more effective human, then i have -- senator mccaskill: obviously. veryal campbell: they work well with the other pillars of police and army. i think what they have developed over the last few months is a national joint fusion intelligence center where they try to take intelligence at the national level. senator mccain: senator fischer. thank you,cher: general, for being here today. foreign flow of fighters into afghanistan, are we seeing more of a regional draw with isil? in february you mentioned some of the taliban seem to be flagging under the isis banner there. are we seeing that regional draw ? or are they drawing from outside the region, in north africa, say, and how does that compare to the taliban? are we going to have local versus foreign fighters? that going to continue to grow in afghanistan and will be said -- whatat we we see in i sold it takes place in syria? general campbell: thank you, ma'am. , weink with isil or daish have seen mostly internal taliban that want to rebrand, tpp that want to rebrand. there are reports of people, forei

here is senator claire mccaskill now. >> i am so delighted to be with you, senator mccaskill, to talk about your new book. i feel like we should start at the beginning with the title -- "plenty ladylike." it seems like it has a little irony embedded in it, your trademark attitude. what were you thinking with that title? >> i hope a little humor. i want people to know this is a book that will make people laugh or smile hard in several places. a teacher took me aside saying i should not speak up in class because the boys will not like me. i was hurt. and then after my debate in 2012, with todd akin, he told the press i wasn't very lady like. so those instances affirmed in my mind i need to tell girls it is plenty ladylike to be strong. >> host: >> host: your book as a very readable book because it is outspoken and frank. this notion of being ladylike and being a member of the united states senate in the place is pretty much an outlier. people are blown away when i tell them it is only 44 women that have ever served from the entire beginning of time. so not only are women not anywhere cl

in a letter to the sirnt mccaskill. he was written: even though patients may not feel an immediate impact of price hikes on drugs used in hospitals. there's a ripple effect through higher insurance costs and ultimately tax players through medicare and medicaid. >> all this does is enrich the executives at the companies, and raise the cost of health care for everyone. >> mary snow joins me now. first of all, let's go back to touring pharmaceuticals, which got the headlines to start with. hillary clinton said they haven't lowered their prices. where does it stand. >> right, when the media scrit ni was on. the c.e.o. said they'll roll back the prices. when it will happen is not clear. >> let's talk about valiant. it's a bit of a convoluted explanation. have they said anything more? >> senator mccaskill said she is not satisfied with the answers, calling them inadequate. and made a point saying valiant pharmaceuticals responded after it received subpoenas. valiant responded saying it was a detailed explanation, a 7-page let

and finally, i want to ask senator mccaskill if she would like to add anything.tioned our final witness on this panel, maria walden. if you have anything you would like to add to what you said in your opening statement. >> well, as i mentioned in my opening statement, she is the director of legislation and policy for the public school and education employee retirement system. and it is one of the finest pension programs in the country. we, i like to remind our teachers in missouri that we are not high on the scale, when it comes to salaries, but, when i was auditor, we were number one in the country, in terms of pension benefits. are we still number one? yeah. i know that we have one of the finest pension programs for people on the front line of every social ill that faces our country. i think we forget that it is teachers that we're asking to do so much more than teach, in so many places in our country today. so well-deserved, good pensions, i think, are something that we all need to, in this country, realize is an important part of financial security. so i'm pr

and finally, i want to ask senator mccaskill if she would like to add anything. you mentioned our final witness on this panel, maria walden. if you have anything you would like to add to what you said in your opening statement. >> well, as i mentioned in my opening statement, she is the director of legislation and policy for the public school and education employee retirement system. it is one of the finest pension programs in the country. we, i like to remind our teachers in missouri that we are not high on the scale when it comes to salaries, but when i was auditor, we were number one in the country in terms of pension benefits. are we still number one? >> we are very close. >> yeah. i know that we have one of the finest pension programs for people on the front line of every social ill that faces our country. i think we forget that it is teachers that we're asking to do so much more than teach in so many places in our country today. so well deserved, good pensions, i think, are something that we all need to in this country realize is an important part of financ

>> thank you, chairman collins, ranking member mccaskill and members of the committee. i'm really happy to be here to discuss our june 2014 report on pension advances. and the status of the agency efforts to implement our really important recommendations. this is a really important issue, because as highlighted by dr. kroot, there's companies out there using aggressive marketing techniques to target those who are vulnerable and those in urgent need of cash. today i'd like to discuss three issues. first, a number and types of companies, marketing these types of products. secondly, i'd like to discuss how the terms of these products compare to other similar products such as consumer loans. and finally, i'd like to clarify the role of the cfpd and the federal trade commission. first, the overall numbers at the time of our review, we identified 38 companies that offered lump sum pension advance products. while 18 of these companies were located in california, the remainder were spread across several other states, and virtually all of them marketed these products on a nation

[laughter] senator mccaskill. caskill: later there was talk about finds against those who have abused the program. as you know, this is an area of great interest for me for many years, trying to get out the waste and abuse and fraud inherently embedded in that program because the lack of planning. when it began, i might note, during the bush administration. so i thought it was great when more than $94 million in fines was announced. i thought we were making progress. i am beyond confused as to why not one dime of that has been collected. i look at the list of the people that own money on these finds. one of them is tack ph -- track phone. they are getting a big check from us every month. i believe all these people that out millions of dollars are still part of the program. -- that owe millions of dollars. i think it's important, and i mean like now, that i get some kind of important answer from the commission why not one dime -- we might as well have a big sign that says "doesn't matter, do whatever you want in a

and finally, i want to ask senator mccaskill if she would like to add anything. you mentioned our final witness on this panel, maria walden. if you have anything you would like to add to what you said in your opening statement. >> well, as i mentioned in my opening statement, she is the director of legislation and policy for the public school and education employee retirement system. and it is one of the finest pension programs in the country. we, i like to remind our teachers in missouri that we are not high on the scale, when it comes to salaries, but, when i was auditor, we were number one in the country, in terms of pension benefits. are we still number one? yeah. i know that we have one of the finest pension programs for people on the front line of every social ill that faces our country. i think we forget that it is teachers that we're asking to do so much more than teach, in so many places in our country today. so well-deserved, good pensions, i think, are something that we all need to, in this country, realize is an important part of financial security. s

you two are like the democratic ticket should be mccaskill, mika mccaskill.ether. is it better now with clinton feeling her mojo with her debate performance? are you going better these days? >> i have a very bad habit in my job of saying exactly what i think. >> it's a good habit. that's why everybody loves you. >> mika and i -- i never would have gone there if it weren't for our friendship and even that guy joe scarborough. >> i appreciate your transparency. i think it was a really fascinating conversation. >> it made me sweat. >> you were sweating but from out there in the twittersphere, i got it from all sides. i like it when you call things out and i think there is a little bit of confusion on exactly where some people stand about hillary clinton, who i think can be an amazing candidate when she's allowed to be herself. today what do you think the land mines are for hillary clinton in these hearings? >> i think it's an opportunity for her to show how prepared she is running for president. i wonder how many candidates could withstand the partisan attacks s

more effective human, then i have -- senator mccaskill: obviously. veryal campbell: they work well with the other pillars of police and army. i think what they have developed over the last few months is a national joint fusion intelligence center where they try to take intelligence at the national level. senator mccain: senator fischer. thank you,cher: general, for being here today. foreign flow of fighters into afghanistan, are we seeing more of a regional draw with isil? in february you mentioned some of the taliban seem to be flagging under the isis banner there. are we seeing that regional draw ? or are they drawing from outside the region, in north africa, say, and how does that compare to the taliban? are we going to have local versus foreign fighters? that going to continue to grow in afghanistan and will be said -- whatat we we see in i sold it takes place in syria? general campbell: thank you, ma'am. , weink with isil or daish have seen mostly internal taliban that want to rebrand, tpp that want to rebrand. there are reports of people, forei

senator mccaskill? >> thank you. commissioner i -- back in 2013, 2014, there was announcements made about fines being levied against those carriers who had abused the lifeline program. as you know, this has been a area of great interest for me for many years trying to get at the waste and abuse and fraud that was inherently embedded in that program because of a lack of programming when it began during the bush administration. i thought it was great when more than $94 million in fines was announced. okay, we're making progress. i am beyond confused as to why not one dime of that has been collected. um, and i look at the list of the people that owe money on these fines, one of them is track phone. well, they're getting a big i believe all of these people that owe millions of dollars are still part of the program. and i think it's really important, and i mean like, now, that i get some kind of answer from the commission, why not one dime of these -- i mean, this is like a big -- we might as well have a big flashing sign

let's go to claire mccaskill, senator, good to see you, congratulations so far. >> thank you. >> let'specifically about some of the points that i think the republicans have made that still are interesting and i want to get your thoughts on them. let's talk about congressman peter roskam who has made a big point about talking about the grander, the larger picture of libya and what a disaster in his view the administration's policy has been and how secretary of state clinton was the architect of the policy. take a listen to this. >> well, congressman, i think it's important to point out there were many in the state department who believed it was very much in america's interests and in furtherance of our values to protect the libyan people. >> summed it up best when you e-mailed your senior staff and you said of this interchange, you said it's good to remind ourselves and the rest of the world that this couldn't have happened without us. and you were right, secretary clinton, our libya policy couldn't have happened without because you were its chief architect. >> a fair hit, you think? >>

senator mccaskill. >> thank you.commissioner i -- back in 2013, 2014, there was announcements made about fining being levied against those carriers who had abused the lifeline program. as you know, this has been an area of great interest for me for many years trying to get at the waste and abuse and fraud that was inherently embedded in that program because of a lack of programming when it began during the bush administration. i thought it was great when more than $94 million in fines was announced. i thought, okay, we're making progress. i am beyond confused as to why not one dime of that has been collected. um, and i look at the list of the people that owe money on these fines, one of them is tracphone. well, they're getting a big check from us every month. i believe all of these people that owe millions of dollars are still part of the program. and i think it's really important, and i mean like now, that i get some kind of answer from the commission, why not one dime of these -- i mean, this is like a big -- we mi

thank you senator mccaskill, next up is senator bloomenthal. >> i strongly agree with senator mccaskill, and she is verywe aware of my views because we have discussed hers and mine at length and i know that you agree that consumer complaints about this intrusive, invasive practice are very well justified. the fact that consumer's union conservatively estimates that $350 million are lost annually to phone scams, generally a lot of them the result of robocalls and the good news is advanced technology's available and affordable to stop these very intrusive and invasive machine-driven calls and telephone companies ought to make locking options available right away. even in advance of the rule, the telephone companies have the ability to offer that service. and so, i agree with senator mccaskill about the inadvisability of the suggestion made in the budget agreement, but more broadly, i would like to ask what the next steps are that you would view as most likely and most achievable to address this scourge of robocalls that we both have seen across the country. >> thank you, senator. like mos

thank you senator mccaskill, next up is senator bloomenthal. >> i agree with senator mccaskill, we have had discussed hers and mine at length and i know that you agree that consumer complaints about this intrusive, invasive practice are very well justified. the fact that consumer's union conservatively estimates that $350 million are lost annually to phone scams, generally a lot of them the result of robocalls and the good news is advanced technology's available. and affordable to stop these very intrusive and invasive machine-driven calls and telephone companies ought to make locking options available right away. even advanced over the rule, the telephone companies have the ability to offer that service. and so, i agree with senator mccaskill about the inadvisability of the suggestion made in the budget agreement, but more broadly, i would like to ask what the next steps are that you would view as most likely and most achievable to address this scourge of robocalls, both have seen across the country. >> thank you, senator. like most people, i'm not a fan of rachel from card member serv

>> chairman collins, ranking member mccaskill and other distinguished committee members. my name is marie walden. i'm the director of the public retirement system in missouri. there are over 575,000 missourians that are now protected under the statewide law ban that prevents pension advances in the state of missouri. since 1946, psr's peers have worked to establish stable retirement benefits to 250,000 missouri public education employees, we pay more than $2.5 million annually to retirees. we continue to be a financially stable benefit plan for our members. we have over $37.4 billion in assets. we are the largest public retirement plan in the state. if you combine all other 85 retirement plans in the state we have more assets and more membership than all other. the quality of our plan designed as senator mccaskill mentioned has been nationally recognized bit public pension coordinating council. we are governed by a seven-member board of trustees. due to the independent nature of our trust fund. staff is limited in the ability to support matters of which the board has not

in a letter to senator claire mccaskill who inquired about the heart medication cost, they said, quote there was considerable room to increase the price of both drugs without depleting the funds available from hospitals to payers. even though patients may not feel an immediate impact on drugs used in hospitals, they said that there is a ripple effect vently through higher insurance costs and tax payers through medicare and medicaid. >> all this does is enrich the executives at these companies, and raise the cost of healthcare for everyone. >> al jazeera. >> thanks for watching. i'm stephanie sy. the news continues next live from doha. >> welcome to doha. this is the news hour on al jazeera. a powerful earthquake shakes afghanistan and pakistan at least 190 people are dead. also evidence of genocide coordinated by the myanmar government against the rohingya people, an al jazeera exclusive. >>> a gun battle in southern turkey. suo officers and several

the company said it's also responded to a letter from senator claire mccaskill about two heart drugsn particular, nitropress and isoprel. valeant acquired them earlier this year and raised their prices by more than 200% and 500% according to the senator's letter. october 14th was the deadline the senator gave the company to respond. hospitals say increases such as these will hit them hard. cleveland clinic ceo dr. toby cosgrove recently discussed the impact to his hospital. >> we've seen just seven drugs in our inventory raise our cost $11 million in one year simply by raising the price of drugs that have been around for 30 or 40 or 50 years and are very common use. we've seen 600% increase in these drugs in one year. some of the drugs have had their prices raised eight, nine times in one year's period of time. >> reporter: the clinic says valeant's drugs isoprel and nitropress alone will cost an extra $8.5 million. valeant's not alone in the practice of raising the price of old medicines nor is it the only company in the crosshairs of politicians. turing pharmaceuticals, the private

thank you senator mccaskill,

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conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> democratic senator claire mccaskill getting underway here tonight on c-span starting 8:00 o'clock eastern. the c-span bus continues its road to the white house tour commend this week we are visiting the texas state fair in dallas. new line about our campaign coverage and online resources command you can check c-span.org find out where the bus will be and what will be in your area. ♪ >> it describes the natural world, man-made world bringing it into harmony, usefulness and the light to our whole environment, and that,, and that, of course, only begins with trees and flowers and landscaping. >> lady bird's bills about beautifying the nation, her signature issue as 1st lady, natural campaigner, successful businesswoman, and savvy political partner to her husband,husband, lbj, lady bird johnson the sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on teetwelve'sc-span's original series 1st ladies, influence and image, examining the public and private lives of the women who fillfilled the position of 1st lady and their influence on the pres

. >> i recognize centered mccaskill. >> senator reid, thank you all for being here, and let me give a mention to master sergeant joshua wheeler. there probably is no better example of someone who has run into danger for this country over and over again. i wanted to mention his name in the hearing today. we all mourn his loss and the loss of his family and we support them through this trying time. senator reid asked you about the new syrian forces. have we provided supplies to those forces? general dunford: we have, senator. >> have they successfully called in air strikes? general dunford: they have. >> can you tell us for the record how many? general dunford: i cannot. i can get the information for you. >> on iraq, i have a tendency to believe those ig reports that came out september 30. they raised several concerns. one is asking us to refurbish the conditions under which the iraqis are training. d.i.g. recommends the coalition work with the iraqi administer of the fence on a plan that clarifies the contributions of the united states to improve their living conditions. the ig is sayi

department while the embassy compound was being attacked and i also wanted to say that if claire mccaskill and lenny davis are concerned about the amount of time that secretary clinton has to be in this hearing, they should keep in mind that it's roughly the same amount of time that the compound was unaided, being attacked. >> joan, and for those that really want some detail about the benghazi time line, you can go to factcheck.org and they put a very specific, with times, time line together. if it's something you want as a reference while you're listening today, watching today what hillary clinton and others have to say about what happened in benghazi, you can use this as a reference. to look at what happened, when, what the reaction was. what hillary clinton said when. one part from this time line is they note that at about 10:00 p.m., the secretary of state issued a statement confirming that one state official was killed in the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. her statements which msnbc posted at 10:32 made reference to the video on september 12 obama labels acts as terrorism.

senator mccaskill? >> that was probably a missouri mule. director clapper, earlier this year, i introduced a bill that would give intelligence community contractors whistleblower protections as long as those complaints were made within the chain or to the inspector general or the gao. so disclosures made to the press would not be protected. as you probably know, defense department, i know that secretary work knows this, that we've already put into the law in recent years, whistleblower protections for the contractors at the department of defense, and to my knowledge and certainly correct me if i'm wrong, any of you, i'm not aware of any classified or sensitive information that has made its way to a damaging place as a result of these protections. the 2014 intel authorization gave these protections to government employees within intelligence. and one of the challenges we have in government is this divide between the contractors and government employees. frankly, whistleblower protections, i can't think of a good policy reason that we would g

administrator, last year ntsa provided a letter to senator boxer and mccaskill expressing their oppositionto the alliance proposal to read what what do not what you've operate on what you've operate on what do not read on why ntsa believes this proposal would fail to protect rental consumers? >> i will repeat to be clear. new, used, rental, defect, it should be off the road. and as we were discussing, the but do not drive is determined by the manufacturer of the defect, not ntsa. and it's very rare. >> thank you for clarifying that and really underscoring it. some opponents of hr 2198 argued that many recall failed us because so few of them come with do not drive requirements. does ntsa issue frivolous recalls? by definition aren't all safety recalls due to serious safety risk? >> yes. we have a specific investigation process to determine those defects. >> thank you. and i will you attack my time before doing so i ask unanimous consent to enter into the record n-november, 2,014th november, 2,014th letter from ntsa to senator mccaskill outlining the agency's response to the auto alliance pr

senator mccaskill? >> that was probably a missouri mule. director clapper, earlier this year, i introduced a bill that r would give intelligence community contractorsco on as whistleblower protections as long as those complaints were e made within the chain or to the inspector general or the gao. so disclosure's made to the res press -- disclosures made to the press would not be protected. as you probably know, defense department, i know that secretary work knows this, that we've already put into the law t in recent years, whistleblower protections for the contractors at the department of defense, and to my knowledge and nly co certainly correct me if i'm wrong, any of you, i'm notrr awm of any classified or sensitive y information that has made its way to a damaging place as a result of these protections.hesp the 2014 intel explosion gave e these protections to the government employees within intelligence. and one of the challenges we have in government is this divide between the contractors r and government employees. frankly, whistleblow

doing so i ask unanimous consent in into the record a november 2014 letter from nhtsa to senator mccaskilltlining the agency's response to the auto alliance proposal him and i yield back the balance of my time. >> thatcher thinks the gentlelady. the gentlelady yield's back. seeing no other members doesn't ask questions, let me just ask the ranking member if she would like a second question or redirect? >> no, thank you. >> let me, dr. rosekind, i just wanted to make sure that we offer once again the concept of people checking their vehicle identification numbers against a database that you provide. perhaps you could just detail how someone would do that if they wanted to check. >> chairman burgess, every time i appear before you, you graciously make sure that we provide information for consumers to do something about recalls the i can't thank you enough for that because i don't think we are ever done getting the information out. people can go to safercar.gov. safercar.gov and look at their vehicle edification of and see if there any open recalls. what's most important is if they find somet

senator claire mccaskill, democrat of missouri, is with us.poken out on behalf of her friend and former colleague, hillary clinton. senator, first of all, what of the public's business did the u.s. senate get accomplished today? >> we confirmed a nominee to -- in fact, an ambassador nominee, and we also finished up some work on cybersecurity. we're going to come back and do amendments first of the week weep actually got some business done this week. >> how much of the hearing did the senate business allow you to see? what did you make of it so far? >> i've seen a lot of it. i think the problem the republican party has is one they have made this political, they've done it all on their own. marco rubio is fund-raising off of this today, stand with trey gowdy, republican party has fundraised off of this including appearances by trey gowdy. they clearly have a narrative. and the facts don't match it, brian. the facts don't match the narrative. and i think it's become very clear today they don't. and besides that, there's nothing new. there is noth

in the event that claire mccaskill in missouri or joe manchin in west virginia or jodi highcamp decided to step down or run for some other office, the democrats were very worried about those seats. now that they've all decided to stay on and run to stay in the senate, run as incumbents for re-election, that is as big a coup for the democratic party as their other successful recruitment in the other states. so it may or may not work out well for the democrats in all of these states. but the democrats have gotten everything they want to set up next year's election in all of these states. and this never happens in terms of the democratic party's strategic best guess and them getting everything they wanted. the headline about this in the beltway newspaper "roll call" this week pretty much summed it up. the headline you see there on the left, senate democrats nearly run the table in recruitment. and when democrats run the table, when they get everything they want, when they set themselves up, at least in their own minds to have the best possible shot at the most possible senate seats in a ye

senator mccaskill. >> that's probably a missouri mule.irector clapper, earlier this year i introduced a bill that would give intelligence community contractors whistleblower protections as long as those complaints were made within the chain or to the inspector general or the gao. so disclosures made to the press would not be protected. i, as you probably know, defense department, i know that secretary work knows this, that we've already put into the law in recent years whistleblower protections for the contractors at the department of defense, can and to my knowledge -- and certainly correct me if i'm wrong, any of you -- i'm not aware of any classified or sensitive information that has made its way to a damaging place as a result of these protections. the 2014 intel authorization gave these protections to the government employees within intelligence. and one of the challenges we have in government is this divide between the contractors and government employees. and, frankly, whistleblower protections, i can't think of a good policy reaso

i'm grateful to senators blunt and mccaskill to help bring colleagues together to make sure p.t.c. is made safely available as soon as possible. now, some have suggested different ways to approaching this issue. at a time when we're making progress to finally kick the -- end the kick-the-can mentality through the enactment of a multiyear transportation reauthorization bill, this proposal will ensure that we're not injecting that same type of uncertainty into another transportation mode, which is our nation's rail system. attaching the bipartisan agreement on extending the p.t.c. deadline as part of the short-term highway extension solves this problem while keeping pressure on the house of representatives to pass a multiyear transportation bill that we can then reconcile with the senate-passed drive act, the multiyear transportation bill that passed this chamber earlier this year. so, mr. president, i want to applaud leader mcconnell, chairman inhofe, ranking member boxer, ranking member nelson for their continued efforts to push for the completion of a multiyear transportation reau

so, i askew nan muss consent to enter into the record a november 2014 letter to nhtsa and senator mccaskill. and i yield back the balance of my time. >> the gentlemen lady yields back. seeing no other members present for questions, i ask the ranking member if she would like a second question or redirect. >> thank you. thank the witnesses. >> let me, dr. rosekind, i just wanted to make sure that we offer, once again, the concept of people checking their vehicle identification numbers against the database that you provide and perhaps you could just detail how someone would do that if they wanted to check. >> chairman burgess, every time i appear before you, you graciously make sure that we provide information for consumers to do something about recalls. i can't thank you enough for that. because i don't think we are ever done getting the information out. people can go to safer car.gov and look up their vehicle identification number. if they find something, they have to act on it. call their dealer, get it fixed. >> if like me, they don't know

in washington dc, topping the list plenty ladylike by senator claire mccaskill in which she shares storiese time and politics. , national book award winner joyce carol recalls how her childhood shaped her writing income of the lost landscape. in third, national correspondent for the atlantic magazine and recent recipient of a macarthur foundation genius grant looks at the history and current state of black america and, between the world and may. in the senator next-door, amy clover sharp discusses her life and political career. in fracture, msnbc national correspondent joe and read reports on the way racial issues have impacted presidential campaigns. our look at the best selling nonfiction books in washington dc's politics continues with pulitzer prize winner margo jefferson's recount of growing up among the lack upper-class in her memoir, negro land. bryan stevenson is not with just mercy in which he remembers his time as a young criminal defense lawyer. in the price, daigle rossa called the skits the aftermath of facebook founder mark suckers alleged to give one had a million dollars to

taken seriously and so many races where patty murray is called the mom in tennis shoes or claire mccaskillgives the opponent talking about rape as is somehow the fault of the woman. you know what joe demint, legitimate rape is what they call it. we go back through those things you see that they started to boomerang and it hurts the phone at two says the things that i had someone to work through the opponent called me up prom queen queen and daddy schoolgirl. no one even noticed it because i did make a big deal out of it. the point is either no one notices it is so minor and unnecessary and you don't think you need to bring it up but if you do it him or angst. i think some of that is behind us but the real challenge to me is the thing that so hard to define when you are a minority whether you are a racial minority or a minority woman. only 20 of us in the senate. was i not included in the gang to work on the group because there are no women in it and they wanted to hang out with each other or is it they pick people that they wanted to have in the group? it's really hard to define those thin

we have included the mccaskill-schumer rental car bill so rental cars will be safe we have the first-ever commuter rail fund for positive train control. and these are just some of the good things we have done. let's not throw it all away and get it all glommed up into the other problems we're facing, which is the date on the debt ceiling, the december 11 date on funding the budget. we don't have to do it. this is a special fund. it's the highway trust fund. it should not get enmeshed in the end-of-budget-year issues. we should take that crisis off the plate. we did it in the senate. they should do it in the house. and that's our message today to the house. please, republicans, democrats, liberals, conservatives, moderates, everyone inbetween -- come together for the good of this country and pass a highway bill. let's get to conference. let's get the best bill we can get and be done with it. and at least then send a signal to the people of this country we are doing our job. thank you very much. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. mr. hoeven: madam presi

and i have fought for years and i've gotten help from senator schumer, senator mccaskill actually got the bill passed -- i'm very grateful to her -- and that's in the underlying bill. why didn't we take that out and put it on immediately so this can go into effect immediately? i think that "the washington post" gave us what they think as they wrote a story, a very important story on the front page -- was it yesterday or the day before? yesterday? monday. i want to just say we all know that there are special interests here. by the way, i like to work with the railroads because they do a lot of good things. they are very powerful, they are very strong. they have a very powerful lobby. it is not a republican lobby or a democratic lobby. it's a lobby that covers everybody. and let me tell you what the "washington post" article notes -- quote -- "rail safety has never been a more pressing issue than it is today. so far the people who have died in the u.s. could have -- those deaths could have been prevented, and that could change in dramatic fashion. the number of railcars carrying flammab

colleague from virginia, senator warner, senator mikulski, senator coats, senator ayotte and senator mccaskill to strengthen the security of the networks and federal civilian agencies. our bill has five elements, but the most important provision would grant the department of homeland security the security to issue binding operational directives to federal agencies to respond in the face of substantial breaches or to take action in the face of an imminent threat to a federal network. although the secretary of homeland security is tasked with a very similar responsibility to protect federal civilian networks, he has far less authority to accomplish this responsibility than does the director of the national security agency for the dot.mil networks. we can no longer ignore the damaging consequences of failing to address these issues. our amendment would fortify federal computer works from cyber threats in many ways. the key elements, i am pleased to say, in our bill were incorporated into an amendment that has been filed by senator carper along with the chairman of the homeland security and govern

mccaskill: mr. president, i was born in a small rural community where deer season was as much of fall as football and falling leaves. i was raised in a household where dad taught us that hunting was part of our culture in missouri. but i don't know any of m.i.a. my dad's friend -- but i don't know any of my dad's friends. i certainly know that my father, were he still alive, would be shaking his head about the massacres. about school shootings -- 45 of them this year -- school shootings, 45 in one year. innocent children, innocent college students being mowed down. it's horrific, and it's tragic, and the american people want us to respect gun rights but they want us to use common sense. they don't want terrorists to be able to buy a gun at a gun show. we should not be selling ak-47's to terrorists at gun shows. we should not be allowing someone who is convicted of stalking the ability to buy a gun. and that's the only thing we're talking about. the principles of common sense that run deep in my stat

this morning, they confirm that claire mccaskill, the democratic senator from missouri has asked the company to respond to questions about a couple of its products. they have also received a subpoena from the u.s. attorney for the southern district of manhattan as well as in massachusetts requesting documents with respect to patient assistance programs and request relating to financial support provided by the company for patients, distribution of products and information provided to the centers for medicare and medicaid services. and pricing decisions. valiant, down sharply. don't forget, pershing and valeant. >> $60 billion in market cap after the drop today after the open. it is down just shy of 10%. you mentioned touring pharmaceuticals, which is what whipped this whole issue into a frenzy. our meg tur rrel and drew casey reached out and asked whether the price of darafrim would come down and it hasn't. the company said we will re-evaluate and make it cheaper. >> aggressive price rises have been more than the norm amongst any number of companies. it is not just valiant that does g