this has been -- >> to have any further questions, senator blumenthal? if you would like another round by just -- >> i have -- i wanted to follow-up on senator whitehouse's question about encouraging the effectiveness of the drug monitoring programs and i know that there is some reluctance to make it more national and impose the kind of national requirements. but i wonder where you see the resistance to increasing the interoperable, which i think is key as it is in so many criminal justice information programs. the failure to link the state systems is a major barrier. so i'm wondering either now or if you want to think further about it and respond in writing or have a conversation about it i would be interested in following up on that issue. >> i know that the state of ohio and the state of kentucky signed and interoperable agreement to begin sharing information. i think that shows some fat-free to promise and i would be happy to follow-up on that question. >> thank you. >> let me thank the witnesses and reference back to a statement that director kerlik

thank you. >> thank you, senator blumenthal. and i want to thank these witnesses for their testimony. we'll now move on to our second panel. i would like to welcome a frequent guest of this committee, lanny breuer. thank you all. >> mr. chairman? >> yes. >> while we're waiting for the witness to come to the table, um, i wanted to mention that i think one of the reasons that this hearing is so important is the size of our contractor footprint overseas. i don't know if that's been discussed already, but the last time that i was in iraq last year, our contractor population was far greater than our military population and our civilian population combined. um, i don't have the numbers off the top of my head, but i want to say it was two or three times as great in terms of contractors compared to civilian/government employees and uniform military. so it's a really big piece of what the host country sees out of our american presence there. >> and will increase, mr. chairman, even further under the strategy that's been outlined by the u

blumenthal: thank you, madam president. i ask for permission to extend my remarks to 15 minutes, if necessary, if there is no objection. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: thank you, madam president. madam president, we all have a shared commitment to our nation's veterans. that shared commitment is reflected in many of the programs that are supported by yourself and my colleagues in this body every year. i deeply respect the knowledge and dedication that my fellow senators have brought to this critical issue. each of my colleagues, almost without exception, has supported measures that have helped our veterans over the years, and i rise today to introduce my first piece of legislation, a bill to help our nation's veterans. our nation must keep faith with the men and women who have served and sacrificed for our nation. unfortunately, and unconscionably, america is still failing them and their families by tolerating unemployment, homelessness, inadequate health care. we must renew our commitment to more

and senator blumenthal as well.ery good representation of that committee -- you have a very good representation of that committee today. i guess, by fortuity. >> thank you for the opportunity to testify on this critical matter. we seek to not compromise pain management in regard to controlled substances. the center provides academically sound and practiced to relevant information, evaluation, and expertise to the prescription maturing programs and other stakeholders. the senate is funded by a grant -- the senator -- the center is funded by grants. our work is based upon the knowledge that every day, 50 people in our country die from overdoses. daly, 20 times that number are admitted to hospital emergency departments for opioid overseas. we believe we must improve our methods for identifying and interdicting prescription drug abuse to slow down and reversed the rising toll. the rapid growth in states with monitoring programs -- i am delighted to see the number is now 48 states. five have just passed legislation in th

blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. and thank you to the distinguished senator from delaware for those very important and insightful comments, both on the navy expeelz on the small -- both on the navy seals and on the small business legislation that's pending before this body. i want to begin, first of all, by saying i have seven unanimous consent requests for committees to met during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders, and i ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to and that these requests be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. as my colleague and the distinguished senator from delaware has mentioned, over the last 36 or so hours, our nation and allies around the globe have rightly celebrated an extraordinary military triumph, a great victory in the war on terror, a turning point perhaps toward peace. osama bin laden, the heinous mastermind of the 9/11 attacks that murdered thousan

represent hud -- or the environment protection agency, who has been a great partner here, jared blumenthal. [applause] >> thank you all for coming out. it is great to have a mayor that does not care about politics but cares about getting stuff done. [applause] that is what we need. that is what we need. i remember back in the dark days when we were trying to get rid of hunters point power plant, he was the city administrator. he was pushing. he got it done. now, it is time to get something good. environmental justice is something we talk about a lot. it makes a case for not only getting rid of the bad stuff like hunter's point power plant, but also making sure that you get the good stuff first, and that is what this project is about. it is about a new concept called green infrastructure. we think about our streets. we think about our sidewalks, our street lights, it is now part of a system that provides a service. we had two things that have been neglected. one is the bayview. the other is the day. since the gold rush, 90% of the wetlands in the bay have been filled in. those wetlands act

blumenthal: thank you, madam president. i rise today to voice my strong support for the nomination of susan carney to serve as an appeals court judge on the second circuit court of appeals, one of our most distinguished appeals court panels among the federal circuit. and i hope that the united states senate will move swiftly to confirm her to fill one of the open seats on this critically important court. ms. carney has truly impressive credentials for appointment to the federal bench. she graduated couple laud from harvard and magnum mum laud fr from -- she then went to clerk for judge levin campbell. she serves as deputy general counsel for yale university. one of country's great institutions of higher learning and previously served as an associate general counsel for yale. in her capacity at yale she advises the university on a wide range of legal issues, some of them complex and challenging, relating to intellectual property, international transaction and commercial matters. ms. carney's time at yale has exposed to her a

senator blumenthal? >> thank you, madam chairman. at thank you, professor liu and most particularly to your family for being here today. a want to command you for this -- really a great american success story going to public school in sacramento and stanford, oxford on road scholarship and many years of teaching and for answering the questions today, difficult questions so candidly and forthrightly, most especially your expression of regret for comments you made about then nominee justice alito. i want to say about this process that i think you are entitled to an up or down vote by the united states senate. i also feel that this scrutiny has been a fair, searching and demanding but i believe this body has a responsibility to ask the kind of questions you have been asked and i hope that you will agree the process is a fair one in that regard and i want to go to what i consider these central question for any judge on the united states court of appeals which is where you would follow and particularly what you would follow if your person

. >> senator blumenthal. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, senator coburn. i want to focus on the very broad area or issue of trust that mr. davidson raised, which i think goes to the core of much of what you do with the consent and acquiescence of consumers and most particularly the practice and the goal of building a wireless network maps, both apple and google are engaged in that business activity, are you not? >> yes. >> in particular i want to ask some questions about the google wi-fi experience scandal from all three terms have been used to describe it. in particular, as you know and now we all know, for three years, google intercepted and collected bits of user information payload data, e-mails, passwords, browsing history, and personal information while driving around taking pictures of people's homes on the streets and the st. programs. the company first denied that it was collecting this information, did not? >> we did not know that we were. >> and then it denied that it was collecting it intentionally, is that true? >> i think we still believe we

blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. i ask to speak as if we are in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to support the nomination of professor goodwin liu's nomination to the ninth circuit complete court of appea. very simply, america deserves and nieds the best of our legal profession on the best, the best americans on the best, and goodwin liu is really an extraordinary american and an exceptional lawyer, and he will serve with distinction on the ninth circuit court of appeals, if he is confidence by the united states senate, as i -- if he is confirmed by the united states senate, as i urge he should be. he's qualified by reason not only of his really remarkable intellect but also his professional experience, his life experience, which are really important to anyone who serves on the federal bench. as demonstrating his intellect, he graduated with honors from stanford university in 1991, he was a rhodes scholar, graduating with honors also f

blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. as my colleague and the distinguished senator from delaware has mentioned, over the last 36 or so hours, our nation and allies around the globe have rightly celebrated an extraordinary military triumph, a great victory in the war on terror, a turning point perhaps toward peace. osama bin laden, the heinous mastermind of the/11 attacks that murdered thousands of americans, has been final brought to justice -- has been finally brought to justice and we are rightly celebrating the extraordinary service, bravery, skill of the navy seals who was the tip of the spear, an american military that has brought to justice one of the criminals, one of the war criminals of our time. and we celebrate not only, of course, the navy seals but all of the men and women who have given their lives and their service over the past years and their families, and we celebrate also the intellectual and intelligence community, the intellectual gifts that they have brought to bear, the intelligence that they have

it is franken, lee, coburn, blumenthal, sessions and cornyn.n, you are up next. >> thank you, madam chair. mr. luke, i had the opportunity speak to you in my office and read your writings. and i really believe you're one of the finest minds of your generation, and i hope that we as a nation can be lucky enough to have you as a jurist and a public servant. what i think is remarkable about your nomination is not its strength but its diversity of support. a lot of people mentioned ken starr -- ken starr's letter supporting your nomination, and i will get to that in a moment. but the one that caught my eye was a lengthy blog post that went up today from the university of minnesota professor, richard painter. this guy is a great law professor, and he is no liberal. he works to support the confirmation of john roberts and samuel alito, and served as president george w. bush's chief ethics officer. and anyone who has any doubt about your nomination should i think read this article. so, madam chair, with your permission, madam chair? with your permissi

just had a press conference with senator harry reid and senator bob menendez as well as senator blumenthal of connecticut to reintroduce this dream act. at that press conference was a young woman who told her story, and like thousands of others, it's a compelling personal story. her name is tolu olapumi. she was born in nigeria and brought to the united states as a child. she graduated her high school with honors. she was awarded a full scholarship to one of the nation's top universities. in college, she was a leader, a peer counselor, a resident assistant, a volunteer at an abused woman's shelter and a research analyst in the department of engineering. tolu received a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering in 2002, but she has never been able to work one day as a chemical engineer in america because she is undocumented. she cannot leave this country because she couldn't return. she can't get a job in this country because she is undocumented. her whole life is focused on america, and she is asking for a chance to be an engineer, to be a productive part of america, to move us forward as

>> -- blumenthal? >> i want to commend you for the success so far in your career, a great american success story going to public school and sacramento, then to stanford, oxford, to the yale law school and many years of teaching. before answering the questions today, difficult questions. you have expressed regret for some of the comments that you made. i think that you are entitled to an up or down vote by the united states senate, but i also feel that this britney has been fair, searching and demanding, but i believe that this body has a responsibility to ask the kinds of questions that you have been passed and i hope that you agree that the process is a fair one in that regard. i want to go to what i consider to be the central question for any judge. where you would follow and what he would follow if your personal views conflict with the rulings and decisions of the united states supreme court. is there any doubt in your mind that you would follow faithfully and consistently the rulings and decisions

general, signed by 17 senators as follows: reid of nevada, leahy, cole, feinstein, franken, coons, blumenthal, klobuchar, whitehouse, brown of ohio, udall of colorado, durbin, carper, sanders, rockefeller, shaheen, schumer. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask consent that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the senate resume legislative session and then proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the republican leader, the senate proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 61, there be three hours of debate equally divided in the usual form, that upon the use or yielding back of that time, the senate proceed to vote without intervening action or debate on calendar number number 61, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate, that no further st

reid of nevada, leahy, schumer, blumenthal, akaka, franken, durbin, whitehouse, feinstein, merkley, coons, begich, globe cher, boxer, reed of rhode island, stabenow, and brown of ohio. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i also ask unanimous consent the senate resume legislative session and proceed to a period of morning business for debate only with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio is recognized. mr. brown: mr. president, thank you. yesterday the white house announced that it will not submit three pending free trade agreements, the f.t.a.'s with south korea, colombia, and panama, until -- until congress reaches a deal on reauthorizing the trade assistance adjustments -- the trade adjustment assistance for workers program, the so-called t.a.a. i applaud president obama for putting workers first before we do these trade agreements. the trade agree

blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. the lives of those families have been changed forever. their children are young adults. some of them have their own children now. their lives have moved on. some have remarried and some have come to peace. but their lives, like the lives of the emergency responders who ran into the building, the firefighters and police and their families, have been changed forever. the lives of our veterans who have fought and served and sacrificed in the war on terror have been changed forever. and we owe it to them never to forget, even as we celebrate this victory, we owe it to our veterans who have served and sacrificed to honor that service not just in rhetoric but in deed and to make sure that we leave no veteran behind in education and jobs and health care, to provide for them what we have obligated and promised to provide. and while we hope for peace from this day forward, we must do everything we can to support the brave men and women who continue to serve in the war on terror that now continues and those of our allies, whose relentless service a

blumenthal: thank you, madam president. i want to thank the senator from washington state for her leadership on this issue and for her eloquent remarks just now as well as other senators who have championed this cause, as i have, over years when we have fought rising gasoline prices in the state of connecticut relentlessly and tirelessly and now rise here in support of legislation, "the close the big oil tax loopholes act," which would fundamentally restore fairness to our markets and tax system. over the last drkd the big-five oil companies have taken home about $1 trillion in profits while enjoying tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies and giveaways and sweetheart deals and preferences, which undermine the credibility of our tax system and our economy in the eyes of ordinary americans. ordinary americans in fact are still struggling to make ends meet storks stay in their homes, to keep their families together, to find jobs n connecticut, the price of gasoline now has risen to more than $4.25 a gallon from abou

chair of the veterans' committee; and senator tpwhraoupl that you will, a new member -- and senator blumenthal, a new member of the senate. each of them, especially senator harkin, devoted their careers to worker rights, worker safety, decent benefits, pensions, creating -- in short, in creating a middle class. their efforts have been legion, all four of them -- all three of them in doing that. i rise today to commemorate workers memorial day. last thursday, april 28, our nation observed workers memorial day. we should pause for americans who have lost their jobs -- who lost their lives while on the job. i wear on my lapel a pin given to me at a workers memorial day rally in lorain, ohio, a city west of cleveland on lake erie, a steel town people like to call us. this lapel pin i wear is a depiction of a canary in a bird cage. the mine workers 100 years ago took a canary down in the mine. if the bird died due to toxic gas, the workers got out of the mine. he had to depend on himself. he had no union strong enough or a government which cared enough to protect him in those days. as we celebrate

. >> senator the menthol -- senator blumenthal. >> thank you. i wanted to focus on the area of trust that mr. davidson race, which think goes to the core of much of what you do with the consent -- that mr. davis and raised -- that mr. davidson raised. the goal of building a wireless network maps. apple and google are engaged in that business activity, are you not? >> yes. >> i want to ask some questions about the global wi-spy experience, scanner, debacle. google intercepted and collected bits of user information payload data -- e- mails, passwords, browsing history, and other personal information while driving around and taking pictures of people's homes on the streets. the company first denied that it was collecting this information, did not? >> we did not know that we were. >> then it denied it was collected it intentionally. is that true? >> i think we still believe we are not collecting it intentionally. >> in fact, this personal data and the interception and the downloading of this personal data is contemplated by a patent application that

cementer blumenthal? >> thank you, senator frank and for your leadership and again, senator leahy for your championing many of the privacy issues over decades literally and provide a model of that kind of leadership for us. and i want to thank the witnesses for being here also apple and google and the consultants that we have in this profoundly important hearing, and what ever the kind of challenging questions we may ask i would hope that we are all on the same side of this cause because right now what we face in my view is literally a wild west so far as the internet is concerned. we can debate the legal nice and technicalities of the ftc statute that prohibits unfair and deceptive practices don't provide the kind of targeted enforcement opportunity that i think is absolutely necessary, and i know the department of justice is going to be seeking additional authority which is absolutely necessary in this one area pertains to young people, children, which we haven't discussed so far today but which obvious

. >> now to senator whitehouse and senator blumenthal. i should note the issue of arbitration -- i think what we're saying. we have arbitration if it is agreeable to both parties. i also agree with what miss lee said. on both civil and criminal litigations, the results are not always satisfactory. >>> good afternoon. we'd like to thank all of you for being with us today. in 1965, the same yar medicare was created, president johnson signed another landmark bill for america's seniors, the older americans act. today the program's authorized by the oaa serve more than 10 million oldermericans nationwide and over 386,000 in my state of wisconsin. they help seniors live independently in their communities through home care, home delivered and group meals, family caregiver support, tranortation as well as other services. while the need for such vital oaa services has increased ring these difficult economic times, federal funding for oaa programs has not. this year, oaa programs were cut by 17% from last year. every five years congress takes a fre

blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today to voice my concerns about a great deal of the controversy surrounding a complaint issued under the national labor relations act against the boeing company. boeing recently decided to open a new plant in south carolina. the national labor relations board's acting general counsel, lief solomon, issued a compliance because of evidence this decision was made in retaliation for recent strikes at the boeing plant in the puget souped area. souped -- puget sound area. now, i hope that there is no dispute about a couple of points. first, boeing is a highly reputable company that produces great products valued around the world and great jobs. not just jobs but good jobs. and there should be no doubt also about the importance of public debate, robust criticism of government agencies, including the national labor relations board when it makes decisions that spark disagreement. and i have the greatest of respect for my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who may have bee

senator blumenthal is at the hearing and you said you should also have a private right of action. senator coburn has noted -- so there might be some of that into a. he also said in that hearing in his opening comment which was interesting, he said we need a whole lot more information and i was before you come to conclusions about what should or needs to be done. so he's a lot more hesitant if you will do say we need some legislation and we need it now, unlike the democrats on the down trend what is this a partisan issue? >> guest: i would say democrats are much more eager to move forward. i wouldn't say it is necessary partisan. there were no other republicans there. so, it's not -- in the house, certainly republicans and democrats have expressed concern. have expressed concerns about location-based data and how it is being collected. 's i guess i would say no, it's not partisan. i guess i to its mems of both parties are concerned about. >> host: are the future hearings on this scheduled? tried to i think there are. i think we can expect future. senator franken has not said when t

rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable richard blumenthalned: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks, if any, the senate will be in a period of morning business until 3:00 p.m. today. during that period of time, senators will be allowed to speak for up to ten minutes each. at 3:00 p.m., the senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to the patriot act. the time until 5:00 p.m. will be equally divided and controlled so at 5:00 there, will be a roll call vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the patriot act. mr. president, this will be a busy week in the senate. we have to renew the patriot a act. it's not a perfect law but it plays an important role in keeping our country safe. we also have to reauthorize the f.a.a. bill, the federal aviation administration. we all know what will be the focus of this week's biggest debate and biggest headlines. the primary conversation this week will be about

rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable richard blumenthal, a senator from the state of connecticut, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: the ceremony will take place very shortly. the senate will be in morning business until 4:30 james cole to be deputy attorney general at approximately 5:30 there will be a cloture on the cole nomination. we were able to enter a nomination on edward chen. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. mr. reid: mr. vice president? the presiding officer: the -- the vice president: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask that the call of the quorum be terminated. the vice president: without objection. the chair lays before the senate a certificate of appointment to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of former senator john ensign of nevada. the chair -- excuse me -- the certificate the chair advised is in the form suggested by the senate. if there is no objection, the

blumenthal blumenthal: mada, i'm very pleased and honored to join my colleagues, my distinguished colleagues, most recently yourself, today as we pledge to continue the fight to stand up for women's health care and to fight the devastating cuts that are incorporated in the house republican budget. this fight against these cuts is essential, not only for the health of millions of women across the united states but also for our health care system. and even for the effort to cut the debt and the deficit, which has to be one of our most important goals. in the end. these cuts are as far from cost-effective as any could possibly be. in the end, they will actually raise the costs of health care in this country because they will deny millions and women and girls and men the health care -- preventive health care that saves money in the long run. preventive health care enables everyone from avoiding the more costly consequences. costly in terms of pain and suffering and worry and concern, as well as in dollar and cents, that come from failure to diagnose and treat problems earlier rather than later.