senator carper is now here and senator carper is our ranking member of the full committee and a real champion on infrastructure. i am bold to say he's willing to pay for it. senator carper is willing to say we have to pay for what we need. i appreciate his leadership on this. one of the things we try to do is give flexibility to local governments which is very important. baltimore was designed by homestead and it connected old neighborhoods together through green space and over the years green space got developed and communities got isolated and literally people were trapped in their neighborhoods and any way they could get around is if they had a car. some had cars. some didn't have cars. it put more traffic on the road. we've given baltimore the flexibility of using transportation money to reconnect neighborhoods so that people can literally walk and bike between neighborhoods without using their cars which takes cars off the roads, preserves our roads for a longer period of time and improves the quality of life. that's what we did together giving the flexibility in our transportat

deputy kevin carper, do you read? deputy kevin carper, can you hear us? and of course there's silence. and then at the end, it's deputy kevin carper, you are cleared to go home. i never told kevin what i should have told him. deputy kevin carper, you were a credit to law enforcement, husband, father kevin carper, you're a credit to humanity and your family. i wish i'd have told you when i should have told you and i hope that all of my other friends in prosecution and law enforcement now will not wait too long to tell men and women of law enforcement how grateful they are for their service. with that, i yield back. mr. reichert: thank you. mr. gowdy, i have a feeling that kevin knew anyway when he left that courtroom how you felt. thank you for sharing that powerful story. i think it really clearly points to a lot of things. one, the job is tough and you've got to make split second decisions. and they are life and devitt decisions. two, that the human side of the police officer is not very often recognized that that the -- that the connection to their fami

chair, thank you, senator carper. it is a celebratory moment to be here with the subcommittee for my birthday, thank you. and it was really an amazing moment to meet some of the witnesses out there, and i think you'll all really learn a lot from hearing about them. i've never heard the coroner speak about this but to have the medical examiner hits home, how dangerous this is. we take this personally in my statement, we lost prince to fentanyl. that investigation is still going on, on where he obtained that bridge. it wasn't just prince. it was a mom in rochester, minnesota, a student in duluth. like in every state, we see opioid deaths on the rise with now exceeding homicides in our state. i look at this in three ways. when we pass this framework that i think started us thinking that way, and i want to thank senator portman for his leadership on that bill. we worked in a bipartisan way with senator ayotte and senator whitehouse and myself. trying to reduce the number of people getting hooked on legal opioids, and that

i appreciate that and senator carper is now here and senator carper is the ranking member on the full committee and a champion on infrastructure. senator carper is very much in the leadership thing we have to pay for what we need and let's find a way to do it and i appreciate his leadership on this. one of the areas we try to do is give flexibility to local governments which i think is very important. baltimore was designed by olmsted in olmstead connected old neighborhoods together through green space. over the years the green space got developed and communities got isolated and literally people were trapped in neighborhoods. the only way they could get around is if they have a car. some had cars and some didn't have cars and that put more traffic on the roads. we gave baltimore a chance to reconnect ever had so people can literally walk and bike between neighborhoods without using their cars which takes cars off the roads and preserve sar roads for a longer period of time in reserves life. that's what can be together given the flexibility or transportation department so the local go

delawareom carper of delivers the democratic response, paying tribute to memorial day and giving his reaction to the health care law. trump: my fellow americans, each month, families across the country work hard to balance their budgets and make the tough choices necessary to take care of their loved ones and give their children opportunities they never had before. this is who we are as americans. we take pride in leaving each new generation a better country than the one we inherited. yet, for decades, washington has refused to make the tough choices. as a result, the american dream has slipped from the grasp of more and more of our people. this has to change. we need a government that spends on the right things, the safety, security, and well-being of our people, and stops the waste and abuse of taxpayer funds in america or in global projects overseas, of which perhaps there are too many. my administration is laying a new foundation to build a future of economic prosperity and achieve american greatness. the budget we are proposing will reverse economic stagnation and open the path

thank you, chairman and senator carper.rst i'd like to tell you i think this issue of addressing fentanyl is important. excessively to any issue i have to attend to in the hospital. trying to help individuals get into care, creates a rapid spiral of addiction, much more so than we would say otherwise. in delaware currently, 25% of individuals actually die -- sorry, 25%, only 25% only 25% of our individuals have that know in their blood at time of death. so we look at the potential for damage in our state when reached the levels of massachusetts. i think it would be a real catastrophic increase in the coming year. having said that i want to share briefly as someone who sits in a hospital, works in inpatient setting emergency room at clinics, doing that for 25 years, just some of the lessons learned. this is a horrific epidemic. it strikes across the board. i take care to not only young mothers who have given birth and high school kids who are paul bolding champion and wrestling champions but also grandparents and couples. al

carper: thank you. one of the countries on the list of the 195 signing on to the paris accords was the country of iran. i want to talk a little bit about iran in the time that remains, mr. president. i came home from church this past sunday and my wife and i were in the kitchen fixing breakfast and i turned on the tv watching cnn and they had our president talking to a large group of national leaders representing muslim countries from around the world, hosted by saudi arabia. and the president, giving his speech, he's using a teleprompters, which a lot of presidents use. he was reading a speech off the teleprompter. as i listened, i thought this was a pretty good speech. near, close to the end of the speech, i don't know if he went off camera or the teleprompter and did an audible or if this was part of the speech. he started talking about iran and why they are them not to be trusted or someone not to do business with or any kind of agreement with or an agreement that causes them to be able to build a n

senator carper. sen. carper: thanks so much, mr. chairman. when you were good enough to visit with me, i mentioned one of my core principles, that is, things worth having, they're worth paying for. when i was governor of delaware, i took the lead, we did huge investments from 1993 to 2001, we also paid for them. we did it through user fees and a variety of other ways -- we didn't just charge more things on the state's credit card. i mentioned a couple of different things. user fees, base load for transportation funding for roads, highways, and bridges has been user fees for as long i can remember. 65% of the funding for federal highway programs today comes from gas tax. it's about 18 cents a gallon. we have not raised it for 23, 24 years. 25% of the moneys come from diesel tax. we have not raised that, again, for 23, 24 years. we proposed to -- in bowles/simpson, as part of an overall program to reduce deficits, we proposed raising gas and diesel tax and index it going forward. that was made part of bowles/simpson, not enacted by the congress

carper: thank you. lee schwamm: very important contributor to stroke, and they are on the rise in young americans shockingly and depressingly. avoiding the sedentary lifestyle is critical and making affordable healthy food choices available routinely. one diet soda a day triples your risk of stroke in dementia. we are what we eat, and we need to be focused on healthy food. sen. carper: thank you. katherine hayes: i think education on what to eat and the importance of physical activity is absolutely important, but there are confusing messages in marketing. my mother has heart disease and diabetes and has been struggling to keep her sugar levels low. because she cannot go upstairs and use the kitchen in the home, she would find prepackaged meals that are convenient, and there is so much salt, she ended up in the hospital because she had too much sodium and started having health problems again. i would agree making healthier fillable -- foods available. sen. carper: my time is up. thank you, mr. chairman.

senator carper? >> thanks so much, mr. chairman. when you're good enough to visit with me, i mentioned one of my core principles and that is things worth having and are worth paying for and when i was governor of delaware i took the lead, and huge investments from '93 and 2001 in the transportation infrastructure and we paid for them and we did it through the increase in user fees and we didn't want to charge more stuff on the state's credit card. i mentioned to you a couple of different things and the user fees and if you will base load for transportation funding for highways, roads and bridges, 65% of the funding for federal highway programs today might be from gas tax and it's about 18 cents a gallon and have not raised it for 23, 24 years and 25% of the money comes from diesel tax and we've not raised that for 23, 24 years. some of us proposed in this committee, we proposed as part of the overall program to grow the economy and we proposed raising gas and diesel tax and index and that was not enacted here by the congress and sta

yield back. >> senator carper. >> thanks so much.ometimes who have a diverse panel like this, people are knowledgeable about it, a a particular issue, i asked them to help us solve the problem. i ask you, i'm going to ask you today to help us solve the problem. i will ask each of you, if you don't do anything else do at least this, congress, this committee. one thing we ought to do like right away. i want to call you tomme. how do you pronounce your name? i pronounce it tommy, but it answer to anything. [laughing] >> my name used to be pronounced tommy as well. mr. thome, for god sake, do this. >> thank you, senator carper. >> i said earlier this of all hands on deck. we are trying to convey a sense of urgency. god knows when they go home, the folks were represented convey a sense of urgency so we're trying to convey that as well. go ahead. >> thank you very much. i think as we've talked about this is a difficult problem that needs a lot of solutions, but in terms of the remit of the state department and our interactions with the upu

what we heard from bob carper, the quote, the downward spiral. we heard from mitch mcconnell. an interview about an hour ago. typical mcconnell understatement. says he wants to see a little less drama from the white house because they're trying to move forward on their agenda. i am standing here in the dirksen building on a hearing on medicare. they won't make much headway if all the oxygen is being sucked up by the latest tweets and controversies. i have spoken with several senators going into this hearing. again, an unrelated hearing. varied reactions from republicans. john thune says, if it's true, he is troubled. marco rubio says his office, he has asked the white house for more information, for more clarification. tim scott, the conservative from south carolina, stead fast, stalwart in his support of the president. when asked if he has concerns about everything that's happened over the last 24 hours, he says none. it was a democrat, tom carper of delaware, who really put a fine point on it on his way into the hearing. >> i am a retired navy captain, former commander and i

senators tom carper and chris coons were also there marching along the parade route. >>> vineyard hostedirst ever wine and food festival right there in new town bucks county with the growing movement to eat and drink locally festival , showcased great restaurants, brewing companies and specially shops all from bucks county. ♪ chris christie: addiction is a disease. it can happen to anyone. help is within reach. all you need to do is ask. vanessa: i was a full-blown heroin addict, selling my soul to get high. but i got help, and you can too. james: i just know i didn't want to feel that pain anymore. i got help. you can too. aj: most people think addicts are beyond help. when i see an addict, i see hope. chris christie: don't suffer. don't wait. call 844 reach nj or visit reachnj.gov. >>> jeff's here with sports and phillies just can't get it going. >> tied for few is wins in, baseball right now. it is really ugly right now. it has been so bad, can you ever remember the last time phillies action you'll i won a series? last week, no, 23 weeks ago? try, last month. yes, phillies have gone s

chairman and continue to be frustrated along with colleague and former ranking member senator carperho has carped on improper payments for as long as -- >> one of my favorite verbs. to carp. i think gao is such an important ally to this community and i want to take this opportunity as i try every time here to tell all the people in that building -- that their work does matter everyone though it is too often ignored or -- set aside what you all do is really important. and your tremendous public service and i lover associates with auditor your annual duplication reports sets out important work that you have done investigating how the federal government spends tax dollars. you -- consistently identify concrete steps that we can take and executive branch can take to eliminate a lot of wasteful spending. you all have saved so much money for this country. but there is, obviously, a lot more work that we have to do. i want to welcome other witnesses to hearing also today i want to especially welcome keith who was here as the leader of the v.a. facilities in st. louis and i also think probab

our finalists in fiction are michael shave moon glow carper. the rose, harper. adam has let imagine me gone, little brown. and hatchet, commonwealth, harper. and baby smith swing time, penguin press. and the 2016 citation goes to l luis. [applause] this is an arresting, discerning novel that takes the entirety of native american history into the its grasp. a child is fatally shot and given in return. he writes about the grief and it is about so much more. the fact that men so rarely get the emotions they need and the fact native american lives still have fate determined for them so long after their culture was slaughtered. there is room for love, laughter and forgiveness with your ancestors whispering to you all the while. >> thank you to all of you. they put on eye makeup and what is going to happen. i am among such dramatically wonderful novels that it didn't seem this was possible. so, thank you to all of my fellow novelists and thank you so much to the national book critic circle. i want to say how extraordinary it has been to see how many young people are p

. >> delaware senator tom carper concerned about protecting federal clean air.stopped by the air monitoring station here in wilmington for a tour. representatives from the american lung association were there. they want to make sure that folks do have clean air to breathe. >>> meantime from our new jersey news room crews will be working round the clock to finish the avalon beach fill project. it's going to be completed in just a few days ahead of schedule. nearly a million cubic yards of sand had been put on the north avalon beach front. the beach will be ready for business of course memorial day weekend and for hurricane season which begins june 1st. this project cost 7.7 million bucks. it was largely financed by federal and state funding. >> well, spending the afternoon by the water is a nice way to round out the heat especially in this heat. drone6 looking live at the stotesbury regatta on the schuylkill river on this muggy hot friday. today and tomorrow high school rowing teams will compete for top honors. we saw that rowers throughout the day. maybe they're

. >> -- >> good morning, chairman and ranking member carper and members of the committee. i appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today. my remarks will represent the views of the florida fish and wild life conservation commission and the association of fish and wild life agencies. my views regarding the endangers -- endangered species act are shaped by 31 years of experience as a professional wild life biologist and a state fish and wild life agency administrator. during this time i've been fortunate to work in florida, where we have an amazing diversity of fish and wild life resourcess featuring a number of iconic species that have benefited from listing, including bald eagles, man atees, florida panthers, sea turtles, and american crocodiles. my direct experience and work with states across the nation reflect that esa has served our national well as a strong tool for protecting and recovering species that are on the brink of extinction. state fish and wild life agencies really value and appreciate how esa has driven many conservation success stories. we also see

and our state and the house of representatives, our delegation -- and i thank senator carper and his committee -- all seem to think that it's very appropriate that the new national courthouse be named for senator thompson. that gives me a great deal of pride and personal privilege to be able to ask that be done. i thank congresswoman blackburn in the house for her leadership and all of the members of the delegation and the members of the senate for their cooperation in this. i thank the senate. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: i ask unanimous consent to vait indicate the quorum call -- vacate the quorum call. the presiding officer: the senate is not in a quorum call. mr. wyden: i ask unanimous consent that benjamin willis and elizabeth durvan, legislative staff be given floor privileges. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. wyden: madam president, the senate will consider the nomination of courtney elwood to be the c.i.a.'s general counsel. i wanted to take a moment to discuss the nomination and put it in the context of the extrao

. >> we will continue within her introductions i would like to ask senator carper if he has any statement to make. >> think it's much.i've bee i'm proud to be a member of the committee.e. i'm also recovering governor. so for eight years as governor from 93 until 2000. i cared a lot about these issues as well. i want to thank the leadership of the subcommittee for holding this today. i think all of you for coming and joining us and sharing with us your perspectives on an issue we hope to find bipartisan agreement on make progress. one of the major roles of to sen government is to provide a nurturing environment for job creation and job preservation. i say that several times a day. one of the ways to have a nurturing environment start to have one if you don't have a good transportation system.em you know that from the work youo do. by sport measures to enable public agencies to partner with private investors we want to make sure they can have the support they need to be successful. in delaware we have an interesting use of public-private partnerships. the state is working on an agreement wi

they talked to me about the stop act and the need for more resources for senator carper's efforts. and then two of the four took me aside privately, towo fof the four. they said, i have a family member -- one was a nephew and one was a son, who were addicts. recovering addicts now. in both cases they had the opiate addiction and are out in and out of recovery. they both said to me, you've got to move forward with this. so, i would just tell you, this is affecting everybody, including our families and friends and neighbors in every zip code and the real letter carriers that came to talk to me on another topic, but focused on a personal topic, their deep concern on this issue. thank you all for being here, and appreciate being able to work with you on this initiative. thank you. >> we are going to move quickly through the introductions. each of you deserve a 20 minute introduction. the executive director of the great center for addictive medicine at boston medical center. as some of you know, he has been at this for a long time and he was the drug czar until just a few months ago. we

senator carper? >> thanks, mr. chairman. again, welcome. thank you for your testimony, which i think for the most part is illuminating. tomorrow we're going to hold another hearing in this room and the witness will be the secretary of transportation, elaine chao. i met with her several weeks ago we had a good meeting and one of the questions i asked of her is what do you think the administration would like to do to fund transportation projects? i believe things worth having are worth paying for and i believe the underlying concept for building transportation projects and those who use them, people and businesses, help pay for them. that's where i come from in danville and roanoke, virginia, mr. secretary. but anyway, she's going to be sitting tomorrow, the secretary is going to be sitting tomorrow where you are. and just kind of like lift yourself up out of the chairs and bring yourself here with us tomorrow. you're here to give her advice on how to fund transportation projects. again, she seemed to think public-private partnerships made a

federal ethics laws, i've introduced the conflicts from political fundraising act with senators udall, carpervan hollen and franken. this bill would require presidentially appointed federal officials like scott pruitt to disclose their political fundraising, and it would require federal ethics officials to address these conflicts by, for example, making sure officials are recused from decisions affecting big political donors, make sure that the public has the information to know that they should ask for a recusal because the director is conflicted by reason of his political relationship with big dark money donors. i wish the conflicts that e.p.a. stopped with the -- at e.p.a. stopped with the administrator, but they don't. it's a swarm of swampy conflict over there. pruitt has surrounded himself with political operatives and fossil fuel lobbyists. the associate e.p.a. administrator for policy previously worked at raga, the rule of law defense fund, and something called the freedom partners chamber of commerce, a koch brothers funded dark money group that has underwritten the rule of law defen

senator tom carper of delaware delivers the democratic response, paying tribute to memorial day and giving his reaction to the health care law. >> my fellow americans, each month, families across the country worked very hard to balance their budgets and make the tough choices necessary to take care of their loved ones and give their children opportunities they never had before. this is who we are as americans. we take pride in leading each new generation -- leaving each new generation a better country than the one we had. washington has refused to make tough decision. this has to change. we need a government that spends on the right things, the safety, security, and well-being of our people, and stop the waste and whether taxpayer funds, in america or global projects overseas, of which perhaps there are too many. admired ministers and laying a new foundation to build a future economic prosperity and achieved american greatness. the budget we are proposing will reverse economic stagnation and open the path to millions of jobs for american workers. we will balance the budget without making c

recognize national police week, i have partnered with senators boozman, gardner, moran, blumenthal and carper to introduce a bipartisan "horning hometown heroes act." our bill will provide the governor of each state with the ability to fly the american flag at half-staff to honor a police officer or any first responder who dies in the line of duty. this bill will treat our fallen responders with the respect that they deserve. in the past, republicans and democrats have worked together to strengthen resources for local police officers, and we have ensured that our first responders have access to critical health care services. but this bill is a bit different. this bill makes sure that our police officers and their families receive the recognition that they deserve for their selfless service to their community. and when tragedy strikes, i think it is important that the entire state takes a moment to honor that police officer who was lost while serving others. this bipartisan bill has the support of police officers and first responders from across the country. the fraternal order of police, fede