senator blumenthal: let me ask you about access to legal services. is it the pop -- policy of the department to permit and enable lawyers to visit those facilities where folks are detained? secretary johnson: yes. senator blumenthal: in terms of providing counsel where private attorneys can't do so, has the department provided that kind of resource? secretary johnson: we do not. in immigration cases of this nature provide counsel if one cannot be provided. we do not guarantee counsel. we do promote access to counsel, and we do a number of things to put people in touch with lawyers locally or those who are interested in representing individuals. and i know we have made improvements in those efforts since we began opening our family detention capability last summer. senator blumenthal: i know it may not be the sole responsibility of the department of homeland security, but the processing of visas in central american countries, the screening of those people who want to come here has begun. is there anything that can be done to expedite that effort becau

. >> senator blumenthal. senator blumenthal: thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for having this hearing. thank you for your service to our nation, mr. secretary. i am very pleased to learn that the department is re-evaluating its family detention policy. as you well know the judge's opinion in my view, at least, requires it. and also many have objected to family detention policies, including myself. so i'd like to work with you in devising and implementing better policies. i think that these policies cannot only provide for more humane and productive treatment of young people when they come here but also continue to have the effect of perhaps providing for fewer people actually crossing the borders. and that's been the result, i think, of some of the conscious decisionmaking and policymaking that policy -- the department has adopted. so i'd like to ask you what specific measures and steps you contemplate in revising the family detention policies? senator johnson: well, the family detention issue is under review in litigation in washington, d.c.. there w

and democratic senator from connecticut, richard blumenthal. thank you both for joining me. the innocence project is one of the authors of this investigation. you guys have done incredible work on exonerations. how did this happen? how did this go on for decades? >> i think what the senator is calling for is a root cause analysis to figure out. it's hard to understand whether or not this was a gross scientific illiteracy on behalf of the fbi or something that was deliberate or something that was in between. i think there are many good actors who believed in what they were doing, and that they nonetheless provided scientifically invalid testimony. you think about hair comparison evidence and it's so routinely used, and that it was available in so many different crime scenes and was so impressive to juries that the extent of the injustice caused by this it's really a mass disaster for the criminal justice system. and it's going to impact tens of thousands of cases. >> senator blumenthal mass disaster is the word the phrase of the day to describe the findings that we're learnin

blumenthal: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: thank you mr. president. i rise with regret because you feel we remain divided. there is so much common ground here so many good ideas in this bill so much that unites us. we have so much more in common than in conflict. on this bill. and the justice for victims of trafficking act has involved so much work by great colleagues, senator cornyn and senator klobuchar, senator murray and senator feinstein and my colleague from illinois who has just finished speaking. and i'm proud to be a cosponsor of this bill. we are divided on one paragraph that is simply unacceptable r. and it is fundamental to the goals of this bill. which is to restore human dignity and freedom to victims and survivors of human trafficking. restoring freedom involves giving those survivors choices over whether or not they will bare children as a result of that trafficking. trafficking is fundamentally modern-day slavery. it is sex slavery and sex exploitation which results all too often in pregnancy. and

connecticut senator richard blumenthal. >> the question now is, why it was permitted to continue andt's a question that the fbi has to answer after an investigation, a systematic analysis of the root causes, why did it happen? >> reporter: not all of the cases depended heavily on flawed hair match analysis, which will make it more difficult jeff, for some to appeal their cases. >> glor: jericka duncan, thank you. at least 31,000 runners and a million spectators are expected at tomorrow's boston marathon, which, again will be under tight security. extra measures put in place last year after the 2013 deadly bombings will remain in place including surveillance cameras. spectators are discouraged from bringing large coolers or backpacks. on tuesday, the trial of convicted boston marathon bomber dzhokhar tsarnaev enters the penalty phase. the jury will decide whether the 21-year-old gets the death penalty or life in prison and don dahler is in boston. >> reporter: the prosecution is expected to remind jurors of dzhokhar tsarnaev's deliberate actions that led to the death of four people in

blumenthal: thank you senator carper.and thank you senator durbin, two of my most distinguished colleagues two of my colleagues who have fought seasfulsly ceaselessly for veterans. nothing is more important than this issue of measuring shiewk -- making sure 245 we keep faith with our veterans and protect them because the phenomena we have described here today often create incentives for schools to lure veterans into education deals, and they are often education deals that fail them, don't make sense for them, don't give them the education and the qualifications they think they're going to receive and so very often they are failed by these programs, and they fail to complete courses. they leave with mountains of debt but no degrees. the and so these kinds of abuses that bring us here today involve some for-profit schools, in in effect scamming our nations veterans. we all know that for-profit schools are prohibiting from receiving more than 90% of their total revenue from federal student aid but as my colleagues have so we

blumenthal had a record in the state. their b team -- of the 20 people that you will see this weekend, there is none of them that wouldn't be a great president. their site is having a coronation. to our side, and you have at least 10 years 15 years of top candidates on our side. on their site, they have hillary or nothing. they're basically figure out how to groom chelsea. [laughter] >> [indiscernible] jssean: i will be careful of jim webb. i know he is a smart man, he is not very people friendly. he chose to not seek reelection. again, i'm not taking them lightly here he don't get me wrong. it is a very insightful question. i think when you really look at the analysis, there is a reason no one has stepped up to the plate on their side. they can't raise money there is no enthusiasm, their own base will not give anyone more than a few points as an alternative to hillary. i don't discount it, but when you look at the teams and operation, we are built to take on hillary. we have a strong team on the data side, communication

right now, this is -- blumenthal has been a.g. for a long time. their b team -- of the 20 people that you will see this weekend none of them that i could not see being an amazing president. they are fighting you guys over your ideas and votes. their side is having a coronation. if you look now for literally who does not make it on our side, you have at least 10, 15, 20 years of top-tier candidates on our side. on their side, they have hillary or nothing. they are trying to figure out how to groom chelsea. [laughter] >> that's how we lose. be careful. rob: i will be careful of jim webb. as someone who is interacted with him a few times i know that he is a smart man. he is not very people friendly. he chose not to seek reelection --i i'm not saying i am taking them lightly. you can never ever go into a campaign and not take it seriously. when you really look at the analysis of this, there was a reason no one has stepped up to the plate on their site so far because they cannot raise money. their own base when i give anybody above a few points as an a

. >> reporter: rabbi blumenthal whanlts whoever did this to be accountable. >> they should be held accountablehave to see what the best way for that is. it's not a prank. it's a serious crime to use these kind of symbols on a synagogue building. >> reporter: to give you an idea how seriously gaithersburg are taking this incident they had to sign three detectives to investigate this and have been going door to door hoping that neighbors saw something. they're hoping that somebody saw the video we showed can give them some clues. back to you. >>> the prince george's county fire department says i want's going to cost more than a million dollars to replace two fire trucks that were destroyed in a massive fire yesterday. that fire was at an industrial park in capitol heights, maryland. more than 100 firefighters are involved in trying to contain it. investigators say there were large amounts of combustible and petroleum-based products in those buildings. they are still trying to figure out what started that fire. >>> it happened along a d.c. street where neighbors say people throw shoes on the powe

. >> schumer blumenthal, a handful of others, mr. tafuri. same fairly influential democrats. why would the president decide to go against that group? >> again, because he really wants this deal passed at all cost and doesn't want the congressional obstacle. another thing that will matter is public opinion. it is very interesting. in general the public supports a deal with iran -- >> do you realize what you said. i asked you why he would do that, you said because he really wants it. matt the president may want it but what do the american people want? isn't that what this is about? >> i have five girls, a lot of times they want things, too, and i tell them know. the american people want a deal with iran in the sense they don't want iran to have a nuclear weapon. what they don't understand is what obama is doing is lifting sanctions like he did with cuba in a unilateral fashion because this is what his foreign policy is. i am going to make friends with everyone around the globe. the problem is with iran, they will get all of these assets and will have the money to put their nucl

. >> senator blumenthal. >> thank you. i appreciated your comment just now, captain sullenberger about the difference between the real world and the training environment and the qualities that are necessary to deal with the real world as they are in many endeavors and challenges, which are different from what can be experienced in the artificial environment in training. you mentioned those skills and experience and the passion for flying, and i think you know one quality that sort of pervades all of them is mental health and i don't know whether you have given thought and i would invite the rest of the panelists as well -- to whether there should be better screening for mental health periodically, just as we do for physical health because mental health can impact those qualities of readiness and skill and even fatigue fatigue. we're here today in part because in 2009 the tragic crash of flight 3407 in buffalo was the result of, in part fatigue, but fatigue often masks mental health issues. so my sort of open-ended question

. >> senator blumenthal. >> thank you. i appreciated your comment just now, captain sullenberger about the difference between the real world and the training environment and the quality that are necessary to deal with the real world as they are in many endeavors and challenges which are different from what can be experienced in the artificial environment in training. you mentioned those skills and experience and the passion for flying. i think, you know one quality that sort of pervades all of them is mental health and i don't know whether you have given thought and i would invite the rest of the panelists as well, to whether there should be better screening for mental health periodically just as we do for physical health, because mental health can impact those qualities of readiness and skill and even fatigue. we're here today in part because in 2009 the tragic crash of flight 3407 in buffalo was the result of, in part, fatigue, but fatigue often masks mental health issues. so my sort of open-ended question to you -- and,

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i a number of us led by senator merkley also senator broom that will and a number of others -- blumenthal, senator durbin and others, have called on the f.d.a. over and over again to finalize this proposed rule and reject efforts to weaken these proposed regulations. every day the f.d.a. waits is thousands of more children getting addicted to nicotine, thousands of more children exposed potentially to drinking this awful -- this very toxic liquid, thousands of more children smoking these e-cigarettes. tobacco companies are pushing to allow more products to be grandfathered out of the new rules. they want to exempt a huge age of e-cigarettes from anyone to determine whether they're a threat to public health. that would mean, mr. president these products would never be subject to review by the f.d.a. how stupid as a nation could we be? we've been so successful in the last 40 years as public health officials, as members of congress as responsible adults as consumer groups and advocates for children, we've been so successful in reducing the age of -- reducing the incidence of smoking, especia

senator blumenthal had an article in the norwalk paper -- $13 million owed to taxpayers and it will not help me, but it might help other connecticut residents. $13.4 million worth of unclaimed tax refunds from 2011 own twed to connecticut taxpayers. what kind of taxes will i have had paid in 2011 to qualify to receive an earned income tax credit? guest: a couple of different things we're talking about. the senators -- people who do not file returns -- there are hundreds of millions of dollars the irs is sitting on because people do not file. they think they are in trouble. as far as the earned income tax credit, i was looking at those numbers. the credit -- if you made less than $50,000 on a joint return and have three or more kids, that is the highest income you can earn to get the earned income tax credit. it starts at about $6,000 a year if you are single and have no kids. that's where you max out. there is a form -- the instructions -- there is a table that looks like the tax tables. it shows income, number of children, and filing status, and will show you how my cheek and earn and

senator casey senator feinstein, senator gillibrand, senator heitkamp, senator schumer, senator blumenthal, senator peters, senator durbin to all of our democratic friends who previously objected based on the original provision, i hope they will take a look at this change because it does address directly their stated concerns. so let's get this done, mr. president. we will vote on this tomorrow, but i'd rather not wait for that time i'd rather try to get this done today if we can and we might be able to do that by agreement if everyone agrees that this provision this change addresses those stated concerns. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senate will receive a message from the house of representatives. the majority secretary: mr. president, a message from the house of representatives. the presiding officer: mr. mr. clerk. mr. hurricane i have been direct -- the house reading clerk: mr. president, i have been directed by the house of reaps to sentence test the senate that the setting forth the congressional budget for the united states government for fiscal year

i want to also say that i'm so glad that senator tillis from north carolina, senator blumenthal from connecticut, and senator donnelly from indiana from joined us today. i know they care deeply about this issue. we now turn to the testimony of our panel. i'm pleased that joining us today, and on the witness panel, are barbara better known as "b" smith and her husband. "b" is a well known super model who's graced the cover of fashion magazines. she's also an accomplished restauranteur for those of us who have eaten at her restaurant at union station know that. retailer actor, and author. but nowhere are her grace, beauty and courage more evident than in her fight against early onset alzheimer's disease. dan gatsby is an entrepreneur, television producer, and entertainment executive and has stood by his wife's side every step of the way. by sharing their story miss smith and her husband are helping to make a real difference and we thank you. next we will hear from dr. richard hotus, who is the director of the national institute on aging at the national institutes of health. he also rep

senator blumenthal had an article in the norwalk paper -- $13 million owed to taxpayers and it will notelp me, but it might help other connecticut residents. $13.4 million worth of unclaimed tax refunds from 2011 own twed to connecticut taxpayers. what kind of taxes will i have had paid in 2011 to qualify to receive an earned income tax credit? guest: a couple of different things we're talking about. the senators -- people who do not file returns -- there are hundreds of millions of dollars the irs is sitting on because people do not file. they think they are in trouble. as far as the earned income tax credit, i was looking at those numbers. the credit -- if you made less than $50,000 on a joint return and have three or more kids, that is the highest income you can earn to get the earned income tax credit. it starts at about $6,000 a year if you are single and have no kids. that's where you max out. there is a form -- the instructions -- there is a table that looks like the tax tables. it shows income, number of children, and filing status, and will show you how my cheek and earn and ge

. >> thank you senator blumenthal senator marquee? >> thank you mr. chairman, very much.r. chairman did the fcc follow the processes used by both democrat and republican commissions when crafting these latest net neutrality rules? >> yes, sir. >> these are tough decisions. it's a process and out of the process came a decision that i agree with. i think it's an historically correct decision but i don't think there should be a question about whether or not you use the process that allowed all voices to be heard and the final vote 3-2, 3-2, is based upon the totality of everything that all five of you had the opportunity to hear. 3-2. it was a process. it gave everyone the ability to hear what they needed to hear. and i think you made just the right decision and i think you made the right decision looking at the whole history of the fcc and what you've done for our country. back in the 1970s, the ceo of sprint and mci came into my office and they had less than one half of one half of one half of one percent of the market. and they wanted the fcc to change the rules so you di

we know about -- >> blumenthal, right nick named the prince of darkness. we know he was hacked. is in jail in europe because he revealed what he found. it was part of mrs. clinton's calendar. >> how audacious -- >> general petraeus was indicted for concealing his calendar diary. that's considered classified information. >> the big question is if anybody will prosecute probably not until somebody new from other party goes to the white house. >> i agree. >> thank you very much. >>> coming up take a class on diversity or don't graduate. up next, the major american university making that course a requirement for all students. >>> then a girl already battling two terrible illnesses suffers a tragedy when she falls 30 feet into a hollow tree. what happened next is nothing short of a miracle. completely cured she is after a visit to heaven. her remarkable story ahead. ♪ how far is heaven ♪ ♪ lord can you tell me ♪ i love life, but really i love my chico's life. i take good care of myself and i love what i see when i look in the mirror. i've often been told i'm the best pair of legs in

guest: it was sponsored by senator mccain from arizona and blumenthal from connecticut and jeff millerorida. as i spoke at the top of this program, congress is now recognizing that mental health issues are a big national problem. i urge all of c-span viewers today to call the representatives and urge them to double, triple quadruple funding of veteran mental health programs. last are, we got $900 million in the excellence of mental health act. it provided services to judy's point earlier. in some cases, there's a that you can get in free stuff. go to a fsp.org. i can hook you up with people on the ground in her hometown and home state and we will get you the resources you need. host: dennis and santa rosa california. caller: who am i talking to? host: you're talking with judy collins, award-winning singer-songwriter and author, as well as john madigan who is with the american foundation for suicide prevention. caller: it sounds like you are couple of irish people. [laughter] caller: my last name is murphy and i happen to be a pretty good singer. judy, i'm a songwriter, too. and fact, i

and i will be working with senator merkley senator blumenthal and all of my colleagues because we wereot born yesterday. we've seen this movie before and we want our kids to be healthy. thank you very much. i'll put the rest of my statement in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. corker: mr. president? i first want to thank the senator from california for her kindness. i'm sorry we were talking in the background about what i'm getting ready to ask which is i ask unanimous consent that the time until 5:25 be equally divided in the usual form and that it be in order to call up the following amendment barrasso number 1147. further, i ask that following the use or yielding back of time, the senate vote on the amendment, that will be no second-degree amendments in order to the amendment and that it require 60 affirmative vote threshold for the adoption of the amendment. is there objection? the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. corker: on behalf of senator barrasso, i call up amendment number 1147. the presiding officer: the clerk

blumenthal: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. blumenthal: i ask unanimous consent to vacate the quorum call madam president and to speak as if in morning business for up to 15 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: madam president, it is my hope that soon the senate will start voting -- mr. wyden: voting on legislation that in one fell swoop will improve health care for millions of americans. and this discussion should start with a medicare milestone. that milestone is abolishing once and for all the outdated, inefficiency rewarding commonsense defying system of paying physicians under the medicare program. as my colleague from new hampshire knows what i'm talking about in the technical lingo of health care is the s.g.r., the sustainable growth rate. it is a horrendously flawed formula for paying doctors and providers who treat our medicare patients. and yet despite this very sour pedigree, it has dominated much of the discussion about medicare since 1997. now, i wish we had put this flawed reimburseme

blumenthal: thank you madam president. i ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: and i ask to speak as if we are in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: thank you madam president. a number of my colleagues yesterday came to the floor to talk about the f.d.a.'s failure to release the tobacco deeming rule and the delays that have occurred with respect to that rule. as difficult as the american people may find it to understand why there are these delays in issuing a rule that protects our citizens against tobacco use most particularly our children, we should all understand that these rules have real-life consequences. tobacco, in fact, is the leading cause of preventable death. in this nation, tobacco use kills more than half a million people every year. most smokers and tobacco users begin as children. many under the age of ten. each day more than 3,200 people younger than 18 years old smoke their first cigarette and the consequences

like to thank senators cornyn, ayotte, blunt and portman as well as leahy durum, klobuchar coons blumenthal boxer brown warren and booker for serving as original cosponsors of the comprehensive justice and mental health act. i look forward to adding more cosponsors in the days to come. i would also like to recognize the many law enforcement civil rights veterans and mental health advocacy organizations most notably the council of state governments for standing in strong support of this legislation or its predecessor bill and advocating tirelessly for its enactment. more than 250 organizations endorse this legislation in the previous congress including the american legion, the major cities chiefs association the major county sheriffs association, the national sheriffs association the national alliance on mental illness, the national association of counties, and the wounded warrior project just to name a fraction. i look forward to working together with advocates and with my colleagues to get this bill enacted into law so that we can ease the burden of mental health problems on our criminal j