isakson: i ask unanimous consent to have three additional minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. is there objection? mr. tester: i just need about a minute johnny -- sorry -- the senator from georgia. you can have everything but give me one minute. mr. isakson: how much time is left? the presiding officer: approximately 2 1/2 minutes. mr. isakson: let me give you the closing and leave out the juicy parts for later on. the story that should be read about this appropriations bill is we are not letting our veterans down. we are uplifting them. we're seeing to it the problems we have had seen i am straited -- illustrated are being fixed. the v.a. are a work in progress. there will still be problems but not because of lack of attitude and funding. we're going to do what our veterans did for us. we're going to stand ground, take the hill, hold the hill and see to it that those who fought and died for the united states of america are rewarded not only for themselves with their health care but retired benefits and thaird loved ones as well. i com

isakson: mr. president, i would ask unanimous consent to recognize the senator from montana, senator daines, followed by senator whitehouse, followed by senator isakson. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. daines: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. daines: today the senate came a few votes shy of passing legislation to protect farmers, ranchers, and small business owners from major new costs and regulatory burdens, and i appreciate the bipartisan support demonstrated today by four key senate democrats. i've got to say i'm disappointed that others chose instead to put loyalty to president obama before the concerns of their constituents, the concerns of those people they represent. because montanans know that this power grab has more to do with controlling montana's land use decisions than ensuring access to clean water like the clean water act intended. this is an ill-conceived rule that provides the e.p.a. unprecedented power to regula

coming up at 5k clo, the victim's son reacts to the fact that isakson is looking at spending at least 25 years in prison when he's sentenced. in upper marlboro, i'm tracee wilkins, news 4. >>> students at woodson in fairfax returned to school and got an update on the chemistry lab fire. one is still hospitalized with burns and another is recovering at home and three injured students went back to school today. two teachers who were in the room are still on leave and we'll hear from students and the school's principal coming up at 4:15. >>> some breaking news now, there is some troubling development with the crash over egypt. evidence indicates a bomb brought down the russian airliner over the sinai peninsula over the weekend. the official says investigators are focused on the possibility that isis operatives or sympathizers were directly involved in that bombing. that news comes as uk officials have also taken the extraordinary step of suspending flights to britain out of sharm el sheikh airport and they're deploying aviation experts to analyze some of the security procedures in egypt.

emily: there is a modern mythology of johnny isakson as the apple design guide.ow do you remember it? was it more of a team effort? leadsmes the mythology people to believe -- tony: when it comes to design, there is no right or wrong. there are opinions. different people had different opinions and let the charge for certain decisions. there was an effort between myself, johnny eyes, the marketing team, we would talk about the future and what it looks like, grappling with those things, and there were certain decisions i can make myself, but there were certain things about what it might look like, and johnny had a big opinion on that. regardless of whether it was me, johnny, or mark, steve always rendered the final opinion on almost anything that involved the customer. it was very much a team oriented thing. tony: is this a mythology that pits you and johnny against it -- each other. as or any truth to that? times when weere saw eye to eye, and there were times that we didn't. a better product. whether tensions? sure. as a personal? no. it was all about making the

johnny isakson tweeted out today god bless. and nancy pelosi released the statement this morning that says, in part, on veterans day we salute the sacrifice and dedication to freedom. on this holiday and everyday, we honor the patriots at home and abroad. >> my hope is that the women of the future will feel truly free to follow whatever path takes them. i think i thought the white and what so glamorous you did was so glamorous, your life was so glamorous. partiesi saw were the and meeting people, you know. and i have to cut you, i have never worked harder in my life. announcer: nancy reagan served as longtime political partner, and ultimately as caretaker for president ronald reagan. she was active with key staff decisions, policymaking, and campaigning. she made drug use her signature initiative. nancy reagan, the sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's original series, "first ladies," examining the public and private lives of the women who filled the position of first lady and their influence on the presidency. sunday a

i had introduced the cede act with my friend from georgia, senator isakson, to reinstate a new version of a successful no-cost program at the s.b.a. known as 504 refinancing. that program had expired before many of the small businesses that needed help could benefit. congress had created this refinancing program during the financial crisis when small business lending was frozen. as real estate values declined, many small businesses, even those that were performing well and were current on their mortgage payments, were unable to refinance their loans through traditional methods. small businesses with equity in their properties were often unable to access that equity for additional operating capital. now, that 504 refinancing program worked. for the short time that it was active, s.b.a. and its loan partners were able to help a lot of those small businesses, more than 2,300 small firms refinanced $5 billion of small business debt. unfortunately, the program expired in september of 2012, even though there is still significant demand for this type of financing. in fact, on the last day tha

. >> this just-released video shows sebastian isakson calmly driving away after assaulting emts. >> we have reaction from the victim's family. >> the facts surrounding the case are absolutely horrific. >> today incourt, mark hargrave came face-to-face withesisaa on. >> what my wife and i took away from it is wtever happens today doesn't change the facts of what happened to our family. we sufre a great loss. >> reporter: camera video from inside an ambulance relsed tod shows sebastn isaacson driving this ambulance and he stole it from two emts who stopped to help him after he was involved in a crash. his blood alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit. >> this is the scene minutes later ingreenbelt after he crashes into several cars including this mercedes killing 77-year-old alahargrave. >> it was all at once and probably never saw it coming. >> he once taught at kennedy high school and from time to time returned to substitute teach. >> my father was a great, great person who will be missed by any and impacted the lives of thousands of people over the coursef his years. >> t

sebastian isakson pleaded guilty in court today in the prince george's county. tracee wilkins has reaction. >> a good samaritan checks on the driver. >> is anybody in the back? >> he doesn't know if a patient is in the back because he just carjacked this emergency vehicle. >> not only has he carjacked the ambulance. he assaults the emts who were driving that ambulance. >> reporter: video released just today shows sebastian isaacson calmly driving it. he stole it from two emts who stopped to help him after he was involved in a crash in the beltway. police say his blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit. this is the scene after he crashes into several cars including this mercedes carrying 77-year-old, hargraves. >> it was all at once and probably never saw it coming. >> hargraves taught at montgomery county and from time to time returned to substitute teach. >> my father was a great, great person who will be missed by many and impacted the lives of thousands of people over the course of his years. >> this is what isaacson looked like after the crash an

. >> i want to follow up on senator isakson's concise arguments with regard to draft guidance. i'm apprehensive of the use of the guidances as they lack transparency and can escape the cost/benefit analysis and other scrutiny. what are your thoughts about setting a maximum period with which they can be stangsubstant revised. shouldn't the agency be required to publicly respond to the concerns or at least how the concern has been addressed when a guidance is finalized or if the agency rejected the concern? >> senator roberts, i am a big advocate of transparency. i so appreciate what you're bringing up. it's been noticeable to me, the issues that you raise. it's also noticeable, as i mentioned earlier, that every time we give people an opportunity to interact with the fda, they seem to want to do it more. in our user fee situations, for example. the number of meetings requested always greatly exceeds the number we have. the critical thing to me is getting whatever the correct format is moved along as quickly as we can through the process so that pple understand what the fda is re

president, i would ask consent that the isakson amendment be agreed to, the committee reported substitute as amended be agreed to, the bill as amended be read a third time and passed, the title amendment be agreed to and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. murkowski: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on commerce, science and transportation be discharged from further consideration of h.r. 2262 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 2262, abact to facilitate a progrowth environment for developing commercial space, industry, and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? if not, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed. ms. murkowski: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the cruz substitute amendment at the desk be agreed to, the bill as amended be read a third time and passed and the motions to reconsider be considered made

we have isakson, warren, scott. senator isaacson. >> thank you. senator kazcassidy and are work together and we know mental health is a crisis we are working with. i'm not a physician nor am i a technical person, but it appears to me in the emergency room practices there's a golden hour. it's that time the accident takes place from the time the person is treated and you can save a life if someone is in an accident. it's the same golden minute with suicide. they need to have access to a person to talk to. and if there isn't one, we have lack of access to get them to an appointment and to get them to a place to at least talk to a professional. am i right about that or wrong about that, mr. macrae? >> i would defer to my colleague, but i would say absolutely. the other piece is that early intervention is important when talking about suicide. we have had much success in terms of doing screening again in the primary care setting where you are actually able to identify children, in particular, adolescents and veterans and other vulnerable patients where

>> senator isakson, i appreciate your concern with this. one thing that's been really evident to me in my time at the fda so far is that everybody wants to know what the fda is thinking. so i think there's a tremendous value in guidance documents to let people know what the fda is thinking and the demand for these is actually quite high. but there are other situations where you need to full force of rule making. i understand there is a difference. i will have to work with you and look forward to doing it when things come up so we can discuss it and work through it. >> well, specifically to that offer, let me ask you the following question. will you commit to require fda staff to go through rule making when it intends to legally bind regulate partied or change their behavior in a burdensome way? >> i believe the statement about guidance documents says they are not legally binding. they're a statement about fda's thinking. people would be wise when they see a guidance to consider that thinking. i've often taken a different path from the fda,

the next four senators are burr, white house, isakson, and warren. senator burr. >> thank you, mr. chairman. dr. califf. as you know the rule was after significant and in my opinion those working to develop medical counter measures to protect the american people in the event of a public health emergency, whether it's natural or manmade attack on our country. if confirmed how would medical counter measures be prioritized within the agency and how would you ensure that the fda is advancing the development and review of these products towards the goal of a timely approval? >> senator burr, thank you for that question. i'm amazed at the attention and intensity you all have today given the fact that we're all worried about the issue that you're bringing up. it can be either manmade or something unanticipated, like an infection. we're committed to working on this. i was pleased to get the guidance out for the rule which you had requested, but it's going to take a concerted effort not just by the fda but as happened with the ebola crisis, which we just witnessed, when the federal agencies

the clerk: senators alexander, enzi, burr, isakson, paul, collins, murkowski, kirk, scott, hatch, roberts, cassidy, murray, mikulski, sanders, casey, franken, bennet, whitehouse, baldwin, murphy, and warren. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: pursuant to the previous order, the ask that the senate proceed to the consideration of h.r. 2577. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate will proceed to the consideration of h.r. 2577, which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 138, h.r. 258 77, an act making appropriations for the departments of transportation and housing and urban development and so forth and for other purposes. ms. collins: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator maine. ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported amendment be withdrawn. the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: reserving the right to object. i understand we're moving to consideration of the transportation and h.u.d. appropriations bill. is that correct, mr. president? the