markey: i rise in support of michael botticelli and our effort today to confirm him as the director of the office of national drug control policy. the state of massachusetts like too many other regions of this nation, is being ravaged by the scourge of prescription drug and heroin addiction that is breaking apart families and burying communities under a mountain of despair. massachusetts experienced 114 deaths in december, and that doesn't count our biggest cities like boston and worcester and springfield. drug overdose deaths fueled by prescription painkillers approximately 100 americans die from an overdose every day. as a senator from massachusetts i have a deep appreciation and respect for michael botticelli's accomplishments, addressing addiction during his nearly two decades serving in the massachusetts department of public health, he is a public health and drug policy pioneer and he lived in my hometown of malden massachusetts while did he this job. immediately prior to joining the office of national drug control policy as deputy director, mr. botticelli was the director of the

eastern him to begin the debate of the homage of michael botticelli. a vote follows at 530 p. eastern. now live to the senate floor here on c-span2. to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. our father, be with us not only in great moments of experience but also during life's mundane tasks. through the power of your spirit, may our senators mount up with wings like eagles,

we're delighted today to be able to host michael botticelli acting director of the white house officef national drug policy, and ambassador william brownfield the assistant secretary in the inl. of the department of state international narcotics and law enforcement. let me just say a few words here. this event which is the first time we've had this opportunity to welcome michael botticelli to csis, this event falls a couple of different opportunities we've had over the last year, year and a half to focus on policies around both domestic and international drug policy. on march 31 of last year we hosted ambassador brownfield come along with ruth dreyfus former head of state switching former health minister along with michelle, both of them here representing the global commission on drug policy. last september september 11, we had the good fortune to host richard brandt and michel also on the release of that commissions most recent report. i want to offer special thanks to a number of people who helped make this possible my colleague from csis it was prevention and pulling everything tog

eastern him to begin the debate of the homage of michael botticelli. a vote follows at 530 p. eastern. now live to the senate floor here on c-span2. to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. our father, be with us not only in great moments of experience but also during life's mundane tasks. through the power of your spirit, may our senators mount up with wings like eagles, running without weariness and walking without fainting. lord give them the wisdom to be patient with others, ever lenient to their faults and ever prompt to appreciate their virtues. rule in their hearts, keeping them from sin and sustaining their loved ones in all of their tomorrows. surround them with the shield of your favor, as you provide them with a future and a hope accomplishing in their lives more than they can ask or imagine. woe pray in your mrciful name. amen. the president pro tempore: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for wh

executive office of the president, michael p. botticelli of the district of columbia to be director of the national drug control policy. the presiding officer: under the previous order, there will be 30 minutes of debate equally divided. mr. hatch: i notice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. leahy: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. president i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: mr. president what is the parliament situation? the presiding officer: the senate is considering the botticelli nomination. mr. leahy: mr. president i ask to continue for a few minutes as though in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: mr. president millions of american families are struggling with an unrelenting addiction to controlled substances. that's really nothing new and that's the unfortunate part about it. but after decades of taking the wron

this event wraps up a quick programming note that the senate will vote on the nomination of michael botticelli to be the director of the white house office of national drug control policy today at 5:30 eastern. he's been serving as the acting director of that position since march of last year. watch them vote live 5:30 p.m. eastern here on c-span2. and for more on what's ahead this week in congress, we spoke to a capitol hill reporter. >> host: joining us on the phone is mike lillis congressional reporter with the hill to talk about what else is happening in washington. mike lillis, so what's on the agenda on capitol hill? we'll start with the senate this week. >> guest: well, you know they need to pass the funding bill for the department of homeland security. a big issue big contentious issue because of the immigration amendments that the house passed last month when they sent it over to the senate, and you saw mitch mcconnell struggling with this last week. he brought it up not once, not twice, but three times the house-passed bill, thinking that, you know, just beating the drum over and ove

they will debate the nomination of michael botticelli to be the director of national drug control policy. the vote is set for 5:30. you can see the senate on c-span two. president obama and german chancellor angela merkel just inactivate briefing for reporters focused mainly on finding a peaceful resolution for the conflict between russia and ukraine in the summit in europe. we aired the briefing live for you. if you missed any of it, you will be able to watch it here on c-span at 8:00 eastern. coming up at 2:00, we will have a discussion on a possible nuclear deal with it ran. jim slattery of kansas visited the country and met with senior officials there. live coverage is set for 2:00 eastern today here on c-span. >> tonight on "the communicators -- the special counsel for the fcc on the proposal for net neutrality including regulating the internet like a utility. >> the chairman said you're not going to rate regulate and i don't agree next chairman is, but they may try to throughout this whole regime and do something that is more free-market oriented. i don't buy the next chairman argu

senators will debate the nomination of michael botticelli to be the next director of national drug control policy. confirmation votes scheduled for 5:30. later in the week, it is likely the senate will again try to move forward on department of homeland security spending. three times this week democrats blocked debate on the bill because of language that overturns president obama's executive actions on immigration. current funding for the department expires at the end of the month. >>> the c-span cities tour takes book tv and american history tv on the road, traveling to u.s. cities to learn about their history and literary life. this weekend we partnered with time warner cable for a visit to corpus christi texas. >> we're in the daniel kilgore reading room. the dr. hector p. garcia papers are the flagship collection. we have here. he made it his life to help local and beyond mexican-americans learn to be more civically active and to get the benefits that they had coming to them as veterans, which were sometimes very difficult for them to obtain. these three items here represent the case o

boy, under those circumstances i would trade jobs with michael botticelli any day of the week. >> thank you. >> i want to come back to michael with one big question and want to open the floor for comments and questions so please think of it about which i want to say. michael, my question to you is what more do you need do you believe in terms of tools or capacities to carry forward the mission of your office? which is so expensive in a way and has very high ambitions attached to it and you're in the process of multiple transitions of outlook and paradigms and partnerships. i mean, it's striking reading through all policy materials that you generated it's a very dynamic environment that you're trying to shape in multiple places around this country. so where you said what more if you were to wish for an additional set of capacities and tools, what would those be? >> i've been in government so long, no one has commit up like check before and said what would you do. i think a couple things. and one i will start with continued to change public perception. i think is a really great area what