isakson: well, you are doing a great job. i'm certain africa is the continent of the 21st century for the united states in many ways, the population explosion as you referred to in nigeria which will be bigger than the united states by the half point of this century. it's important we have them as friends, but it's important we help them grow economically and using agoa, which you also referred to in your remarks is a , way to do that. senator coons, who was here, and i two years ago in the work on agoa used that as a lever to get the south africans to open south africa to domestic poultry which happens to be the biggest exrt which is why senator kunz ranged it in the first place. they want to do business with america, we need to use our assets and use that trade agreement to open more doors of opportunity for africans but more doors for opportunity for americans, too. mr. nagy: absolutely, senator. i agree with you totally. sen. isakson: my last point on -- not my last point, but the last one i have time to talk about, i wan

we are going to be putting on four nominations as chairman isakson noted. they're up for positions on the tax court. obviously key positions with respect to fairness for taxpayers. mr. chairman, i note that our friends senator scott has come. i believe he probably wants to ask questions of mr. rettig. why don't i hold off making my comments about the nominees. then we can let senator scott go before we go to another matter. >> senator scott, you're recognized. >> well, thank you both very much. mr. rettig, the department of treasury and the irs formally certified nominations from the state, the district of columbia, and all positions of the united states to designate opportunity zones in their areas of jurisdiction. this is really good news. securing this provision in the tax bill for the huge legislative win for many americans living and struggling in communities in need of a renaissance. please thank acting commissioner cotter and his team for their hard work in pushing out the guidance that helped local leaders select their opportunities. this provision

johnny isakson. where is johnny? boy, has he been working -- have you worked with jerry moran? where is jerry? [applause] good job. bill cassidy. john bozeman. dean heller. tom cotton. all here. tom tillis. lindsey graham. i see lindsay sitting over there, good job. todd young. joni ernst. i did you a good favor for the farmers yesterday, right? we love the farmers. i'm glad it worked out. john hoeven. steve daines. all here. we have on the house of representatives, mike coffman. brian mast. jack bergman. buddy carter. did i introduce you, senator? i hope so. if i did not, i am in trouble. the problem with this, there will be for people that i didn't introduce and they will not speak to me for the rest of my life. they will make sure i suffer. i apologize. jennifer gonzalez colon. peter king. [applause] he comes from new york. thank you, peter. jack bergman. our chair, phil rowe. [applause] what a great job. the was a lot tougher than we thought, right? you would have thought it would be easy, it makes sense. kevin cramer. jim banks. andy barr. claudia tenney. martha mick sally

let's see, in the order of arrival and the order of being here, i think senator isakson -- i beg your pardon. it is senator portman. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you both for being here. we're fortunate to have your expertise there, we have enjoyed working with you all on a number of issues. i want to start if i could on talking about an issue that's come before this committee which is the stop act, some of you know this is legislation that deals directly with the huge challenge we face with synthetic opioids coming into our country. we know it's coming mostly from china, we know it's coming mostly through the u.s. mail system, permanent subcommittee investigations did a year long study of this, in fact, earlier senator mccaskill was here who was involved in that, senator carper is the co-chair of that effort and very involved with it. we reported back in january something shocking, alarming, which is that if you go online and ask about opioids, people say, fine, we're happy to sell you synthetic opioids, but send it through the u.s. mail system because it's going to get there wi

chairman isakson, ranking member tester and distinguished d membs of the committee, i'm proud to introduce my friend and colleague robert wilkie as the nominee for secretary of the va. i've had the honor of working with robert for three years now. sometimes he worked for me, and many times they worked for him. his combination of knowledge, humor, humility and art has endeared him to all of my staff and the scores of north carolina constituents, many of them veterans and service members. robert was born in frankfurt germany, and the son of an army artillery officer he literally grew up on fort bragg and lived most of his early life on fort bragg or in fayetteville, north carolina. he received his ba from wake forest university, j.d. from college of law in new orleans and he received his master of law from georgetown university and ministers and strategic studies from the united states army war college. robert is an intelligence officer in the united states air force reserves today. previously he served in the atlantic intelligence command in the joint forces intelligence command and also se

senator isakson. >> thank you, senator menendez. i appreciate t i agree with your comments about the admiral, he is ultimately qualified, very qualified and a great nominee. i appreciate you all being here today. nash, is that correct? >> yes, senator. >> thank you for accepting a tremendous challenge in african affairs at the department. do you happen to know one of your predecessors by the name of johnny carson? >> yes, senator, he is a good friend of mine. >> well, of all the people i have got to know in my travels to africa and the work done in africa since i came to congress johnny is the most knowledgeable, insightful and most well received american on the continent of africa so if you didn't know him, which i thought you did, but if you hadn't i want to make sure you do. since you do know him take advantage because he is a terrific asset. >> when i was ambassador in ethiopia he was ambassador in kenya. >> you focused on the sudan in part of your testimony, mentioned the sudan. that is a horrible problem. it's getting worse by

actions on trade quote utterly failed to address complaints about china's policies and senator johnny isakson of georgia home to major aluminum purchaser coca cola directly rejected mr ross's minimisation of the economic impact of metals tariffs mr isaacson said quote although a couple of pennies on a can is not much a couple of pennies times a billion is a lot both senators hatch and isaac and are members of president trumps republican party and are another front on the story we covered the other day secretary ross the night in question in a report by forbes that claims that he had a holdings in companies that are impacted by his official actions on trade and other matters he also told a competing business program earlier today that quote i don't have any investments in russia i never have will continue to follow both of these stories. every tree of the family separation issue as we went into air yesterday president donald trump had just signed his executive order that was touted as a solution to the abusive practice the order ends to replace the family separation policy with a policy of det

i lost onene other senator, johy isakson. to this day and still not sure why. he said he would not support my nomination. the vice president called and told me that instead if you want to go through the confirmation hearing, the president and i support you. we don't think the process has been fair to you if you want to get out and fight it, can fight it. it was e on the senate floor eay in the trump administration. i did want the president to suffer with my name on it so i withdrew my nomination because i didn't have the votes. >> you regret not fighting for that nomination with allegations of you stemming from 1989 divorce. there were concerns about an undocumented housekeeper. >> yeah, the problem in these proceedings and its protocol for the nominees that you can't defend yourself. so if the media kind of games up with the latinos after you come you've got a big problem. there were media outlet that offended me, but part of this book is a little bit of defending myself in the beginning. the book is about trump, the boom come in the value of capitalism, how c

that is where senator isakson's question can be helpful. sometimes that is a company that has a drug with many indications and they use it as leverage over a drug that has a single indication. >> thank you. casey.tor >> thank you, mr. secretary. , i know you have been through a number of these issues, but i want to raise one i am not sure we have talked about directly. the question of price clarity. as you know, i believe this is not addressed in the blueprint. when someone goes to fill a escripon for the first time they often don't have a sense of their own cost or out-of-pocket costs. position is no easy way to check when they are running the prescription. the consumer obviously does not know the price of the drug and whether it is subject to any type of coinsurance or co-pay. without this information, providers might write a prescription for a particular drug, but the patient can't afford it even if there is a cheaper alternative. that may lead to the patient not getting the prescription they need. my question is, outside of the context

i've seen, traveling with my good friend johnny isakson, traveling with bob corker, traveling whef flake. i've seen the difference that opic projects have made in the lives of people in the developing world and the opportunities it's created for america. i mean, this is just a pragmatic, right in front of us, possible way to have a real impact on the world. and to me at the end of the day, that's what public service is about, is solving complex problems in ways that help people around the world, and that shows america at its best. what a great combination. what a great thing to get to do. >> thank you. >> thanks. >> give our regards to your colleagues. [ applause ] >> i'll come to the mics in just a moment. any comments you would like to make on what the senator has just said before we turn to the audience? >> only that i think he summed it up brilliantly. people overseas where i live in london, and we watch agencies in europe at the moment very much using their -- the tools they have. too much -- [ inaudible ] oop, did i lose -- i hope there will be bipartisan solutions. [ inaudible ] >

. >> in walter isakson's biography of albert einstein, he noted that einstein did not talk until he was 4 years old. in fact, his aunt referred to him as my stupid nephew. if a 3-year-old albert einstein had been brought into asperger's group, speculate on how he would have been diagnosed and what would have happened to him. >> yeah. i mean i see exactly where you're going with this. and the 3-year-old who was not talking and not developing and hitting the prescribed milestones would be in trouble at the time. and, you know, it was up to the doctors to report children with disabilities, and asperger claimed after the war that he did not report children who he could have reported. and there's no way to prove that he might have withheld the names of some children. he may well have rescued children. i'm not here to deny that. and so if he went into asperger's -- maybe an individual like him would have. but under law at the time or under protocol, einstein would have been had to have been report. >> the next row back. >> you mentioned and give out reasons for getting rid of the term asperge

. >> pat toomey is on the bill, donny isakson is on the bill, and who are some of the other gentlemen lee, sasse, so we have several people that are on the bill, but there's no question that leadership in general is wary of doing anything that might upset the president. i mean, we're going to be here during recease generally speaking which is fine with me, but look, it's more about trump else. upset than it is anything so, look, it's just there. it's, you know, not a place that i wish we were, but especially on something like tariffs that, look, i think 95% of the people in our caucus, at least, you know, peoplehat feel we should be able to weigh in on the tariff issue, but some of them are not willing to take on the president. >> what do you think the ramifications are for your party if you are not willing to stand up to the president on some of these key issues? >> i think it's -- again, i want to say we have a lot of people who are willing to do the things that theyl are like for our country and we have some that are fearful of upsetting the president and it would mostly be around

we will be holding hands in prayer and listening to my friend johnny isakson, the republic senator from georgia as he shares with us about his faith journey. if something i've learned here in the senate is that it's a little bit harder to throw a punch at someone on the floor if you start the day holding hands with him in prayer. >> martha: no doubt. i think that sounds like something everybody can get behind. obviously there are issues that have gotten us here in the discourse in the country is very ugly across the board. the president seems to believe that maxine waters and nancy pelosi are the face of your party and that the more they do this kind of thing the more he likes it according to a tweet he put out, the face of the democrats is now maxine waters who with nancy pelosi have established a fine leadership team. they should always be together and leave the democrats want open borders and unlimited crime and that last part really goes to where this most recent dustup has come from the border issue and then today on the travel ba ban. >> to be clear, i'm a democrat and i don't wan

chairman isakson made a good point which i agree with that we constantly hear negative information about the va but we know that the va is doing phenomenal work all over this country. there is no disagreement on this committee that if someone has to travel 300 miles to get a physical checkup that that's insane when they can get it in their office or if someone can't get the services they need a local va, of course they should get a local caregiver. no one debates that but the devil is in the details. what happens if you have a va where people can walk in in a prompt manner but someone prefers to go to a private sector doctor, number one, and on top of that one of my concerns and the reason i voted against the bill is that it $.5 billion into the care program and zero dollars into the va. my fear is that we will see a drip by drip depletion of funds for the va and the services they provide putting that into the choice program. what you feel about my concerns. >> senator, you and i had a great discussion about this in your office. i believe in the centrality of va. i will also say there ar

. >>> when we come back, walter isakson weighs in on the at&t time warner ruling talk about what is atke for media. e dow is up 22 points. a lot headed our way over the next several hours don't go away. whoooo. when it comes to travel, i sweat the details. late checkout... ...down-alternative pillows... ...and of course, pr tripadvisor helps you book a... ...hotel without breaking a sweat. because we now instantly... ...search over 200 booking sites ...to find you the lowest price... ...on the hotel you want. don't sweat your booking. tripadvisor. the latest reviews. the lowest prices. >>> some big news coming from 10 downing. steve sedgwick is there. morning, steve >> very good morning to you. we've been given exclusive access to 10 downing street. i can tell our viewers, i'm in historic room i'm in margaret thatcher's study where later on this morning, i'm going to be speaking to the current prime minister, theresa may, about a whole host of issues we'll be talking about brexit, about what she believes mr. trump is doing on the global stage after a pretty disast was g7 and a very str

admiral harris, i want to follow-up on senator isakson's question about the military exercises, not in terms of what that might do to readiness, but what the message is that that sends to not necessarily our allies in the region, but also to our adversaries. there have been news reports at ourhina's pleasure announcing this kind of concession. do you agree that this is a benefit to china? >> i think it's too early to tell, senator, if it's a benefit to china or not. i do know the chinese foreign minister wang said that this was creating a new history, but president moon talk about the talks being the talks of the century. korea i think that south is looking at this in a positive way, this being the summit. and i believe that we are, in fact, in under landscape with north korea for the first time, certainly in my career, we're at a place where peace is a possibility and i think we should be encouraged by that. i've said before that we can be hopeful, even optimistic, as long as we are realistic also. and i'm convinced that the industry should has that realism at heart as we move forward

. >> interest audubon park in new orleans learningbout author, journalist and professor walter isaksonn his work about her limbs neighborhood. >> i think when you write about history, you have to realize that human memory is fallible. even if you are looking at people's oral histories done right after a meeting, they are actually taken into a meeting. as a journalist and historian who combined the discipline going into that, but also when possible interviewing people and saying what was it really like? and so we have to get sort of multiple sources before you say here's what i think the truth really is. when you get somebody alive, kissinger, steve jobs in my case coming you keep growing and you also have to realize other services to collaborate with a sad. >> when you write about contemporary figures to find a balance of maybe making that upset was that even something you consider? >> yes, i think for me, i like the people we write about. i deeply admire and respect steve jobs. he added a lot of aspects to his personality that were difficult. he's tough on people. when i was dealing w

senator isakson has a short statement and then there's a quick question from senator cardin, if we can finish up that way. >> i will be very quick. i respect your time and i appreciate you staying here this morning and i know who you speak for and represent and who i speak for which is the voters of the state of georgia. in your first press conference on the steel and aluminum tariffs at the end of that press conference you held up an aluminum can and made a reference the tariffs would only add pennies to the cost of that can. the largest producer of soft drinks in the united states of america and in the world is the coca-cola company which is headquarters in atlanta. that pennies a can is a pennies times a billion for the billions of cans of coca-cola and other products they produce and that are sold every single day by their borrowers and retail outlets. same is true with automobile companies and everybody's. although a couple pennies on a can is not much. a couple pennies times a billion is lots. we need to be careful to follow the admonition of senator portman and make sure we know

senator johnny isakson, senator jon tester for joining me in introducing the resolution in the senate to disney june 18-22 as national g.i. bill commemoration week. i want to thank house veterans' affairs committee chairman rowe and ranking member wells for introducing the same resolution in the house of representatives. and i want to thank the american legion for their hard work in making this resolution a reality and for advocating for veterans and veterans' education benefits in congress, as have other service organizations, but i think the american legion was present at the creation and worked very hard right at the creation to make sure that we had a g.i. bill and it would survive. but, mr. president, because this is g.i. bill week, i want to mention just a few reasons why some folks refer to the g.i. bill as the greatest legislation. you know, we have a greatest generation, my parents' generation. folks who grew up in the great depression and went on to do amazing things with their life. some people refer to the g.i. bill as greatest legislation. i want to share my own story whi

consent that the following amendments be called up and agreed to en bloc -- the amendment by senator isakson 3348, ?ars widen and -- senators widen and murkowski, senators king and collins 3221, senators gillibrand and toomey 3390, senator heinrich 3287, senator rubio 3364, senator sullivan 3303, senator hirono 3321, senator cortez masto, senators brown and portman 3323, senator cantwell 3365, senator moran 3171, and senator thune 3371. i further ask that it be in order for the following amendment to be called up and reported by number, the amendment by senator lee. i further ask that there be cloture motions with respect to senator -- pardon me h.r. 2 be withdrawn and the senate now vote on the following amendments in the order listed -- senator lee number 3074, senator thune 3134, and senator roberts substitute 3224. further, that the lee amendment be subject to a 60-vote affirmative threshold for adoption, and that following disposition of the roberts amendment, the bill as amended, if amended, be read a third time and the senate vote on passage with no intervening action or debate and th