once again to thank senator wicker and senator cantwell and their teams for helping us to be able to bring this out here so the american people can know we are going to take action to stop this plague from affecting their families. again, thank you so much. mr. thune: i appreciate the senator from massachusetts' comments and it has been a team effort. he and i represent different parts of the country. we all represent constituents who care deeply about this issue and want congress to do something about it. i want to thank the chairman of the committee and the ranking member as well. madam president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate will proceed to legislative session. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to the consideration of s. 151, which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 95, s. 151, a bill to deter criminal robocalls. the presiding officer: the committee-report substitute is greed to. the clerk: s. 151, a bill to deter criminal robocalls. mr. wicker: i ask unanimous consent for -- i ask for the yeas and na

. >> thank you senator cantwell. before turning to mr. dixon at this point i would like to insert into the record a statement of support from senator johnny isakson which includes his regret that he is unable to attend the hearing today. senator isakson will be accompanying delegation senators at the funeral of senator lugar today, so we certainly understand senator isakson is in support of mr. dixon and also very much wanted to be a part of honoring senator lugar. with that said, mr. dixon, we turn to you for your opening statement and feel free to introduce your family. thank you, sir. >> thank you esther chairman, ranking member cantwell and members of the committee it is an honor to appear before you today as the president's nominee for administratonomineefor admil aviation administration and if confirmed, i look forward to working with you and the congress to enable and strengthen our world-class aviation system. as mentioned, i appreciate the kind and generous introduction submitted by senator isakson. i'm humbled by this nomination

cantwell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. ms. cantwell: i ask the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. cantwell: mr. president, i come to the floor to join my colleagues who have been speaking this morning about the access to health care for women in america. today as women take action across the nation to bring focus to this issue, i would like to join my colleagues, particularly the senior senator from washington, and thank her for her leadership on this important issue. she knows better than most how many times the united states senate and the congress in the last decade have fought over access to health care for women. it seems like every budget debate, every fiscal cliff, every budget negotiation, every issue had to have a debate about whether we were going to defund planned parenthood. so it's not a surprise that we're out here today as states across the nation try to roll back access to health care. i guarantee you i

maria cantwell and lisa booth. michael, i'll start with you.'s some real pressure on nancy pelosi. how does she keep it at bay and so no impeachment? >> sure. her caucus and the president wants to be impeached and her -- >> harris: why do you say that? why does she say it? >> he talks about it every day. >> harris: he doesn't say that. >> yesterday he called it the i word. she thought it was the infrastructure, not impeachment. he talks about it every day. >> harris: lisa? >> for all the talk of impeachment, the hill has the whip count at 32. you go through the congressional districts. the partisan makeup. almost all of them are in heavily democratic districts. they're representing their districts. not a lot of members in the moderate districts calling for impeachment. the reason being, they know they're vulnerable. republicans are targeting districts that president trump win and entirely possible to flip the house in 2020. >> harris: is this victory on impeachment? the senior whip was on with me yesterday. debbie dingell. she wouldn't answer m

senator reid, the former majority leader, senator schumer now in the senate, leahy, durbin, stabenow, cantwell. on the other side of the capitol, the list included speaker pelosi and chairman of the ways and means committee chairman neal. there's something else i learned in all my years talking health care policy with iowans at my annual 99-county meetings where i enjoy a q & a with whatever agenda my colleagues -- or my constituents call upon me to discuss with them. at the end of the day, iowans don't want the government prescribing lifesaving medications. iowans want to make those decisions with a physician who is treating them. last year 43 million out of 60 million medicare recipients were enrolled in the medicare part d program. that's the vast majority of medicare beneficiaries nationwide that don't have coverage through a past employer or similar coverage from another source. plans sponsors design different plan choices and compete for beneficiaries based on what those plans cover and what they cost. beneficiaries can pick from many options with over 3,000 plans offered across 34 geogr

. >> senator cantwell. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thanks for this important hearing. you know, when i hear these expectations and opportunities in space, obviously i think of the companies in our state, spacex and blue origin, and i don't know if it's fair to say trillionaires when these guys are already billionaires, but hopefully it will be a more impacting event with many, many different products and avenues for people to pursue. i wanted to ask you, mr. bridenstine, about weather forecasting and 5g and the degr degradation that some spectrum scales could have on our weather forecasting. i think i heard you had some similar concerns maybe in front of another committee. but my colleague senator wyden and i have sent a letter to the head of the fcc asking for them to make sure that we're not impacting what would be the 24 gig ahertz band that would impact that vital information. so do you think that it is possible to give us basically by which band we're talking about and access to impact our weather forecasting? >> that's, i think, an important question. i would ans

i'd like to thank you and ranking member cantwell for hold today ing today's hearing.before i get to the questions, i just want to quickly address a topic that others have raised. i want to state that i firmly believe that atc privatization is reckless, and i do want to reinforce with chairman thune's emphasis just now on the importance of rapid forward movement on implementation of next-gen. i think it is critical for our airspace. i am pleased that congress rejected atc privatization in the last faa reauthorization, and i believe that it is time to focus all our energies on modernization. with that, i want to move on to my questions. i do want to express my appreciation for your commitment to upholding critical safety regulations. i was reassured to learn that you support the 1,500 hour pilot training rule, and i agree with you that the 1,500 hour rule safety benefits are unquestioned. my question to you is simple. if confirmed, will you oppose any effort to weaken or lower the 1,500 hour rule requirements administratively including through so-called enhanced qualifi

organizations, a bipartisan coalition of 33 states' attorney generals, as well as retired army colonel paul cantwell and former head of the office of service member fairs in disagreeing the consumer bureau's decision. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. mr. steil: madam speaker, i inquire how much time is remaining on my side. the chair: the gentleman from wisconsin has 1 1/2 minutes remaining. mr. steil: i yield to my colleague from north carolina. mr. mchenry: i thank my colleague for yielding. i think the gentleman from wisconsin has authored a very good amendment. it is a constructive amendment in this legislative process, to make a bad bill less bad. it strikes the finding sections, not the legislation contained therein. it is the egregious findings and the personalities in the first 21 pages that he removes and says we should use the arm of congress to look at those findings of fact and to get a report from the general accountability office on those matters raised in the findings sections. i urge my colleagu

i want to thank senators smith and klobuchar and cantwell for bringing attention to this bill later today. unfortunately, leader mcconnell has indicated he won't bring the house-passed vawa bill to the floor, despite these many commonsense reforms. why not? i hope it's not because the gun lobby reflexively opposes any restrictions on gun purchases, even convicted stalkers. i hope that's not the impediment here, because as senator klobuchar has pointed out, if you're abused by your husband, then you're protected by vawa. if you're abused by a boyfriend, you're not. what's the difference? what is the difference? vawa is yet another example of how leader mcconnell has turned this chamber into a legislative graveyard. even the most commonsense bills with broad support from one end of america to the other that are passed by the house, here a bill protecting women from violence, meet the grim fate at the hands of the senate's proclaimed -- self-proclaimed grim reaper. what a shame. the violence against women act is precisely the kind of legislation the american people expect the senate to consi

cantwell: so i thank him for that.i come to the floor today to honor the integ dwrit and dignity and bravery of the federal, state, local, and tribal police officers throughout our country who keep us safe every day. as officers from around the nation gather here in washington, d.c. to honor their fallen brothers and sisters and add their names to the law enforcement officer memorial, i want to take a moment to thank the officers for their service and pay tribute to those who have died in the line of duty. in 2018, 159 officers nationwide were killed in the line of duty. and already this year 41 officers throughout the united states have made the ultimate sacrifice, to protect our communities and protect our loved ones. two of those officers came from the -- my home state in washington. callous county deputy sheriff justin der rocheier -- derosier served for six years. he was a graduate of kelso high school and washington state university where he loved going to work every day to serve and protect the people of the cou