attorney and supported by democrat senator leahy and phil scott and a little of her intro video. >> both parties have lost their way. they are more interested in fighting with each other than beating the other party. >> dana: if you are a republican in vermont there has never been a better year for republicans to run. watch christina nolan in vermont. you heard it here first. maybe she will join us here as well. we want to take a moment here. many of you will remember bob beckel. he was 73 years old and passed away yesterday. a wonderful friend to many of us at fox news. he and i spent a lot of time on

there is standing by, senator patrick leahy of vermont. leahy of vermont leahy of vermont whoa! (mike) yeah. (vo) hello business on the go. bye-bye public wi-fi. 5g ultra wideband is faster and safer. would you look at rhea's real estate game? closing in low lag, crystal clear hd. it's a new day for more businesses! 5g ultra wideband is now in more and more places. verizon is going ultra, so your business can too. this isn't just a story about science... 5g ultra wideband is now in more and more places. but also good old-fashioned will and grit. what we do when the chips are down. how adversity is best met with creativity... and kindness. as we at pfizer strive to impact hundreds of millions of lives... young and old... this isn't just a story of a pandemic. but how it pulled us all together. ♪♪ joining me now is democratic senator patrick leahy of vermont. he is the senior most member of the judiciary committee that will work to conduct judge jackson's confirmation hearings, in the near future. senator, it's good to see. you have a piece of breaking news that i want to address

olsen: thank you, senator leahy. i know the department of justice and administration has submitted a budget request asking for additional resources. those resources are being requested because we view those as essential to being able to carry out our mission. i refer you to the submissions from the justice department and the president on our budget request. sen. leahy: thank you. ms. sanborn, it's good to see you again. i have been here long enough to remember when you were a senate page and i appreciate the things you have accomplished since then. can you answer the same question i asked mr. olsen about these funding increases from the fbi's perspective? ms. sanborn: yes, i am aware we have requested a budget enhancement. right now we use the resources we have, but as alluded to by mr. olsen, we have requested enhancement for domestic violence extremism. sen. leahy: your testimony discussed the concrete steps the justice department -- i address this first to mr. olsen and then ms. sanborn. talk about the concrete st

admiral leahy reworded it and said it is a direct order, you will come. there he is. >> let's put ourselves in the room in one of the flower pots assuming they were nearby. i can't imagine lincoln's meeting with mcclellan was anything but awkward or insubordinant because mcclellan is telling him that no doubt the army is going to fight to enforce that preliminary proclamation you issued two weeks ago. in fact, he might have even hinted what he told his wife. that if i wanted to, i could take this army and march into washington, which you probably would have preferred. less resistance there. and i could take over, i could take over this government. i'm so wildly popular. that would make for an awkward summit meeting. what about mcarthur and roosevelt. what was their relationship at this point? >> a lot of talk on the republican party about nominating mcarthur for president in 1944 and he didn't do anything actively to promote that, but he did absolutely nothing to prevent it. i think he thought if the country called him, he's a soldier, he will do his duty

first supreme court justice was john paul stevens junior senators and tragically he for on —- patrick leahy this is the historical. and mia there to lead this this will affect our country inner image and will do so much for young people and older people, white and black. and the reaction in my family, think god. at last. at last. at last. >> . >> i will say we're all excited by a the candidate you have heard about we all had enormous confidence in president biden's judgment. we are very aware of the historic nature of this appointment and very proud of that. we look forward to a prompt and respectful confirmation process and to the extent that process seeks to be disrupted by the same dark many outside organization to be involved in packing the court to date we are prepared to push back very hard against pressure. >> very good. we talked first actually about the number of judges the president has gotten confirmed in under the leadership for a nominee and that is an important piece of this as well. that in the end the president will make a decision based on someone he believes will be the wi

leahy: mr. president, reserving the right to object, and i think my friend from florida knows i will. the ten tire issue is a misnomer. there have been a few online things to try to make a big deal out of it and i'm sorry that some have fallen for it. the biden administration released a letter this week clarifying the misunderstanding. they stated they never authorized use of federal funding for pipes. the bill the senator from florida is proposing would go further than republicans say it would. it would severely cripple our ability to respond to addiction, which is taking 100,000 lives a year right now, including lives in his state and mine. we offered an alternative. that was rejected. we actually have to go to the c.r. now. the house is gone, we have to pass it a c.r. and send it to the president without amendments. our government funding runs out. and i might just say, let's -- i mean, everybody has a right to speak about anything they want, anybody has a right to make any kind of political

compensation. >> thank you, senator leahy.cantly damaging to our reputation but also our obligations to provide amends to people we have harmed. of course you are exactly right that after congress authorized $3 million of payments the first year it was reported out that none were made. it also goes back to a significant issue that military needs to know that it has actually conducted operations that are lawful. what we know, and i know personally from having advised civilians who reach out to us from yemen, somalia or elsewhere it is extremely hard for civilians to even access and provide their information is important to recognize where thatut starts out his application of harm prevention methods. and to recognize that any context of actual recognized oars for example in iraq, afghanistan, or sierra they have been fundamental problems significant gaps between the military's own assessment because it relies on its own data, conducting investigations that incorporate information from civilians or witnesses. >> there's also a pr

it is so admiral leahy, he rearward it the invitation, said, this is a direct order. you'll come, and there you are. he did so. >> let us put ourselves in the room and one of the fire flowerpots [inaudible] . i can't imagine that meeting with mcaleenan was anything was anything but awkward or [inaudible] mcclellan [inaudible] the army is not going to fight to enforce that proclamation, that preliminary proclamation he issued two weeks ago. in fact, you might have ended when he told his wife that if i wanted to i could take this army and march into washington, which you probably would have preferred, and i could take over, i could take over this government i'm, so wildly popular. but that would make for an awkward summit meeting. what about mcarthur and roosevelt? what was their relationship at this point? >> well? there was a lot of talk at the republican party about nominating the cost of the president in 1944. he didn't do anything actively to promote that about two [inaudible] nothing to prevented. he's out of the country called him he's a soldier he, will do his d

. >> senator leahy. >> thank you.and i would like to thank chair durbin for holding this important hearing. i have long been concerned about the human consequences of u.s. military actions abroad. we know we have so many others that we don't even know why they are being done. since september 11th, drone strikes and in particular have created very serious human rights concerns. they have left an untold number of civilian deaths. it is not reported accurately. we have a strong national interest in preventing the loss of lives. i have a question for -- while the most important focus should be preventing civilian casualties from happening, something i think we all agree upon, when they occur, the u.s. government has the right to provide redress including through payments. we have a specific law on that. unfortunately, the department of defenses track record of conducting investigations and providing these payments has been abysmal. congress recently authorized payments -- most recently, $3 million in annual funding to com

>> thank you, senator leahy. it is significantly damaging to our reputation but also our obligations to provide amends to people that we have harmed. but let me just start by saying of course you are exactly right that after congress authorized $3 million of ex gratia payments it was reported none were made. it goes back to a significant issue of the military needs to know it has actually conducted operations that are lawful and what we know and i know personally from having advisd civilians who have reached out to us from yemen or somalia or elsewhere it is extremely hard for civilians to even access the military and to provide their information about innocent lives wrongly taken. it's important where that starts out is application of civilian harm prevention methods. in recognizing actual wars, for example, like in iraq or afghanistan or syria there have been fundamental problems with tracking civilian deaths and injuries, significant gaps between the military's own assessments because it relies on its own data

i ask that senator leahy be recognized to deliver washington's farewell address. following his remarks, the senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to calendar number 139, h.r. 3755. further, that cloture motions filed during today's session ripen at 5:30 p.m. on montana i did a, february 28. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: if there is to further business to come before the senate i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the the presiding officer: the on a bipartisan vote the senate passed legislation to extend federal funding through march 11. preventing a government shutdown at midnight tomorrow braid the bill was approved by the house last week so it now heads to president biden for his signature. as always you control the senate live when it returns here on cspan2. ♪ cspan2 is your unfiltered view of government. funded by these television companies and more including comcast. >> do you think this is just a community center? no it is way more than that. comcast is parted with 1000 committ

leahy, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate stands adjourned until 3:00 p.m. on tuesday, february 22, 2022. >> the senate remains in 022. recess until monday the 28th. as always find the senate live on c-span2 and now we go back to the committee on biopreparedness. >> congress required and the trump administration released a national biodefense strategy to align all existing policies and programs across the federal government and the biden administration is said to be refining that strategy now, but in many other ways, we either made no headway or took backward steps. for example, we prepared in exercises that demonstrated over and over again that a large scale biological event would overcome the government and nation quickly, but we didn't until those lessons observed became lessons learned. many of the homeland security that we have are not to meet a threat. we do not believe they will be able to detect biological attacks on our country. and advanced biodetection for

leahy, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate will be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. >> we were just having in the wake of this nich onfriday night , hearing from trump on what he could and couldn't do on january 6 and then comment on the sunday shows among republican figures being asked about that. i wonder do you think republican leaders will be navigating this story that back and forth between pants and trump as we start disappearing on capitol hill ? >> absolutely. the strategy generally taken by leaders on capitol hill is to try to sort of taking the ground with trump. that they don't necessarily disagree with his more extreme comments like suggesting pence had a right to overturn the election that's what you wanted to do on january 6 of last year but they recognize that he remains popular with the republican base so it's not their politic

leahy, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate stands adjourned until 3:00 p.m. on tuesday, february 22, 2022. >> the sen february 22, 2022.

chairman leahy, would you like to make remarks before i call on the secretary? >> no. just interested in hearing. i'm one of those that lives in a rural area on a dirt road, 5 miles from the state capital building. after days of broadband ip the highest. some days it works, not often, but some days. maybe because the company doesn't give a damn but we will get to that. >> i thought maybe you were here to give an update that we have an agreement on the omnibus. >> i will tell you about that after. [laughter] >> okay. mr. secretary. >> thank you good afternoon. good afternoon cher shaheen, ranking member, members of the committee. thank you for having me. i look forward to the discussion, and it's nice to see you all in person. as the chairwoman said very eloquently, too many families across america can't afford the cost of broadband service, or as the chair man just said, they live in areas that don't have access to high-speed internet. and gaps in broadband mean gaps and opportunities and fewer opportunities to learn and work from home, to visit the doctor, to stay con

other that i ted counter leahy saying masking up is less about following the rules and making those around are feel comfortable. >> i do that out of respect for other people. >> reporter: owners say they adopt want the marketing mandate to end. that's why they're offering a 10% discount to customers who deep their masks on. schools, hospitals, public transit, most courthouses will still require you to mask up. in concourt, i'm melissa -- >> melissa, thank you. >> that's santa clara county. so mask changes are interesting near the border of santa clara and san mateo county. dropping its indoor mask mandate. most people right there along the county border there, still a very personal decision. in san mateo, where even the county says masks are no longer required. not everyone was taking off those masks. >> this is great. i get to i fill my lunges. >> it's like a 50-50 thing. if you want to wear it, you wear it. i try to respect everyone around me and continue to follow the guidelines. to each his tone. santa clara public health department says it will monitor key factors such as case rates,

presidents and first ladies, and during a recent program, christopher leahy talked about john tyler, the first vice-president to succeed a president who died in office, and who was ejected from his own political party. >> the power resides from the senate in february of 1836, rather than vote to expunge the censure of andrew jackson. the whig party led by henry clay passed resolution of censure that took president jackson to task for removing bank deposits which inaugurated the bank wars in his second term and then congress passed the expunging resolution and what they aimed to do was to expunge the censure from the journal, in other words, get it out of the record of the journal. tyler was to vote for the resolution by the virginia legislature. he refused, he resigned in february of 1836 out of principle. but he returned to politics yet again a year and a half later. he was elected to the virginia legislature for the third time. again, we see this pattern of looking at a way to try to continue his political career by using the legislature as the springboard. he got himself nominated

leahy: i want to thank the chair for holding this hearing. i have long been concerned about the human consequence of the u.s. military actions abroad. we don't want to justify -- we have so many others that we don't know why they are being done, since 9/11, drone strikes in particular have created legal in human rights concerns. they have looked at -- left untold number of civilian deaths in their wake. it is not reported accurately. we have a strong national interest in supporting -- reducing the number of innocent lives lost. i have a question for ms. shamshi. while the most important focus is preventing us -- civilian casualties in the first place, when they occur, the u.s. government has to provide redress, including -- redress. we have a specific law on that. unfortunately, the department of defense's track record at conducting credible investigations have been abysmal. congress recently -- repeatedly authorized payments. most recently allocated $3 million in annual funding to compensate civilians. in 2020, there are a significant number

leahy, president pro tempore.siding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. the presiding officer: morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of defense, celeste ann wallender, of maryland, to be and be assistant secretary. mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: yesterday president biden addressed the country about the ongoing crisis that russia has created on its border with ukraine. it was much in the president's remarks that i appreciated. he was right to candidly remind the russian people that neither the united states, nor nato, nor ukraine want a war. he was right to emphasize that the world will shot shrug or stand idly by if vladimir putin tries to invade his neighbor or redraw the map of europe through deadly force. we spent much time discussing russia's al

prove that especially preventing terrorism by the by the senate judiciary committee. les, hey, senator leahy, challenge them to prove it and where alexander claim $54.00 attacks were prevented, he could prove none of them. so the point, the problem is and i kept saying this is what i was saying since the 1990 s by collecting all the data and the on the in the planet and exploring it and searching it. you have buried your analysts and made it virtually impossible for them to succeed. and that's fundamentally what's happened. and that's why that's why they keep st. but the point is, by collecting all this data, it does give them power over everybody. it gives them power over presidents, senators, judges, naming anybody in the planet should the public or how much should the public be alarmed by an essay rule breaking mr. benny or really have people got used to these kinds of snooping practices and almost become numb to them. i think yes, that's probably part of it. the other part is they don't think they can do anything about it, but they, they really have the ultimate power. if they want to do

i know there are votes, but that includes senator patrick leahy, michael bennet, amy klobuchar, chrisollen, sanford bishop, representative joyce beatty, barbara lee, jim mcgovern, donald payne, debbie wasserman schultz, bonnie watson coleman, tom cole, brian higgins i said i wasn't going to do this [laughter] terry sewell terry sewell. and it can be truly an american moment if it's i'm sure i've left somebody out, for which i apologize. but this can really be an american moment that proves to ourselves and, quite frankly, to the world that we can do really big things. you know, we've made enormous progress in the past 50 years since congress passed the president and president nixon signed into law the national cancer act and declared war on cancer. we learned cancer is not a single disease. we used to think, at that time, it was a single disease. there are over 200, as you all know 200 different types of cancer caused by different genetic mutations in our cells. we discovered new medicines, therapies, early detection and prevention measures that extend lives and save lives. in the fir

leahy, will now read washington's farewell address. mr. leahy: friends and fellow citizens: the period for a new election f a citizen to administer the executive government of the united states being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed wih that important trust, it appeas to me proper especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that i should now apprise you f the resolution i have formed to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made. i beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be assured that this resolution has not been taken without a strict regard to all the consideratios appertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful citizen to his country; and that in withdrawing the tender of service, which silence in my situation might imply, i am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your future interest, no deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness, bu

leahy: the acting sergeant at arms will escort the house managers out of the senate chamber.f donald trump. and seven of them did the right thing. we needed 10 more. and so we might see a replay in 2024 of the 2020 election. (crowd chattering) i think we convicted him in the court of public opinion, and i think we convicted him in the eyes of history. so he's been turned into a pariah, i think, in national politics, and yet trump has tightened his control over the republican party. right now you've got majorities of republicans in both houses who are saying that essentially they're willing to go along with whatever donald trump says. that wouldn't be a problem for us if we just had majority rule in america. but in the gop, they're manipulating every anti-democratic lever of power there is in order to entrench minority rule against the majority. that's the struggle in the country today. ♪ we have our work cut out for us. we have to organize the majority to be politically engaged and active and to register to vote and to vote and not to allow republicans to steal elections. ♪ t

leahy, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of defense, alexandra baker of new jersey, to be a baker of new jersey, to be a >> well, i am not very happy to be back with my trusty and somewhat battered time to wake ago i delivered what i i hoped would be my last time to wake up speech, and took the poster off the floor. things looked good then. the conditions for climate progress were in place. voters had elected a democratic president, a democratic majorities in both houses of congress so the malicious group rest of the fossil fuel industry on the republican party was no longer a stopper. president biden rant on a fact-based uncorrupted climate agenda, and many and our congressional majorities campaigned on climate action. we had recon

i know the votes, but that includes senator leahy, amy klobuchar, chris van holland. sanford bishop. barbara lee. jim mcgovern. debbie wasserman shultz. brian higgins. i said i wasn't going to do this. terry sewell. totally american moment. i'm sure i left somebody out for which i apologize. but this could really be an american moment to prove to ourselves and quite frankly to the world that we can do really big things. since congress passed and president nixon signed into law the national cancer act and declared war on cancer. we learned cancer is not a single disease. there are over 200 as you all know, different types of cancer. caused by different genetic mutations in our cells. we discovered new medicines, therapies, early detection, prevention measures that extend lives and save lives. in the first 25 year, the death rate was largely unchanged then things began to change. the progress over the last 25 year, the death rate has fallen by more than 25%. but here's the deal. despite the progress of lives extended and lives saved, cancer's still the number two cause

we have boats going on right now so senator leahy and i will be going back and forth as will some of other senators during this time. but i want to thank him and his staff for working with us to put together this hearing as well as my own staff, mark and avery and kagan for the work they do everyday. so some of you may know my dad was a newspaperman, as a reporter and a columnist in the twin cities. he covered it all in an estimated 8400 columns, and about 12 million words in which he interviewed everyone from ronald reagan, senator lee, to ginger rogers, to chicago bears coach mike ditka. i won't say which interview was his favorite. he was proud to be a newspaperman, and as you can imagine, in my house growing up it was impossible to forget the importance of a free press. and that is what we are here to talk about today, to talk about the critical work news outlets around the country are doing and explore solutions to some of the existential challenges facing journalism. it is truly local news, the reports on issues that people face in their everyday lives. i think about the forum

leahy, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate stands adjourned until 2:00 p.m., on friday, february 25, 2022. >> the senate's e in a district work period. there will be one more brief session like this on friday before the senate convenes for legislative business on

i know their votes, but that includes senator patrick leahy, and amy klobuchar, and kris van holland, and representative joyce beaty, and barbara lee, donald payne, debbie wasserman schultz, tom cole, brian higgins -- i said i was not going to do this. you know, it could be truly an american moment -- i am sure i left somebody out, for which i apologize, but this could really be an american moment to prove to ourselves and, quite frankly, to the world, that we can do really big things. we made enormous progress in the past 50 years. since congress passed and president nixon signed into law the national cancer act and declared war on cancer, we learned cancer is not a single disease. we used to think it was a single disease. there are over 200 different types of cancer caused by genetic mutations in ourselves, and we discovered prevention and measures that extend and save lives. the death rate from cancer was largely unchanged, and then things began to change, and progress over the last 25 years, the death rate has fallen by more than 25%. here's the deal. despite the progress of lives

. >> shannon: senator leahy, we will keep track of that as it plays out in the coming weeks.nk you for stopping in tonight. lucas tomlinson in the ground. daylight is daunting. a night that people were very on edge across the country. how are they this morning? >> we are about 30 minutes to sunrise here in western ukraine. the mayor instituted a curfew for the first time since the invasion began. a city that is normally teeming with students, shops and restaurants packed, it was a ghost town last night. the mayor says the reason he issued the curfew, they were worried about potential russian saboteurs coming into the city and blowing things up. here's what happened at the united nations last night. president biden's ambassador to the u.n., linda greenfield said "the russian veto this bill. russia vetoed a u.n. security resolution condemning the invasion of ukraine." abstentions china, india, the uae. russia killed the measure. moscow is the rotating president of the u.n. security council believe it or not. no sign they will be kicked off. those three abstentions, shades of 20

leahy: mr.resident, others have spoken about this, but it's imperative that we take up and pass h.r. 6617. that's the further additional extending government funding act. of course we call it the c.r. i say this because the bill will keep the federal government funded and fully operating through march 11 while we work out and are working out the details of full-year appropriations bills to meet the needs of the american people. and i want to compliment the appropriations committee. staff has been meeting with me and others weekends, evenings for weeks now, months actually to get this done. in a few moments we'll vote to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the continuing resolution. as chairman of the appropriations committee, i strongly urge all members, republicans and democrats alike, to vote aye. a government shutdown would be useless, senseless. can you imagine how that would look to the russians? i'm pleased to report that last week the four corners of the senate and house appropriat

prior to joining nab, the senate judiciary chairman patrick leahy. he received his ba from providence college and jd from cornell university law school. dave pomeroy is a writer and producer, president of the national musicians association and international executive officer of the american federation of musicians. he played bass on 500 albums including six grammy-winning recordings and diverse range of artists. he has released more than a dozen projects on his label and his long-time columnist advisory board member for bass player magazine. he served as president of the national musicians association, local 257 since 2008 and served on the international executive board of the american federation of musicians 2010. we welcome our distinguished witnesses and thank them for participating today. i begin by swearing you in. if you would please turn on your audio and make sure i can see your face and raise your right hand. do you swear or affirm under penalty of perjury that the testimony you are about to give us true and correct to the best of your knowl

. >> senator leahy. >> i thank you and i myself calling you governor and madame secretary i am delightedve you here. the other night everyone of us heard about the pandemic and schools being closed and work being done remotely and in one year time we had a ten or 15 year change in society. we have a system in vermont called communication and union districts, cu d, that takes and then the local broadband infrastructure needs. that those of the unserved locations. >> now how can they benefit from the broadband or how i may plug-in the new program. >> as we said in the beginning, the reason the program is structured this way because there is no one-size-fits-all and in rural vermont, and we have to have a different solution than urban rhode island. nonprofit, municipally owned cooperative utilities are all eligible and the plan we have to improve and that those that would be included and then depending on the details to be eligible for funding. we are trying to encourage competition. so we're asking every state to have a competitive process. we are requiring every provider who gets money to

police have the resources to do their jobs when we passed the emergency funding bill led by senator leahy and senator shelby, that the president signed into law. but as chief manger just said at a public hearing, when he explained that we were 447 officers short, which of course means who's at the doors, what doors are open, what back updo they have, he said we still have a ways to go before he has officers to staff all the posts needed to safely reopen to the public. so there's still much more work to do. i for one am in favor of making changes so we can begin the process of reopening as soon as possible. the capitol complex should, of course, reopen so americans from across the country can visit and see our democracy at work. we're simply relying on the health and security experts to ensure that how and when we do reopen that we do it safely for everyone that works here, including the staff. for these reasons, madam president, i object. the presiding officer: the objection is heard. mr. hagerty: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. hagerty: madam presi

attorney and supported by democrat senator leahy and phil scott and a little of her intro video. >> botheach other than beating the other party. >> dana: if you are a republican in vermont there has never been a better year for republicans to run. watch christina nolan in vermont. you heard it here first. maybe she will join us here as well. we want to take a moment here. many of you will remember bob beckel. he was 73 years old and passed away yesterday. a wonderful friend to many of us at fox news. he and i spent a lot of time on the train going back and forth to d.c. when "the five" started and used to see us for sunday supper. he didn't like dogs and adored jasper and called him his nephew. more to come on "the five" as we remember him. a wonderful, wonderful person and very good friend. >> bill: known him for a long time. a long time. >> dana: brilliant at politics. >> bill: going back to days at cnn and now fox. >> dana: do you know on election night 2012 i was so mad at him when he told me obama would beat romney and i went home that friday night and furious with him. monday night

once again, i thank chairman leahy and ranking member shelby for their leadership and for working in good faith to arrive at a yearlong spending agreement. i also commend my colleagues in the house, chairman did he loreo and ranking member granger, democrat and republican, for their work. a yearlong omnibus is a thousand times better than relying on c.r.'s, continuing resolutions, to lurch from one short-term extension to the next. i remain optimistic that both sides will keep working together on drafting legislation to fund the government so it can fully serve the american people while keeping us safe here at home. and in the meantime, both sides should come to an agreement to make sure the c.r., the continuing resolution, the short-term funding of the government, is passed by this chamber and avoid any even hint of a government shutdown. now, mr. president, last night, i filed cloture on additional defense nominees, including celeste ann wallander, nominated to serve as assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs. if this were any other time, mr. president, mi

we have boats going on right now so senator leahy and i will be going back and forth as will some of the other senators during this time. but i want to thank him and his staff for working with us to put together this hearing as well as my own staff, mark and avery and kagan for the work they do everyday. so some of you may know my dad was a newspaperman, as a reporter and a columnist in the twin cities. he covered it all in an estimated 8400 columns, and about 12 million words in which he interviewed everyone from ronald reagan, senator lee, to ginger rogers, to chicago bears coach mike ditka. i won't say which interview was his favorite. he was proud to be a newspaperman, and as you can imagine, in my house growing up it was impossible to forget the importance of a free press. and that is what we are here to talk about today, to talk about the critical work news outlets around the country are doing and explore solutions to some of the existential challenges facing journalism. it is truly local news, the reports on issues that people face in their everyday lives. i think about the fo

leahy, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. the morning business is closed. mr. schumer: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: madam president, it's been a busy, productive, and truly bipartisan week here in the united states senate. after days -- sorry. madam president, to begin, it has been a busy, productive, and truly bipartisan week here in the united states senate. after days of fruitful cooperation from both sides, the senate is now a few moments away from approving one of the most significant changes to employment law in years, eliminating for good the awful practice of forcing victims of sexual harassment and assault into arbitration. an hour from now we'll be able to say this. the house has acted. the senate has acted, and we are sending bipartisan forced arbitration reform to the president's desk. it's a momentous reform bill and one that is painfully overdue. for decades arbitration clauses have been

senator leahy? >> thank you, chair shaheen. i find myself calling you governor. i'm delighted to have you here. i think you heard your state, every one of us heard in our states during the pandemic and schools being closed, work being done remotely and all that that we had a one-year time where we probably had 10 or 15-year change in society how we needed broadband. we have a system in vermont called communications union district cuds. it takes communities near each other to band together, identify, finance, fulfill local broadband infrastructure needs. currently, 206 municipalities bought into one or more of these. that's 64% of the state's population. it's 91% of the unserved locations. it's a pretty good model of how you create community-owned entities to deliver broadband. how can these vermont cuds benefit from the broadband provisions and infrastructure law, and i ask that because you have rural areas that do not have extensive financial history. how can they use these new programs? >> thank you. so as i said in the beginning, the reason this program is str

we have boats going on right now so senator leahy and i will be going back and forth as will some of senators during this time. but i want to thank him and his staff for working with us to put together this hearing as well as my own staff, mark and avery and kagan for the work they do everyday. so some of you may know my dad was a newspaperman, as a reporter and a columnist in the twin cities. he covered it all in an estimated 8400 columns, and about 12 million words in which he interviewed everyone from ronald reagan, senator lee, to ginger rogers, to chicago bears coach mike ditka. i won't say which interview was his favorite. he was proud to be a newspaperman, and as you can imagine, in my house growing up it was impossible to forget the importance of a free press. and that is what we are here to talk about today, to talk about the critical work news outlets around the country are doing and explore solutions to some of the existential challenges facing journalism. it is truly local news, the reports on issues that people face in their everyday lives. i think about the forum in my

patrick leahy bullet proof vest partnership to fund purchases of vests for law enforcement officers, in the police department sheriff's department, adult probation department, and juvenile probation department. >> president cohen: is there a presentation or any member of the department that wants to talk on this? all right seeing none. let's go to public comment. >> secretary: for members of the public that would like to make comment online item 13, please press star three now. president cohen, there is no public comment. >> president cohen: great. is there a motion to accept and expend the grant? i'll make that motion: is there a second? seconded by commissioner elias. please call the roll. >> secretary: on the motion, [roll call] you have seven yeses. >> president cohen: great. thank you. it's unanimous. please call the next item. >> secretary: line item 14, public comment on all matters pertaining to item 16 below, closed session including public comment on item 15 vote whether to hold item 16 in closed session. members of the public that would like to make public comment, please