isakson: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from georgia. mr. isakson: mr. president i'm glad to join the senator from new hampshire on a very important piece of legislation that is being proposed as an amendment to the budget today. it's called the by annual budgeting and brooption act which two years ago passed this senate with 68 votes. it has bipartisan support this year. it's the right way to solve our biggest problem, which is responsible spending in washington. the biennial budgeting and appropriation act assumes the following. what we have been doing has been broken for years. 20 of the 50 states in the united states of america have a biennial budget. it's time we did budgeting and oversight and allowed time for both. what this bill basically says that in odd numbered years we'll do our appropriating and in even numbered years we'll do oversight of appropriations. wouldn't it be great to change the paradigm in america where during the election years and even years instead of

now, senator isakson. >> thank you very much, chairman grassley. and i am pleased to share the dais with john lewis, a georgia hero and his own legend of civil rights in our country. it's a pleasure to be with him. and i'm happy to wish him his 75th birthday which is this saturday night. happy birthday, john. >> thank you very much. >> i hope you have 75 more. >> i hope so, too. >> i hope i do, too. you know i've had the chance in 37 years of elected office to introduce a lot of georgians in a lot of different venues. i've never had one i looked forward to more than today in introducing sally quilian yates as the president's nominee for the deputy attorney general of the united states of america. i have known sally yates, her husband comber for a long long time. he is here with her today as well as her children kelly and quill. i'm sure she'll introduce them more fully. sally is a great hero for the state of georgia. for 25 years she's been in the office of northern georgia, prosecuting all kind of things like the olympic park bombing. for five yea

senator isakson: thank you mr. chairman, thank you senator wyden, i walked in the backdoor last weekend my wife said to listen to a voicemail, and it was precisely the call that you said, where a woman said i own a substantial amount of money and to call as quickly as i could or they would arrest me next week. being a member of this committee, i realized i was being the victim of a fraud, and i knew that number could not be real because the iris knows the edification number of all of the numbers, and i thought i should know that, but the american people don't know that. it would be good that the irs or the treasury would let american people know that these phone numbers are not part of the iris and that they was a very convincing phone call. ms. klem: thank you senator this is very common and very upsetting when that call comes in, and this is precisely why that scam is so successful. we have counterparts at the fcc and the irs and others and we do share information like this info graphic that is in front of me rig

now, senator isakson. >> thank you very much, chairman grassley. and i am pleased to share the dais with john lewis, a georgia hero and his own legend of civil rights in our country. it's a pleasure to be with him. and i'm happy to wish him his 75th birthday which is this saturday night. happy birthday, john. >> thank you very much. >> i hope you have 75 more. >> i hope so, too. >> i hope i do too. you know i've had the chance in 37 years of elected office to introduce a lot of georgians in a lot of different venues. i've never had one i looked forward to more than today in introducing sally quilian yates as the president's nominee for the deputy attorney general of the united states of america. i have known sally yates her husband comber for a long long time. he is here with her today as well as her children kelly and quill. i'm sure she'll introduce them more fully. sally is a great hero for the state of georgia. for 25 years she's been in the office of northern georgia, prosecuting all kind of things like the olympic park bombing. for five years

senator isakson: my wife said you need to listen to the voicemail i kept this week. it is the phone call you are talking about. it was to call a 202 number or they file suit next week. being a member of this committee, i realize that probably wasn't true. the next morning, i was doing a free file event . he told me this can't. because we do not make any solicitation by telephone. and i thought to myself, i should know that, but the american public ought to know that as well. it would seem like that there would be more ombudsman ship. enforcement are all done by mail. it was a very convincing phone call. ms. klem: yes, that is why they are so successful. . we do share information like this in photographic in front of me right now. happy to share it with the committee, about the irs and posture scams. it says "warning signs, how will the irs contact you? by phone? no. by mail? no. by e-mail? no. by mail? yes." senator isakson: we have a department created by the administration called the consumer financial protection bureau which is in the business of protecting their

isakson: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from georgia. mr. isakson: mr. president, i have nine grandchildren. seven of them are 11 or under. two of them are in college. those seven that are 11 or under represent the joy of my life and the life of my children. but tonight when you and i go to bed and each member of this senate goes to bed somewhere back in our state young women and young children the same age as my grandchildren would be bought and sold into slavery. they will be trafficked as human beings for sex workers for pornography workers and for workers themselves. it is wrong for the greatest nation on the face of this earth and the richest nation on the face of this earth to have a crime of human trafficking take place day in and day out. i'm so proud of senator cornyn and others in this senate who've brought forward the bill that's before us today and i want to appeal for a moment for those who are holding it up to go to cloture to ask themselves this question when they

senator kaine. >> i want to pick up on where senator isakson left off. i have some questions about the economy and energy. i've been a strong support are of the economic sanctions against russia. i understand there's been earlier questions about the possibility of more sanctions in the energy sector. it does seem this is the economic tool that russia uses most. so whether it's sanctions in the energy sector or helping nations that overrely on russia to have alternate sources of energy or to develop their own sources of energy, these are all strategies that i strongly support. senator johnson made a comment repeating some comments from a hearing last week. i'm interested in your theories about it top to the extent that we're more successful in economic sanctions, to the extent that an extended period of low oil prices for example puts economic pressure on russia, there was some testimony in a hearing last week that that makes russia more dangerous militarily. i would be curious as to your thoughts on that. i'm a support are of sanctions and energy pressur

senator isakson. >> thank you mr. chairman. this is my first time publicly to be able to acknowledge the great contribution of senator mikulski to public health in america enter service. i just want to publicly thank her for all she's done. it's a pleasure to serve with you on this committee. [inaudible] >> dr. hamburg, i don't want to be putting on but senator burr is right on target. this is a long lead up to the question and i apologize for that but it's a very important question that needs to be answered. you made a reference in your statement that some blame the lack of investment in biotechnology on the fda and you refuted that. but it is quite true that investment follows certainty and uncertainty follows regulatory processes where industry knows where it is doing. i find it troubling the fda has so much difficulty working through the regulatory process. and last year's user the bill congress directed you to update your regulation to fix the enforcement problems that affected manufacturers and suppliers of medical gas. t

i don't know whether coca-cola has ever spoken about climate change to senators isakson or purdue from coca-cola's home state of georgia. it's not just them. i pick wal-mart and coca-cola out because they're two of the best companies on carbon reduction. i actually don't know of one major american corporation that makes climate change a priority when it comes here to washington and lobbies congress. not one. america's corporate leaders have great carbon reduction policies but when they come to congress, that's not on the agenda of their politics. and if it were it would make a difference. i know it's not easy. senior corporate leaders in major american companies have told me and others that they fear retribution if they lobby congress on climate change. that they'll be punished. on tax or trade or liability or regulatory or other issues that they have here in congress. that's how ugly and rough the fossil fuel lobby plays around here. but there's an answer. group up. the fossil fuel industry and its allies in congress can't punish everyone. they can't punish coke and pepsi and walmart

and i take seriously the advice and counsel of our colleagues senator perdue, senator isakson and their testimonials to your public service and congressman lewis as well. i guess the biggest problem, someone in your position has when they come to washington, d.c. as a line prosecutor is the politic ss and the ambiguity that seems to exist too often in my view about the role of the chief law enforcement officer of the united states, the attorney general, and i would include high-level appointees like you about where your loyalties lie. and you've been very clear about your dedication of the law and pursuit of justice, and that's very admirable. but sometimes here at the highest levels of the department of justice, and this has happened in republican administrations and democratic administrations, because you serve at the pleasure of the president, you're confirmed by the senate, and you when asked a question about the law, sometimes you get a political answer. could you just explain to me your perspective on what your -- where your loyalties will lie given the fact you are appointed by t

johnny isakson: i am pleased to share the dais with john lewis. i'm happy to wish him his 75th birthday which is saturday. happy birthday, john. i hope you have 75 more. i've had the chance to introduce a lot of georgians and different venues. i never had one of forward to more than today and introducing sally yates. i have known her and her husband for a long time. her children are with her. she is a great hero of the state of georgia. she has been in the district of georgia prosecuting criminals and for the last five years she has been the chief attorney and proven herself over and over and over again to be effective fair diligent, and the person you would want representing you. she is a graduate of the georgia school of journalism and vote school of law. she is a double dog. she graduated magna cum laude. she has been referred to as tough and tenacious. i thought i would quote from mark twain when confronted with a difficult decision, always do what's right. you will surprise a few and astonish the rest. she is exactly what this country needs i

isakson: i ask unanimous consent that the senate resume consideration of s. con res. 11 following the joint meeting at the time time of 12:15 today be equally divided between the managers or their designees and that at 12:15 the senate vote in relation to the following amendments in the order listed and no second-degree amendments in order prior to those votes. burr number 622 warner number 652. i further ask consent that there be two minutes equally divided between the managers or their designees prior to each vote. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. isakson: for the information of all senators there will be up to two roll call votes at 12:15 today and i yield back and note the absence of a quorum. i withhold from the quorum. the presiding officer: under the previous order the senate stands in recess subject to the call of the chair. >> and the senate in recess now so members can attend a joint meeting with the house to hear from the president of afghanistan. later on the 2016 gop budget resolution and votes on amendments are p

i want to pick up on where senator isakson picked off and i have some questions. -- left off, and thensome questions about economy and energy issues. i've been a strong supporter of the economic sanctions against russia and i understand there has been early questions about the possibility of more sanctions in the energy sector. it seems that this is the tool that russia uses most. whether it is sanctions or helping nations that over rely on russia to have alternate sources of energy or develop their own sources, these are shy -- are all strategies that i strongly support. senator johnson made a comment repeating some comments from a hearing last week and i am curious. to the extent that we are more successful on economic sanctions, to the extent that it -- dan -- an extended time of low oil prices puts economic pressure on russia, there was some testimony that that makes russia more dangerous militarily and i would be curious as to your thoughts on that, i'm a supporter of sanctions and energy pressure, but does that raise the risk of unpredictable military behavior? >> i don't know th

senator isakson you don't have : to commit yourself on behalf of the administration. but i would like to hear some personal thoughts. such a kerry: let me think you personally because i'm delighted you stayed on the committee. you gave up a couple of seats of seniority. i know why you did. i want to express my appreciation. i know you will be a strong and critical voice for some of the things that always get paid -- that do not always get paid attention to, particularly in africa. i don't think there's any doubt. i believe that the three years if they are accompanied by the vote that is necessary here and by the accompanying commitments by each senator who goes to the floor to speak and define why we are doing this and what we're doing, i think is would be a healthy debate. i'm confident coming out of that would be an absolute understanding by everyone in the region and world that we are deeply committed to this and committed for more than the three years. i think the three years will be respected as secretary carter said as a reflection of the political process and n

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the panel included author walter isakson and megan smith.ll that out across the uk and trying to bring that stuff. >> and the white house and you and us would be -- >> to your point it's critical to doing it. i think probably it will get the other stuff right. >> we have an urgent question. >> academic appearance on women -- >> one of the state-of-the-art issues has to do with tenure. >> that doesn't seem like interrupting to me. it looked like a conversation. >> we weren't there but that doesn't illustrate the point. afterwards google's diversity manager asked both men if they thought interruptions were a sign of unconscious bias. that got a big applause from the audience. >>> "boston globe" reports on youngest girl in the united states to become a chess grand master. clarissa yip beat a grand master last fall. she learned to play when she was 6. she can play the game with her eyes closed. she said it is a challenging game and i like that about it. >> that is fantastic. congratulations. >> i like her. >>> and the washington post issues a ro

one of the things that called for is a johnny isakson security.if you think about all the beautiful products in this world. apple telephones rolex watches, what do they all have in common? beautiful design. there is no human centered design. so it's really a problem. they come up with policies that say your password needs to be 67 digits long. b. lower case contain a high q. even if you didn't go to high school in indonesia. and they wonder why people take little stickies and put it on their screen. i think it is a services issue. there's this whole human element denny's be dealt with. >> what does that human centered design look like? let's go with that. >> i think it is a work in progress. i do think anybody has a clear idea. think about how beautiful the design interface looks like and then think about what most products are. if we took like hackers cybergeeks and paired them with the design team at apple, and certainly could come up with something much, much better. that means the scale in the corporate level. we would talk about companies hav

i want to pick up on where senator isakson picked off and i have some questions. i've been a strong supporter of the economic sanctions against russia and i understand there has been early questions about the possibility of more sanctions in the energy sector. it seems that this is the tool that russia uses most. whether it is sanctions or helping nations that over rely on russia to have alternate sources of energy or develop their own sources, these are shy gza strongly support. senator johnson made a comment repeating some comments from a hearing last week and i am curious. to the extent that we are more successful on economic sanctions, to the extent that it extended time of low oil prices puts economic pressure on russia, there was some testimony that that makes russia more dangerous militarily and i would be curious as to your thoughts on that, i'm a supporter of sanctions and energy pressure, but does that raise the risk of unpredictable military behavior? >> i don't know that it raises the risk or makes russia more dangerous, it is hard to understate the pr

i think it was senator isakson who said the kremlin menace is the most important national security danger we face today. i endorse that. isil is a ragtag project terrorists. not an existential threat to the united states. moscow is an existential threat to the united states. iran with its nuclear program is not in the same order of threat with the world to largest nuclear powers on the move. if western leaders understand this danger, they would devote substantially more resources to dealing with it and they would draw a bright red line in ukraine. stop putin before he moves the on ukraine. today, western policy has been slow reactive and all too concerned about giving mr. putin a the layout of the crisis and not focused on a cost that would make it too expensive to continue. we had a distinguished panel. they were all too reflective of slow, reactive approach. to persuade putin to put aside his revisionist dreams we need to do things that prey on his weaknesses. strong sentence or part of this. we have to deal with his economy. -- strong sanctions are a part of this. we have to prove that

attorney general, and i take seriously the advice and counsel of our colleagues, senator perdue, senator isakson and their testimonials to your public service and congressman lewis, as well. i guess the biggest problem someone in your position has when they come to washington, d.c. as a prosecutor is the politics. and the ambiguity that seems to exist too often in my view about the role of the chief law enforcement officer of the united states, the attorney general, and i would include high level appointees like you. about where your loyalties lie. and you've been very clear about your dedication of the law, and pursuit of justice, and that's very admirable. but sometimes, here at the highest levels of the department of justice, and this has happened in republican administrations and democratic administrations, because you serve at the pleasure of the president, and you're confirmed by the senate, and you, when asked a question about the law, sometimes you get a political answer. could you just explain to me your perspective on where your loyalties will lie? given the fact you are appointed by t

. >> senator isakson. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thanks, both of you, for being here. i was a real estate guy in 1986 and had a development company and a brokerage company. so i have a question for both of you. first of all, thanks for being on the nine who voted against selective treatment from the passed law. i think that's right, both of you voted against that, if i'm not mistaken. oil and gas won real estate kind of lost. but looking in a rearview mirror, had some transition been applied to those investments made prior to '86 so that the tax treatment could have continued and the tax treatment on passive loss been prospective rather than a clawback, did you ever think about doing that? or if we go into something again could we do it that way? >> we did not think about it at the time. and he's absolutely right. if there is an industry that we hit, it was real estate. and we drove the s & ls out of business, who were one of the principal financers of real estate. and we did not do it retro -- i mean we did it retroactively. we found passive losses such a grievous way

i think it was senator isakson who said that the kremlin menace is the most important national security danger we face today. i endorse that whole-heartily. isil is a rag tag bunch of terrorists. a serious danger to americans, not an existential threat to the united states. a revaugsist moscow is an existential threat to the united states. even iran with its nuclear program is not in the same order of threat as the world's dish one of the world's two largest nuclear powers on the move. if wrn leaders clearly understand this danger, if they clearly understood it, they would devote substantially more resources to dealing with it and they would draw a bright red line in ukraine. stop putin and ukraine before he moves beyond ukraine. to date western policy has been slow reactive and all too concerned about giving mr. putin a graceful way out of the crisis. and not sufficiently focused on imposing costs that would make it too expensive for him to continue his aggression. we had a very distinguished panel in the first two hours of the session, but they were all too reflective of slow approach

i think it was senator isakson who said that the kremlin menace is the most important national security danger we face today. i endorse that wholeheartedly. isiol is a ragtag bunch of terrorists, not an existential threat to the united states. moscow is an existential threat to the united states. even iran with its nuclear program is not in the same order of threat as one of the world's two largest nuclear powers on the move. if western leaders clearly understand the stage, if they understood it, they would devote substantially more resources to dealing with it. they would draw a bright red line in ukraine, stop hooton in ukraine before he moves beyond ukraine. to date, western policy has been slow. and reactive. all too concerned about giving mr. putin a graceful way out of the crisis not focused on imposing costs that would make it too expensive for him to continue his aggression. we had a panel for the first two hours of this session, but they were all too reflective of slow, reactive approaches. to persuade mr. putin to put aside his revisionist dreams, we need to do things that pil

isakson: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not. mr.to speak and commend the head of the committee, senator alexander for this resolution that is on the floor to rescind and overturn the ambush election rule that the nlrb has that goes into effect on april 14. it's just dad gum wrong. it's a solution in search of a problem. we don't have a problem in terms of labor relations. 95% of all the elections for unionization take place within 56 days. the median term is 38 days. that's a month and a half to maybe two months. that's all it takes. this would compress the period of time from the average now of 38 days to 11 days. is 11 days enough time for a worker to get all the information they need to find out whether they want to become unionized? no it's not. is it fair to an employer to give him only 11 days to be able to defend himself against a union organization trying to take him to a union stop? no it's not. does it do anything for the middle class? no it does not. this is a solution for an issue that as i said that doesn't exist, a pro

i want to pick up on where senator isakson picked off and i have some questions. strong supporter of the economic sanctions against russia and i understand there has been early questions about the possibility of more sanctions in the energy sector. it seems that this is the tool that russia uses most. whether it is sanctions or helping nations that over rely on russia to have alternate sources of energy or develop their own sources, these are shy gza strongly support. senator johnson made a comment repeating some comments from a hearing last week and i am curious. to the extent that we are more successful on economic sanctions, to the extent that it extended time of low oil prices puts economic pressure on russia, there was some testimony that that makes russia more dangerous militarily and i would be curious as to your thoughts on that, i'm a supporter of sanctions and energy pressure, but does that raise the risk of unpredictable military behavior? >> i don't know that it raises the risk or makes russia more dangerous, it is hard to understand the provocations a

isakson: mr. president amendment 839 recognizes -- the congress recognizes that on november 4 of 1979, 52 brave americans were taken hostage in iran anditarian. they were beaten, they were held in captivity they were tortured. finally the algerian accords were negotiated and they were released in january of 1981. but in the algerian accords they were prohibited from ever being compensated by litigation against the nation of iran. now with the sanction money flowing into the united states treasury and into the state department the money is there to compensate these brave individuals of which there are 44 still remaining alive. this amendment acknowledges that congress has the responsibility of the supreme court dedicated to make sure these people get compensated for the bravery they exhibited for the united states of america in captivity and i would move that this be adopted and i would recognize the senator from new jersey. the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: mr. pres