[applause] >> thank you so much, senator klobuchar. and now, ladies and gentlemen, it's my pleasure to introduce senator al franken, who has been serving the people of minnesota since 2009. senator franken? >> thank you. well, thank you for being here, everyone. it's a big honor to have this year's tree from the chippewa national forest, in minnesota. and from the leach lake band of the ojibwe. now, we minnesotans do not like to brag. but our tree is 88 feet tall, tied for the second-largest capitol christmas tree ever, only a foot shorter than the tallest. okay. so second largest doesn't sound much like a brag, but in minnesota, home of hubert humphrey and walter mondale, being second is a brag. 88 feet. [laughter] do you know how many years it takes to grow an 88-foot-tall tree? neither do i. [laughter] but i'm sure it took a very long time. what you don't see here are the 70 other trees that were brought from minnesota to washington, d.c., along with this huge one. they're smaller trees. and those trees are scattered throughout offi

klobuchar: thank you, mr. president. i join my colleagues today in all the good words that they have said about my friend, nor pryor. -- senator pryor. i have gotten senator pryor best from the commerce committee where he scored a major victory for the children of this country. that was at a time, if you remember, when we learned that toys were being brought in and children's products from all over the world that contained lead. we actually had a young child in minnesota whose mom went out and bought a pair of reebok te reebs shoes and with the shoes came a charm and the child swallowed the charm. the child died over a period of days as the lead in the charm went into his system. that is just one example. and senator pryor was heading up at the time the consumer subcommittee, and we took on a major bill to change the standards of lead in children's products, including jewelry, toys. and it was a huge bipartisan vote, a very important bill, and what was called actually the most important consumer legislation in decades. a

[applause] >> thank you so much, senator klobuchar. serving the people of minnesota since 2009. senator franken? >> thank you. well, thank you for being here, everyone. it's a big honor to have this year's tree from the chippewa national forest, in minnesota. and from the leach lake band of the ojibwe. now, we minnesotans do not like to brag. but our tree is 88 feet tall, tied for the second-largest capitol christmas tree ever, only a foot shorter than the tallest. okay. so second largest doesn't sound much like a brag, but in minnesota, home of hubert humphrey and walter mondale, being second is a brag. 88 feet. [laughter] do you know how many years it takes to grow an 88-foot-tall tree? neither do i. [laughter] but i'm sure it took a very long time. what you don't see here are the 70 other trees that were brought from minnesota to washington, d.c., along with this huge one. they're smaller trees. and those trees are scattered throughout offices around the city, including one in my office. and also, minnesota children made 10,000 orna

. >> thank you, senator blumenthal, senator lee and senator klobuchar.members of the committee, we appreciate the fact you have an idea of sports is to testify on the side they act. my name is david goodfriend, founder chairman of the coalition, the largest multi-issue and advocacy organization public policy arena. founded in 2009 where tens of thousands of members across the u.s.a. and are the bipartisan, diversities and board of directors. the government should not subsidize their support anti-fan at the knees by professionals or sleep. when a sports league receives a public benefit, the skin should get a fair return or the subsidy should go away. that is why the coalition is proud to have led the successful at per and the blackout rule. the blackout policy prohibits a broadcaster when tickets don't sellout 72 hours before kickoff. the fcc rules you just heard ulster the anti-fan policy by pain companies likewise to impose such blackout spears sports fan coalition on with friends from nashville to emulate and others at first culminated in a five to zer

i, wer klobuchar and represent the entire state of minnesota. this tree comes from the eighth congressional district. it is wonderfully represented by congressman rick nall. he can lay claim to it as well. here we have him, are great congressman. [applause] ? on behalf of the minnesota delegation, i want to welcome all of you to this wonderfully warm afternoon. and evening. believe it or not it was an 80 degree difference change in temperature from the time we left minnesota yesterday and got year today. what a wonderful tree this is. i want to thank the forest ,ervice, chairwoman cari jones thank you for nurturing this tree and the wonderful celebration have created for the harvesting of this tree. one is wonderful about this tree , many things, but with its 10,000 ornaments and lighting that you will be able to seek up,r space once it is lit what is really wonderful about it is it is right in the middle of the capitol building, and there is nothing partisan about it. there are no democratic, republican parts of that tree. are brancheshere goin

klobuchar: mr. president, you can say mary landrieu has a lot of friends on both sides of the aisle, and that is because mary has stood up and been a mentor to so many of us. she's taught us how to fight for our own states because that's what she's done every day for louisiana. i was thinking about our states. mary mentioned in her talk how minnesota is at the top of the mississippi and louisiana is at the bottom, and how hard we fought for river issues and for barges and for locks and dams and we're actually going to have some success at the end of the year here with the able act, which is really important for other reasons, but also we're finally going to start funding some of those lock and dam improvements. that kind of work wouldn't have happened without mary and the work she's done and the support for the river act. so a river doesn't divide us, it unites us, and mary is a uniter and brings people together on so many issues. and she said before that she was going to put some things on the reco

senator klobuchar. >> thank you very much for holding this hearing and thank you to our witnesses. i managed an office of border people in minnesota and worked extensively with the university of minnesota and their police chief. one of the things in the discussion about campus sexual assault and sexual assaults in military that i have always put forward is that this trust in the system is key. all of our victim surveys the gold standard is judging the case and getting a strong sentence but you all know that this might happen. sometimes you can prove a case. sometimes i have met with victims and their families and said we believe you but they don't have the evidence right now but we want you to know we are going to make a difference. this guy will probably do it again and we can do something then perhaps the testimony will matter. they are hard discussions but what we found in the surveys are what makes the difference is they still feel they can trust the system so they will still come forward is if someone is listening in we are handling the case seriously. sometimes people look at

democratic senator amy klobuchar's daughter, okay now, was born unable to swallow. >> i was able to see life through the eyes of a parent with a child with disability. >> reporter: what do you think your message sitting together as a democrat and republican getting this done should mean? >> i would say take heart! >> there are still people of goodwill that want to work together to get things done, and that's how we have to go into this new year. >> dana bash, cnn, washington. >> amen and good thing for the able act. that's it for us right now. there's a lot of news, though, so let's send you to the "newsroom" and carol costello. >> have a great weekend. >> have a great weekend and thank you so much. "newsroom" starts now. and good morning. i'm carol costello. thank you so much for joining me. >>> she's an icon in american fashion. beverly johnson, one of the very first supermodels and the first black woman to grace the cover of "vogue." and now her voice is joining a chorus of women accusing bill cosby of assault. in a stunning article posted to vanityfair.com, johnson recounts a dinner

democratic senator amy klobuchar's daughter okay now, was born unable to swallow. >> i was able to seeugh the eyes of a parent with a child with disability. >> what do you think your message, sitting together as a democrat and republican getting this done should mean. >> i would say take heart. >> there are still people of good will that want to work together to get things done and that's how we have to go into this new year. >> the concept of these tax-free savings accounts came from everyday citizens like steven beck of virginia who pushed hard for years to get it passed after dealing with the financial burden ever raising his disabled daughter. >> the bill passes. >> just a few days after watching the house finally approve the bill, beck died suddenly of a heart attack and members of congress moved to name this new law after him. >> it is a tremendous example of a parent, a dad who had an idea as to how we could improve his daughter's lives and rallied the disabilities community, rallied republicans, democrats, house, senate and got it done and so you can make a difference. >> befor

i'm going to continue this conversation with you and the other witnesses but now turn to senator klobuchar. >> thank you. thank you very mu. thank you to all of the witnesses. i thought i'd start with you, mr. waldron. the blackout rule was put in place in 1961, is that right? >> the sports broadcasting act was adopted in 1961. the fcc's rule was put in place in 1975. >> most of the money made by sports tickets came from ticket sales, but today nfl games are consistently among the most popular television programs, certainly in my state where we're proud of the vikings and with that comes a significant increase in revenue. cost of tickets has significantly increased. it's a big expense. do sports teams need blackout rules the same way they did half a century ago? if not, why do we have the same rule? >> no question that those facts are all right. this is in the record. it may surprise people that as much as a quarter of the revenue of the nfl still comes from ticket sales. ticket sales still sort of remain important. the nfl has a balance. they want to have popular games on television and t

in response to this crisis, i worked with my friends, senators klobuchar, rubio and coons, to introduce a bipartisan immigration, innovation or i i-squared act. our bill provides a thoughtful, lasting legislative framework that would increase the number of h-1b visas based on annual market demand to attract the highly skilled workers and innovators that our economy so desperately needs. mr. president, unilateralism is not the way forward on immigration. if the president is serious about enacting meaningful negligence reform, he can choose to take the first essential step. even in the current partisan climate, there is a widespread consensus and real opportunity for bipartisan, bicameral reform for the outdated visa system for economically essential high-skilled immigrants. the concrete legislative victory where there is already considerable consensus would help build trust and goodwill among those who disagree sharply over other areas of immigration policy. and would mark a critical first step along the path to broader reform. mr. president, for the life of me, i can't understand why th

thank you to senators klobuchar -- senator klobuchar. this works on a central tenant that we must empower young women to speak up for their bodies. too many think that breast cancer is not happens to younger women. but the hard truth is that more than 26,000 women under age 45 are diagnosed with this deadly disease each year. and too often their breast cancer is the more aggressive form and is caught later than it should be. the early act created a crucial outreach campaign administered by the c.d.c. and highlights the breast cancer risks facing young women while empowering them with the tools they need to fight this deadly disease. it is also educates health care providers about the warning signs of breast cancer in women that lead to early detection, diagnosis and survival. the early act also created thed a vyry committee on breast cancer of young women within the c.d.c. made up of breast cancer, medical professionals and advocates around the nation. the advisory committee is hard at work. from genetic testing to fertility preservation

klobuchar: mr. president, we are going to continue now with in this minnesota theme, and i think that senator harkin knows that our two states, minnesota and iowa, share more than just a border. we share a lot of people with relatives in either side of the border,ia i can't tell you how many of my friends have their roots in iowa and how many people in iowa i know have their kids in minnesota. we also share citizens that have a strong sense of involvement. we have some of the highest voter turnouts in the country, we both have notorious caucus systems where people like to turn out and make their views known, and our states have produced politicians like tom harkin and hubert humphrey that came up through that transition, that understand that you are there to represent the people of your state because when you go home, they kelly, actually, come up to you in grocery stores, on the street, call you by your first name and understand that you are there to represent them. we also share farming and we sha

in the same i want to follow up with the question of senator klobuchar about the reports about thosehat are being encouraged or perhaps discourage not come forward or an instance in which senator mccaskill gave which one was flown to another country. i believe that as you look at your policies that the sanctions should be as severe for this type of witness tampering as it should be for the underlying violence act. because that is what this is, witness tampering. and if you put those sanctions in place we will make clear that if someone is a victim of domestic or sexual violence that neither the coaches or the players or anyone else should be interfering with their ability to come forward or the way that they are able to have the support that they need as victims of crime. so i would like to follow up with questions on an issue as i look to you, ms. roberts and ms. patterson, one of the things i'm concerned about as i is i listened to the testimony today is that in terms of the players who decided to that they not hide behind the collective bargaining process or agreement and when it

in the same regard, i wanted to follow up on senator klobuchar's questions about the reports of victims who are being encouraged or, perhaps, discouraged not to come forward, or in the instance that senator mccaskill gave where one was actually flown to another country. i believe as you look at your sanctions because that's what this is, witness tampering. if you put those sanctions in place will make very clear that if someone is a victim of domestic or sexual violence, that neither the coaches nor the players nor anyone else should be interfering with their ability to come forward or interfering with the way they need to feel safe. i wanted to ask specifically a follow-up question on an issue. as i look to you, ms. roberts and to ms. patterson, one of the things that i'm concerned about as i've listened to the testimony today is that in terms of the players' side of this, that they not hide behind the collective bargaining process or agreement when it comes to basic responsibility for not committing crimes. because this is what they are, crimes. crimes of violence against women, sexua

senator klobuchar. >> thank you very much. i grew up with professional sports. we actually i think i'm the only senator up here that has all four teams in these leagues in their state. not competitive. but and my dad as many of you may know was a sports writer and then became a general columnist and i literally would get tickets he would get an extra ticket to the n.f.l. game and i would watch when i was 12 years old and stand outside the locker room and wait for him and he would be the last one out and there would be some rather ineeb rated fans and he is only five-six but they would tap him on the back and say great game. and he would always say it was a team effort. and i always have looked at sports that way. and i look at it from another way and that is a prosecutor for eight years knowing what it's like when our office took on a very difficult case against the late curby bucket who is an ike on in our state we did not win that case but i could understand that culture and how difficult it is to win those cases in the court of law so i appreciate the questio

democratic senator amy klobuchar's daughter, okay now, was born unable to swallow. >> i was able to see parent with a child with disability. >> reporter: what do you think your message sitting together as a democrat and republican getting this done should mean? >> i would say take heart! >> there are still people of goodwill that want to work together to get things done, and that's how we have to go into this new year. >> dana bash, cnn, washington. >> amen and good thing for the able act. that's it for us right now. there's a lot of news, though, so let's send you to the "newsroom" and carol costello. >> have a great weekend. >> have a great weekend and thank you so much. "newsroom" starts now. and good morning. i'm carol costello. thank you so much for

wyden, mikulski, cardin, murphy, warren, gillibrand, harkin, king, blumenthal, schumer, hirono, klobuchar, boxer, sanders, whitehouse and merkley. mr. reid: madam president? madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: a number of senators have come to me indicating that they've read -- the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. mr. reid: they've read the rules and the time for a vote is 15 minutes. through the chair, is it true the extra five minutes is not in the rule? the presiding officer: would the senator restate the last part? mr. reid: we have been calling votes at the end of 20 minutes. it's my understanding, madam president, that the rule calls for votes being 15 minutes in length. the presiding officer: it's a 15-minute vote with a 5-minute grace period. mr. reid: five-minute grace period? is that in the rule, the grace period? the presiding officer: the chair will research the unanimous consent from january of last -- mr. reid: in the meantime, madam president, i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: is there a suffic

ip, schatz, leahy, sanders, walsh, murray, reed of rhode island, udall of new mexico, whitehouse, klobuchar, stabenow, coons, menendez, boxer, harkin, and durbin. mr. reid: i now move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: question is on the motion. is there is sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: squasnroo vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, the ayes are 52, the nays are 42. the motion is agreed to. mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i move to proceed to calendar number 840, astephan lopez, and i move that -- and do so that we are in executive session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote vote: vote the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? on this vote, the ayes are 54, the noes are 40. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination.