like increased efforts to prevent cybersecurity risks and efforts to help better prepare us whep it comes to communicable diseases. but these senators didn't stop there. they worked to include additional safety measures in an amendment that passed by a bipartisan majority. here's what we know the amendment will do. it will help prevent the inside threat of terrorism by enhancing inspections and vetting of airport employees. it will require review of perimeter security. it will improve various efforts to secure international flights coming into our airports. in addition to these steps designed to ramp up security, we also adopted an amendment from senator heinrich that would increase security in prescreening areas which could be vulnerable to terror attacks. senator toomey and casey worked hard to get the senator to address the security of cockpit doors. these amendme

i'd like to thank senator thune and nelson for their work on this bipartisan bill. ms. klobuchar: the presiding officer also serves on the commerce committee. thank you. and i also want to thank senator murkowski because in 2013 we worked together to pass the small airplane revitalization act, and the law requires the f.a.a. to move forward with modernizing the part 23 safety certification process for small airplanes. updating the 23 process will improve safety, decrease costs and encourage innovation for american small airplane manufacturers. the bill before us actually builds on those efforts by requiring the f.a.a. finish the part 23 rule making by the end of the rule and make further reforms to the certification process. it will also help ensuring greater coordination across f.a.a. regional offices when they interpret and implement f.a.a. rules and regulations so that the aviation industry has certainty. there are also provisions to help the f.a.a. and the industry maintain leadership on safety at a time when the aviation market is becoming increasingly global and c

billed as a major foreign policy address. america first was the overriding theme. trump reading from a teleprompter. he added 105 delegates. he's 287 away from the nomination. rob nelson with the latest on the republican side. >> of course a highly unusual move, a presidential contender announcing a running mate without being the presumptive nominee. after last week's primary, senator ted cruz is an even bigger long shot to win the nomination which is why many see today's move as a hail mary pass to stop donald trump's seemingly >> what matters is is the fight worth having? this is a fight worth having, worth winning, and with help we will win this fight. >> in what some see as a desperate last ditch effort to revive his campaign, cruz announced today he's chosen former business executive and former white house rival carly fiorina as his running mate. >> in addition to be a woman of extraordinary intelligence, she is also a woman of deep principal. >> reporter: the surprising move came just hours after frontrunner donald trump delivered a major foreign policy speech, saying america has lost respect and credibility during the obama years and that he would restore the n

bill. i want to thank especially the staff of senator feinstein, mark mendenhall, i samantha nelson fr the way they've worked with us and my own staff, tyler owens, sharon hackett and haley alexander for extraordinarily good work. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. vitter: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator louisiana. mr. vitter: today i rise to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the deepwater who are ray does on explosion and oil spill that took the lives of 11 men and devastated so many gulf coast communities. now, mr. president, it was a horrible event, but i think it's very important and appropriate that we always, always start recognizing the lives lost in that disaster. and 11 lives were lost. they were jason anderson, then 35, of midfield, texas; aaron dale bubba burk. en, 37 of philadelphia, mississippi, donald clark, 39 of newlton, louisiana. gordon jones, 28 of bataan rouge, louisiana. roy wyatt kemp, 27 of jone jonesville, louisiana. carl dale klepenger of natchez, mississippi. keith blair emanuel, 56 of gonzalez, louisiana. dewey rivett, 48 of stateline, mis

bill. and this covers a lot of areas. i want to repeat one thing that the senator from kansas stated, and that is in reference to senators thune and nelson, any time you -- i say this to all of the members of the commerce committee. any time you get a major piece of legislation like that, it covers a lot of stuff. there is always a lot of confusion, some opposition, although not as much opposition to this as we had anticipated would be taking place. so there are areas i want to just kind of visit about. i have a special interest in. one is the certification process for general aviation pilots. i know this was mentioned by the, senator moran, but this is something that is very significant and i want to cover it in perhaps a little bit more detail, along with the other areas and an amendment that we have which i'm getting a lot of democrat support on my amendment amending the use of drones and the allowable use of drones. first of all, on the pilots bill of rights, to refresh everyone's memory in the first pilots bill of rights this is something we passed in 2012. it was one that for the first time takes care of a problem that's been out t

nelson. i couldn't agree more. i think it points out the need for senate bill 2361 which i hope we can move. but as you can tell, this is an issue that we screen passengers getting on planes, but there are so many examples now of airport workers with badges that are committing criminal acts and this is an area that i think we've just got to shore up. so thank you, senator nelson. senator aayotte? >> thank you, chairman. i want to add i hope with the if, aa reauthorization on the floor that we will get the airport security enhancement and oversight act perhaps added to that, because i think it makes a lot of sense to do that, in light of some of the concerns that we have in this committee and the broad support in this committee for that bill. but i wanted to follow up on this issue as well on the angle of we know that one of the things that came to light that was of deep concern as we thought about the airport workforce was that there were 73 individuals that the inspector general had identified with reported some ties to terrorism or issues of concern, and as a result of that, we learned tha

nelson. i couldn't agree more and i think it points out the need for senate bill 2361 which i hope we can move. as you can tell, this is an issue that we screen passengers getting on planes but there are so many examples now of airport workers with badges that are committing criminal acts, and this is an area that i think we just got to shore up. >> thank you, chairman. i, too, want to add that i hope that with the f.a.a. reauthorization on the floor that we will get the airport security enhancement and oversight act, perhaps, added to that, because i think it makes a lot of sense to do that in light of some of the concerns that we have in this committee and the broad support on this committee for that bill. but i wanted to follow up on this issue as well on the angle of, we know that one of the ings that came to light that was of deep concern as we thought about the work force is there were 73 individuals the inspector general had identified with reported some ties to terrorism or issues of concern and as a result of that, we learned that, in fact, t.s.a. was not getting access to the real ti

bill. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: mr. president, i am rising to announce that i will be introducing, along with senator reid of nevada, legislation that is the president's emergency funding request to respond to the zika virus. now i've been on this floor many times talking about the ravage of the zika virus. it's up to 91 cases in my state of florida. fortunately none of them originated in the state. it's all because of a mosquito bite or some other means of transmission, such as sexual contact that has been done outside of florida. that's particularly true in the warmer climates of the caribbean, central america, latin america. and we know the devastating consequences of someone getting this virus not as a virus, because it has the effects of a mild flu, but if it is -- if the mosquito infects a pregnant woman. and now the researchers understand that it's any time during the tphaoeupbl -- nine months of the pregnancy. it has these disastrous consequences of severe deformties. now, what's the result of that? the result i

nelson and i have been leading oversight -- managing security credentials. this oversight led the committee to approve bipartisan legislation senate bill 2361. the airport security enhancement and oversight act, a tightened vetting of airport workers at those with ties to terrorists do not access sensitive airport areas. in the current system, such individuals are not always captured. some of the perpetrators in the deadly attacks in brussels or previously known to authorities as criminals. u.s. terrorism experts believe isis is recruiting criminals to join its ranks in europe. as we work to address the threat of an aviation insider helping terrorists, criminals who break laws for financial gain and those with histories of violence are good place to start. ensuring that airport workers with security credentials are trustworthy is important considering an isis affiliate is believed to have killed 224 people on a russian passenger plane leaving egypt with experts experts suspect, the health of -- the help of an airport employee. the committee has approved the tsa pre-check expansion act that would expand participation of the tsa pre-check appl

nelson's sister and five half siblings are entitled to inherit. >>> a new york judge has denied a request to force new york magazine to turn over audio, video, and notes to bill cosby's attorneys. the material is from interviews of six of the 35 women who accused cosby of sexual assault in an article. the federal judge called the request a fishing expedition. cosby's attorneys said they plan to use the material to find the women filed a defamation lawsuit against cosby boston. >>> a massive wildfire burning in olster county. seven duchess county fire departments have deployed resources to help fight the flames. the fire has scorched more than 800 acres of the mountainous sams point reserve. the area has very thick brush and terrain that's difficult to reach. firefighters are responding with additional equipment including brush trucks and utility terrain vehicles. >>> a new report finds that millennials here in new york city are still feeling the effects of the recession especially when it comes to their income. millennials make up about a third of all new yorkers. a report by the controllers office finds millennials make 20% less in 2014 than those who entere

nelson and cantwell. these senators ensured republicans and democrats both had a say on this bill and we ultimately arrivedat balanced legislation that passed by a very strong bipartisan majority. it makes -- it takes important strides to bolster national security against the threat of terrorism. it contains provisions to help frustrated passengers. and it won't levy a nickel and tax or fees on passengers or impose the kind of overregulation that can take away their choice or threaten service. as "the washington post" reminded us, this is the second major transportation bill approved by the senate within five months. so whether it's providing long-term solutions for highway funding or permanent tax relief for families and small small businesses or commonsense reforms for airline passengers and airport security, this much is clear, the republican-led senate is working to address issues that affect our constituents on a daily basis. now, mr. president, passing the f.a.a. reauthorization bill isn't the only legislative milestone we'll mark this week. today we'll pass, as "the new york times" put it, the first

bill we have had on the floor here in the senate over the last week. so i want to thank the very hard work of chairman thune ranking member nelson for all the work that they have been doing night and day really for months on this important bill this important bipartisan bill. so far the process has been a model of how the senate should work and, you know, our friends in the media they love to write the stories about nothing work being in the u.s. senate. i don't think so. there's a lot of important bills moving. a highway bill, education bill, human trafficking. now we're looking at a bipartisan way to address a very important bill for the country that's aviation, that's aviation infrastructure and that's aviation security. so let me talk about some of the substance more broadly for the country on why this bill's so important. one aspect of the bill is the pilots' bill of right' bill of rights 2. building off the initial success of the pilots' bill of rights, this bill continues to make essential reforms for pilots, mostly general aviation pilots that are so important to my state, streamlining an overly burdensome medical certification process, increasing

thompson, for moving this bill through committee so we can bring our efforts on the house floor today. lastly, i want to applaud chairman thune and ranking member nelson for the senate commerce committee to make sure this text was added to the senate's f.a.a. legislation, and i look forward to working with my senate colleagues going forward to get this legislation to the president's desk. this legislation stands as a testament to the rare ability of congress to come together in a bicameral and bipartisan manner to make the american people more secure. it serves as a direct refute to those terrorists plotting to harm the american people, the american economy and our right to move about freely without fear and without hindrance. i urge my colleagues to support this legislation, mr. speaker, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york reserves. the gentleman from mississippi is recognized. mr. thompson: mr. speaker, i rise in support of h.r. 4698, the safe gates act, and yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. thompson: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. sp

rankingiation front member nelson and i have been lead oversight -- it's exactly managing security credentials. this oversight led the committee to approve bipartisan legislation senate bill 2361. the airport security enhancement at oversight act, a tightened vetting of airport workers at those with ties to terrorists do not access sensitive airport areas. in the current system such individuals are not always captured. some of the perpetrators in the deadly attacks in brussels or previously known to authorities as criminals. u.s. terrorism experts believe isis is recruiting criminals to join its ranks in europe. as we were to address the threat of an aviation insider helping terrorists, criminals who break laws for financial gain and those with histories of violence are good place to start. ensuring that airport workers with security credentials are trustworthy is important considering and isis affiliate is believed to have killed 224 people on a russian passenger plane leaving egypt with experts health ofthe an airport employee. the committee has approved the tsa pre-check expansion act that would expand participation of the tsa pre-check application program by developin

bill clinton had the beatles, i had jackie robinson. i met him one time, he came into the studio with nelson rockefeller, he was a republican for all of hisson so the press was all there waiting for nelson rockefeller, i almost knocked eefr rockefeller and brushed aside two secret service agents and made a complete fool of myself. mr. robinson, i've been waiting all my life for this moment. he was embarrassed. i don't care. i got to meet him. >> there are people like that. >> so, ken, what are we going to see tonight? >> well, tonight is part two, it's the less known. if we've tried to do a different treatment of the birth to his arrival in 1947, this is going to be what happens for the rest of his life. he is an active civil rights worker, he writes for the liberal new york post, he is a republican supporting nixon until nixon doesn't bail dr. king out of jail and then he's back with nelson rockefeller in the '64 convention to watch this momentous change in american history when the republican party moves from the party of lincoln founded in 1854 on one principle, abolition of slavery and decides they can peel off disaffected southern de

nelson and cantwell. the f.a.a. reauthorization act has been a bipartisan effort from the very start. let's keep working together in the same spirit today. i would urge colleagues to work with the bill managers to process amendments if they have them. now, on another matter, mr. president, president obama will fly to chicago where he will try and convince americans that despite his own actions while in the senate to deny a supreme court nominee a vote, the constitution somehow now -- now -- requires the senate to have a vote on his nominee no matter what and thereby deny the american people a voice in the future of the supreme court. in the words of "washington post" fact-checker, he'll be telling supporters a politically convenient fairy tale. that's "the washington post." i'm sure he'll gloss over fact that the decision about filling this pivotal seat could impact our country for decades, that it could affect the most dramatically cherished constitutional rights lining those contain -- like those contained in the first and second amendments. i'm sure he'll say that washington spend time on one issue where we don't agree rather than working on issues where we do. i'm sure he'll, as

quote -- "enacting the bill will have an need positive impact on innovative companies that create jobs in this country." in a joint op-ed published in the salt lake tribune, rich nelson, the head of the utah technology council and lane beatty from the salt lake chamber of commerce write the defend trade secrets act -- quote -- "equips business owners with the tools they need to combat trade secret theft." eli lilly's michael harrington wrote in forbes, this thoughtful and carefully considered legislation will adapt america's trade secret regime to adopt 21st century realities and strengthen this political form." i ask consent the op-eds i quoted be placed in the "congressional record" following my remarks. mr. president, throughout my 40 years of service i've been a part of almost every significant intellectual property initiative that has come before the senate from the digital my lenl compromise act -- millennial compromise act to the american invents act which overhauled our patent system to help ensure american innovators property rights are adequately protected in the 21st century. ledges is slating in the area of intellectual property requires patience and pers

i want to thank commerce committee chairman john thune and ranking member bill nelson for working with me during the markup progress for legislation that i offered with senator more ran with kansas. this important legislation will clear the way for our nation's students and educators to use u.a.s. technology for research, education, and job training. this will keep our research universities, workforce and manufacturers on the cutting epbl of global competitiveness as they develop the u.a.s. systems of the future that will drive our economy forward. our brightest minds will have the ability to design, to refine and to fly u.a.s. so that they can advance these technologies to help prepare our country for safe, widespread integration of u.a.s. into the national airspace system. this will support job creation across the income spectrum as our nation's workforce will be able to get the training they need to operate these systems both safely and efficiently. this legislation has the support of the association of public and land grant universities, the association of american universities and

bill. again, i want to thank all who are involved in this. senator nelson and i started this process months ago. i think we had somewhere on the order of seven hearings, full committee or subcommittee in debating and helping shape the bill and a very constructive process as we went through the markup where we incorporated the suggestions and good ideas that came from many members of our committee, and we tried to continue that process here on the floor of the united states senate, and we have been successful in adding some amendments that i think strengthen the bill. i wish we could add more and i hope we can still reach agreement, there are still negotiations under way for another package of 25 or 30 amendments that we would like to get added to this bill if we can get the level of cooperation that's necessary to accomplish that. but in the end, we need to pass this. it's important for the american people. it's a piece of legislation that needs to get voted here in the senate, hopefully on to the house and eventually the president's desk. mr. president, i

president, i want to thank my partner on the commerce committee, ranking member bill neglectson as well -- nelson as well as senator cantwell who lead our aviation subcommittee for their work on the federal aviation reauthorization act. i look forward to the ensuing debate on this bill. and i urge at the end of that debate my colleagues to move forward, to pass this legislation because it's important for america's economy and for the safety of our traveling public. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. nelson: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: mr. president, i think the chairman, senator thune, has pointed out that what we have tried to exhibit is the way the senate is supposed to work in a bipartisan way to forge consensus in order to be able to govern. and the subject matter, the f.a.a., aviation, is one that we shouldn't dillydally around and indeed some of the very serious consequences that are facing the national aviation system, we take them head-on. and i want the chairman to know how much i appreciate the spirit with which we have worked not only