senator merkley: thank you very much, mr. chair. as i compare the two versions of the budget from the house and senate come i was asking myself the same question as when we deliberated on the senate's version. is this a budget that will work for working americans? or is it a budget designed for powerful, special interests? you see, there has been a lot of rhetoric on both sides of the aisle about helping the middle class and fighting for workers but a budget document puts down real numbers, concepts, and we can see if it is just rhetoric or a vision for expanding and strengthening the middle class. i am disappointed neither the senate or house budget meets the test of fighting to make this country work better for working americans and both the house and senate budget and a parallel fashion are designed to help the powerful special interests. so many sectors, so many parts of our community will be affected in a negative way with this vision. our seniors will be either affected by the house version or the senate version. our infrastru

if you ever saw these ads on tv, senator merkley and mr.resident, you would just think that e-cigarettes were curing all the illnesses of the world. well, they are not. they are not. and the studies that are already coming out are quite alarming. sales to minors should be banned 42 of our states have done it but not nationwide. on-line sales should be banned. companies should not be advertising. we've got a potential crisis on our hands. and i will be working with senator merkley senator blumenthal and all of my colleagues because we were not born yesterday. we've seen this movie before and we want our kids to be healthy. thank you very much. i'll put the rest of my statement in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. corker: mr. president? i first want to thank the senator from california for her kindness. i'm sorry we were talking in the background about what i'm getting ready to ask which is i ask unanimous consent that the time until 5:25 be equally divided in the usual form and that it be in order to call up the follo

senator merkley: thank you very much, mr. chair. as i compare the two versions of the budget from the house and senate come i was asking myself the same question as when we deliberated

senator merkley: am i over time? ok. thank you very much. >> congratulations to you and senator murray for your leadership on this subcommittee. secretary burwell thank you for reaching out to me, to see if we could have a conversation on the phone, it's my fault it didn't happen. senator moran: but i appreciate the fact that you reach out to have contacts. i think i have time for a couple of questions. let me ask first an early childhood question. this committee last year allocated $500 million to be used to expand access to infant-toddler services through early head start. and the goal was to expand child care partnerships. my question is, tell me about implementation and particularly assure me that rural communities where even licensed child care is a rare commodity, that they are being considered appropriately for those services. secretary burwell: the issue of the -- we have worked toward implementation and i think because the program had both early head start and child care partnerships that that expanded our abili

senator merkley is not here. senator johnson: thank you, mr. chairman. this is a rare moment. it shouldn't be, but it is. i take the position of the glass half-full as opposed to glass half-empty. he mentioned a number of areas of bipartisanship. that's a good thing. there are an awful lot of areas of agreement. as we pass out some handouts here the opening statement i will start looking at some numbers. we have difficult choices and we really want to solve problems as opposed to just demagogue issues. there's a first step you have to take. it to admit you have one. our budget process is really centered around a 10 year budget window. it is a problem but it is not the problem. this congress has made promises to all kinds of americans. we can't honor all those problems. looking at the proper definition to enable america to collectively mean we have it. it is to provide the information of the american people. we take a look at the first page of the handout here. this is the 30 year projected deficit. you see the first decade about a trillion dollars of projected deficits. that i

my colleagues and i a number of us led by senator merkley also senator broom that will and a number of others -- blumenthal, senator durbin and others, have called on the f.d.a. over and over again to finalize this proposed rule and reject efforts to weaken these proposed regulations. every day the f.d.a. waits is thousands of more children getting addicted to nicotine, thousands of more children exposed potentially to drinking this awful -- this very toxic liquid, thousands of more children smoking these e-cigarettes. tobacco companies are pushing to allow more products to be grandfathered out of the new rules. they want to exempt a huge age of e-cigarettes from anyone to determine whether they're a threat to public health. that would mean, mr. president these products would never be subject to review by the f.d.a. how stupid as a nation could we be? we've been so successful in the last 40 years as public health officials, as members of congress as responsible adults as consumer groups and advocates for children, we've been so successful in reducing the age of -- reducing the incidenc

let me associate myself with the remarks of senator merkley as we delay these implement addition of deemingto e-cigarettes, more and more children are getting addicted. it's time. i don't know where this has come to a halt, whether it's in your agency or omb or some other place but i'm going to try to find out and move it along. secondly i met with dr. francis collins out at nih and i said to him, we can't aspire sadly to those glory days when harken and specter and porter doubled the budget for the nih -- >> i was as omb. >> you were at omb. what can we do that will make a difference? he said i would tell you, five percent real growth for ten straight years. he said we'll light up the scoreboard. we will provide cures that more than pay for the cost of this research. and alleviate the human suffering involved. so i've been watching that standard and i have to the you that we're falling short of it. over the last ten years we have fallen short by 23% of keeping up with inflation at the nih, and so the number of grants that have been awarded have been cut in half. and that has diskinder rese

in addition, i'm working on legislation with senator merkley on the senate side that will approach thisin aompr more tion comprehensive way, this issue of discrimination against the lgbt community. and really say that you can't discriminate against members of rimina this community. each of these areas in one commu comprehensive piece of and legislation one strong statement discrimination should not be permitted. and that is a work in progress. we expect that it will be filed later in the spring.y but i think it's where the country isment you know, fairness and ensuring that individuals are not discriminated against is a very sic basic american value.ed t this ideaha that people should be re and treated for who they are and not -- you know discriminated thei against because of race orr gender or religious affiliation or i would say sexual orientation or gender identity. i think this is one where the country has moved very far, and co we need to have protections. in the votermajority of the states in this country there are no- of com protections for members of the lgbt community being pro

costs and so on, and finding those costs is difficult, but another aspect that on coal, we talk about merkley, but as a scientist, i know that there are radioactive elements -- uranium it depends on the geology of the area where the call is coming from but very seldom is that talked about. that is scary, but it is as bad as mercury in some cases. that is another thing. but i do think with big data out rhythms now, gain theory, although i kind of stuff being applied -- all that kind of stuff being applied these kinds of things can think through a lot of these problems better than humans. and applying the stuff, i think we can really clean up our planet and do it in very efficient ways. and that is my comment. host: ok, gary. guest: we agree that a commitment to technology as an answer here. manufacturers innovate. that is what we do. at the end of the day, that is going to solve all the challenges we have. and most of the issues we deal with here in washington. what is really important, the, again is that we make sure we are using a best tools and do the best six that we can possibly do -- and

senator joe donnelly referencing the indianapolis star, and that is between from senator jeff merkleyalso weighing in. today, let's take an anti-lg bt law in indiana. tomorrow, let's pass federal lg bt civil rights laws so no american has to fear for the rights. chris murphy of connecticut referencing and "onion" piece. that is what is going on in light of what has been going on in light in indiana. we have set aside a line for you in indiana and those in arkansas. the arkansas legislature also considering this type of legislature. you will hear from indianapolis indiana, you are on. go ahead. caller: yes, sir. i just wanted to tell you that when these right-wing governors become new governors, they try to peel back the rights of other people whether it be in wisconsin with scott walker and now in indiana with governor pence. however, governor pence is not articulate enough. scott walker took his and was able to do a lot of things that i guess is unacceptable to the majority of people in america, but it is necessary to put these people on the stage and see exactly where they are comin

costs and so on, and finding those costs is difficult, but another aspect that on coal, we talk about merkleys a scientist, i know that there are radioactive elements -- uranium it depends on the geology of the area where the call is coming from but very seldom is that talked about. that is scary, but it is as bad as mercury in some cases. that is another thing. but i do think with big data out rhythms now, gain theory, although i kind of stuff being applied -- all that kind of stuff being applied these kinds of things can think through a lot of these problems better than humans. and applying the stuff, i think we can really clean up our planet and do it in very efficient ways. and that is my comment. host: ok, gary. guest: we agree that a commitment to technology as an answer here. manufacturers innovate. that is what we do. at the end of the day, that is going to solve all the challenges we have. and most of the issues we deal with here in washington. what is really important, the, again is that we make sure we are using a best tools and do the best six that we can possibly do -- and to the

toomey, johnson, ayotte, wicker, corker, perdue sanders murray, wyden stabenow whitehouse, warner, merkley baldwin mccain. mr. enzi: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. enzi: i ask unanimous consent that the senate be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. enzi: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to executive session at 2:00 p.m. on thursday, april 16, to consider the following nominations. calendar number 1 and calendar number 51. that the senate vote without intervening action or debate on the nominations the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table that no further motions be in order that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the record, the president be immediately notified of the senate's actions and the senate then resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. enzi: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn

continued my fight against the tobacco company in the senate alongside dedicated colleagues like senator merkley and senator durbin who spoke yesterday in urging the f.d.a. to seek relief, to strive to do its job. of the tobacco-deeming rule in order to protect children and families from tobacco. the family smoking prevention and tobacco control act of 2009 gave the f.d.a. significant power and responsibility to achieve this goal. now it is f.d.a.'s responsibility to implement that law, to prevent young people from becoming nicotine addicts damaging their health, risking their lives costing american taxpayers hundreds of millions, in fact billions of dollars. six years have passed since that law was passed. the f.d.a. has yet to implement it. and the reason is that it has yet to issue those regulations. it wasn't until last year, april 2014 five years after the measure was passed that, that the f.d.a. took the first step issuing draft regulations known as the deeming rule that would formalize this authority. the rule would allow the f.d.a. to control the formulation and saysale in particular to