mikulski: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mrs. mikulski: pursuant to section 904 of the congressional budget act of 1974 i move to waive all applicable sections of that act for the purposes of the pending bill and i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the yeas and nays are ordered. the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: the --. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to waive. the clerk will call the roll. the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: mr. president, first of all the senate is not in order. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the senator from maryland is recognized. ms. mikulski: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to specific up to three minutes in support of my motion to waive. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. the senator has the floor. ms. mikulski: the bill that is before the senate --. the presiding officer: pl

mikulski: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senior senator from maryland is recognized. ms. mikulski: well, mr. president, i think you've just heard a really interesting and i think -- oh, i'm sorry. excuse me. from the way the gentleman from new mexico concluded -- was the senator from california next? yeah, i thought i was at 5:00 -- 4:52. so i didn't mean to jump the line. i real lie do want to hear from the gentlelady from california, the chair of the intelligence committed and also the chair of the committee on interagency. i look forward to t excuse me. the presiding officer: the senior senator from california is recognized. mrs. feinstein: thank you. i want to begin by saying the appropriations committee is in very good hands. chairman mikulski has done an excellent job. and i strongly support this supplemental that she has put together. i want to give you just some brief background of my involvement in this issue and the issue being the unaccompanied alien children. it began around

chair mikulski, you're welcome to stay. we know you have a very hectic day so we appreciate your coming. >> general wyden, senator hatch and members of the committee -- >> speak right into the microphone. great. >> chairman wyden, senator hatch, members of the committee. my name is carolyn colvin and i'm the acting administrator of the social security administration. i want to thank senator mikulski and senator cordon for their very, very kind introductions. i would like to thank the senators and staff for taking time out of their busy schedules to meet with me during this confirmation process. it is a privilege to have the opportunity to lead the social security administration as the commissioner. the scope of what we do is truly enormous and it is both a humbling and rewarding experience to go to work every day knowing what my colleagues and i do for family, helping our fellow citizens. e serve in the same scope of compassion nat service that president roosevelt envisioned. i am so proud to lead human health organizations

mikulski: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland is recognized. ms. mikulski: mr. president, i urge today -- i rise today to talk about really an urgent crisis at our border in which over 250 children a week are coming from central america, fleeing horrific gang violence, horrific gang violence to seek refuge and asylum in the united states of america. this is being equaled a crisis at the border. a border crisis, but the crisis actually begins in central america where brutal, violent gangs based on organized crime are either trying to recruit the boys into organized crime, drug smuggling, human trafficking or to recruit the girls into human trafficking and other just dangerous and repugnant circumstances. but when you go to the border the way i have, that you will see that the situation is dire, and it's dire because as these children come to the border, crossing the rio grande, probably within really almost a 50-mile stretch of the grande. it's not over the 1,900 miles of

it's been there for many, many decades, and to the credit of mikulski, senator mikulski from maryland, she came to visit, and we had to renovate. so it is in good shape. the veterans there had a good facility long before southern nevada. mr. president, in spite of all the happy talk about what a wonderful facility this is, veterans have been stunned. why? because they're waiting 50 days. if you're a new patient and you call, they say we'll see you in a couple of months; come on in. and about 2,000 patients have been waiting 90 days or more to even get an appointment. this is just unacceptable. mr. president, it's not just this big, new, fancy new facility in las vegas which is ill-equipped. even though it has all these nice things in it. it is not equipped because we didn't get the money to get it the way it should have been. but it's not a problem in las vegas. it is all over the country. a nationwide system wide problem with veterans that has been languishing on some, nonexistent waiting list. mr. president, when i learned that bernie sanders from vermont and congressman miller had

mikulski: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: i am really eager to bring at least one appropriations bill to the floor there are only 72 hours left before we break for august. i therefore ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by the majority leader after consultation with the republican leader, the senate proceed to the consideration of calendar number 400, h.r. 4486, the military construction v.a. appropriations bill, that the committee- committee-reported substitute amendment be agreed to, and that there be no other amendments, points of order, or motions in order to the bill other than budget points of order and the applicable motions to waive that there be up to one hour of debate, equally divided between the two leaders or their designees, that upon the use of or yielding back of time, the bill as amended be read a third time and the senate proceed to vote on the passage of the bill as amended, that if the bill as amended is passed, the senate insist on its amendment, request a conference with the h

chairman mikulski, you're welcome to stay. i know you've got a very hectic day, so we appreciate your coming. >> chairman wyden, ranking member hatch, and members of the ghit tee -- >> you might want to speak right into the microphone. thank you, ms. colvin. >> chairman wyden, ranking member hatch, members of the committee, my name is carolyn colvin, and i'm the acting commissioner of the social security administration. i am honored and grateful to appear before you today as president obama's nominee as commissioner of social security. i want to thank senator mikulski and senator wyden for their very, very kind introduction. i would like to thank the senators and their staff for taking time out of their busy schedules to meet with me during this confirmation process. it is a privilege to have the opportunity to lead the social security administration as the commissioner. the scope of what we do is truly enormous. and it is both humbling and a rewarding experience to go to work every day knowing what my colleagues and i do for

i want to commend the president and chairwoman mikulski for including $300 million in this supplemental request aimed at addressing what i'm convinced are the root causes of this problem. what are they? the lack of economic hope. lack of jobs. in central america. combining with increasing violence and insecurity in the region. i know, i've been there, to two of those three countries, guatemala and el salvador this year, down to mexico and colombia, which 20 years ago was a failed nation. remember in colombia, mr. president, roughly 20 years ago, a bunch of gunmen rounded up the supreme court justices for that country, took them to death. that was colombia roughly 20 years ago. they are no longer a failed nation, they came back from the brink and they're a strong, vibrant nation and with a willing partner along with mexico and the u.s. to turn around the situation in these central american countries which are the source of this migration to our country. based on my conversation with central american leaders with the ambassadors from all three countries as well as the ambassador from mexi

so the question would be, senator mikulski, are you trying to stiff-arm again? no, i'm trying to get the job done. i'm not trying to be stiff-arming the opportunity to offer amendments, but we have 72 hours left before we take this really long break, really long, long, long, very long -- did i say "long" -- break. i don't think when you need health care for veterans, when you need to modernize technology, when you need to crack the backlog, while we're kind of basking in the sun somewhere, i don't want them in line. so either this afternoon or sometime tomorrow i will bring this -- i will ask unanimous consent, that i will turn to my 99 colleagues and in the spirit of really meeting compelling needs of our veterans, i will ask that that bill come up so that as we move through the other two aspects that we're going to do to help veterans, we can do the v.a. mil-con bill. so, mr. president, i'm going to come to the floor today to talk about how we support a treasured ally, how we look out for our neighbors in the west fighting our wildfires, and how we deal with w

mikulski: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: mr. president, i rise as part of the ongoing debate and discussion -- the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. ms. mikulski: i ask unanimous consent that the call of the quorum be vacated. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. mikulski: mr. president, i know that the senate is now considering whether we should vote on the motion to proceed to the urgent supplemental bill. that means under our rules of another century, we don't actually get to a bill. we debate or even have a filibuster on whether we should even move to the bill. it was designed to really cool the passions of the time so the senate could be the greatest deliberative body in the world. however, these procedures now have been distorted that we are no longer the greatest deliberative body in the world. we're the greatest delaying body in the world. delay has become not only a tactic to come up with better ideas, delay has beco

mikulski: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: i have 12 unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of both the majority and minority leaders, and i thereby ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to and that these requests also be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. mikulski: madam president, i rise to speak on the pending business before the united states senate. the senate's just achieved cloture on the motion to proceed to the emergency supplemental funding bill, so let me explain to the people who are watching this either in the gallery or on c-span. the senate has creaky rules. these creaky rules were to make sure that we would cool the passions that would be raging in the nation on any given time so that we could duly give consideration, that debate would be diligent and we wouldn't be gripped by the fire of the moment or the passion of the moment. and i appreciate that. but instead, what these rules no

so we are going to spend $4 billion -- billion like in barb not million like in mikulski. i am not going to debate the merits of that but we can spend money all over like that and we cannot spend money at our border and also threats to our border because of narco terrorism that brings other vile, repugant behavior. i think we have to get real here. and the reason i want a supplemental that is urgent and meets that criteria is we don't have to take the money from other important programs that do help america's family in education, in health, in job retraining in order to bring our jobs back home. so madam president, i really do hope we pass this bill. not spending money won't save money. it means we will just take out of existing programs and the american people will pay for it doublely. they will pay through it through inaction which cost more. they will pay for it because they will lose the programs they thought they would have access to or there will be limited availability. we have a chance here now to help our neighbors in our western states. i know wisconsin has been

mikulski: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: mr. president, i rise to speak on the urgent supplemental bill and i rise as the chair of the full committee on appropriations that is actually trying to move the urgent supplemental. supplemental is an important word. it means it's in addition to fiscal years 2014 funding. there are elements we had to make a request for an urgent supplemental because of unexpected emergencies, either within our own country or affecting a treasured ally like the state of israel, or really the crisis at our border because of what's going on in central america. remember, it's the crisis in central america that is creating the humanitarian surge at our border. i rise now, though, to speak about one element. i've spoken about the fires in our western states. later on today i will speak about the children, and actually try to paint a picture for people on what's going on in honduras, el salvador and other countries that are also affected. but right now i want to speak also about israel. mr. president, israel i

mikulski: i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. under the previous order, all postcloture time is expired and the question occurs on the motion to proceed to s. 2569. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say nay. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the bill. the clerk: calendar number 453, s. 2569, a bill to provide an incentive for businesses to bring jobs back to america. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion. we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the nomination of pamela harris of maryland to be united states circuit judge for the fourth circuit, signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of pamela harris of maryland to be united states ci

and, of course, senator mikulski, the chairman of appropriations, has roughly a $2.7 billion supplemental appropriations bill. it would be this senator's intention, and i think i can speak for several other senators, that feel very strongly that we not have addressed the very root cause of the problem, which

mikulski: what is the parliamentary situation?as i understand -- the presiding officer: the senate is in a period of morning business. ms. mikulski: how much -- may i proceed or does the other party wish to -- how much time is remaining on their side? the presiding officer: the minority has three minutes. the majority has 47. ms. mikulski: with the concurrence of the minority party, i would like to proceed. i know they haven't yielded back their time, but if that is agreeable -- and i note no objection -- i will proceed if i may. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: thank you very much mr. president. mr. president, i rise today as the chair of the appropriations committee to talk about several challenges facing our country. first, i just want to real estate spond by -- to the comments made by many of the senators this morning on the compelling need to pass a supplemental appropriations to help israel re-plenish the rockets it's used up in its iron dome missile defense system. i am an u

mikulski for the process that we use in screening recommendations to the president for judgeships. i'm very proud of that process. it's a very open process. we have recruited, we think, the very best in the legal professional to serve as our judges and i'm proud to be part of the process with senator mikulski. in all of the candidates that i've interviewed for an appellate court, i must tell you, pamela harris has stood out as one of the most qualified individuals that we had in the legal community to sit on our appellate court. she is exceptional in her qualifications. well qualified. she's an excellent supreme court litigator, has clerked at the federal appellate court, supervised policy initiatives at the department of justice and she has dedicated her career and her professional life to improving the administration of justice as a public servant. a little bit of background about her, particularly her family. her grandmother was a polish jewish immigrant to the united states who valued education and worked hard to overcome personal adversity. her mom put herself through law scho

this begins with maryland senator barbra mikulski. resideni rise to speak on the pending business before the united states senate. the senate's just achieved cloture on the motion to proceed to the emergency supplemental funding bill, so let me explain to the people who are watching this either in the gallery or on c-span. the senate has creaky rules. these creaky rules were to make sure that we would cool the passions that would be raging in the nation on any given time so that we could duly give consideration, that debate would be diligent and we wouldn't be gripped by the fire of the moment or the passion of the moment. and i appreciate that. but instead, what these rules now do is they take a lot of time for us to get to the meat of the matter, because what we're debating now is the motion to proceed to a legislation related to and supplementing existing funding to meet new emerging crises. the senate votes on a motion to proceed not only on the bill itself, but should we even go to the bill. so what we're debating now is should w

mikulski: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the call of the quorum be vacated. the presiding officer: without objection, the quorum call is suspended. ms. mikulski: we are now in the closing hours of this session of the congress, as we get ready to take our break. i'm rising to exort our members to vote for the urgent supplemental. i appreciate the fact that we are now -- that the -- that wave doptd the motio --that we have n to proceed. i just want to remind our colleagues what is in the urgent supplemental. first, it's to fight wildfires in our own country. $615 million to fight 23 large fires that are sending homes and communities up in smoke in eight western states. second, it fortifies israel's antimissile defense system, iron dome, by providing $225 million to enable israel to purchase interceptor rockets that they have utilized in their own self-defense. it is lifesaving technology. it is a defensive technology. and, third, not at all least, it is to deal with our issues facing the

we'll expect to get speeches on senate floor today in favor of the mikulski plan, against the mikulskinote president obama is not weighing in. not playing active role what he wants. he is traveling to kansas city later today to talk about something else, martha. martha: very interesting. mike, we'll see where it goes. thank you. >> reporter: thank you. bill: meanwhile the middle east crisis continues today. this as there is new friction between the white house and israel today. the administration defending secretary of state john kerry after harsh criticism in the israeli media of his efforts to broker a cease-fire with hamas. this is the latest sign of a strained relationship between the administration and benjamin netanyahu's government there. >> let me say this about secretary kerry. israel has no better friend, no stronger defender. no one has done more to help israel achieve a secure and lasting peace. he has been tireless in his efforts and i think that israel and many countries and friends around the world recognize exactly that. bill: senior white house foreign affairs correspo

i mentioned that senator mikulski and i both recommended her appointment. senator mikulski is set up as the senior senator from our state, a process from which we solicit the strongest possible candidates of interest to fill judicial vacancies. we understand these are lifetime appointments. we understand the importance of these appointments. we have a screening process and an interview process in addition to the white house and justice department's vetting processes that we think will give us the highest quality person to fill these lifetime appointments. in pamela harris' case we are extremely proud and i want to thank senator mikulski for her commitment that gives us the very best people to fill these positions. pamela harris is the granddaughter of polish-jewish immigrants who came to this country to seek a better life for their children. pamela's mother worked her way through law school. pamela herself went to yale college and then yale law school. she was helped in the process through pell grants. she is a product of the montgomery county school system

mikulski: thank you very much, madam president.'d like to use this opportunity and this time to speak on supporting the murray legislation to protect women's health from interference -- from corporate interference. and, madam president, because of obligations to speak at a memorial service tomorrow, i won't be able to speak tomorrow morning. i feel so strongly about it, i'd like to have a few words today. i believe that this legislation ensures that the personal opinion of your employer doesn't trump the medical opinion of your doctor. i sure wish this legislation wasn't necessary, but, unfortunately, because of a recent supreme court decision now known as the hobby lobby decision, it is necessary. let's talk about how we got here. like you, madam president, we worked on health care reform. we were so concerned that over 40 million people didn't have access to health care. we were concerned that just being a woman was treated as a preexisting condition. we were charged double for what our insurance was, we were often -- we often ha

so, senator mikulski is holding a hearing this afternoon. my preference would be to pass the bill in a stand-alone bill. it's emergency spending and there are provisions in, with this money. we can do all kinds of things. we can go after the coyotes. we can go after the drug cartels and we can take care of these children. these children should be treated as humanely as humanly possible and america sets the standard for being able to take care of children in the right way. >> are you going to block anything? >> know i'm not going to block anything. i told you that my preferences. i think there are people making a lot of excuses as they have done for a year to do something productive or it would be productive as it that leads to the border problems to give us, give the administration the money so we can start going after these bad guys. >> senator udall. can i ask you sir what is your reaction to the top u.s. intelligence -- germany and how concerned are you about the ramifications of that? >> i am concerned as we all are. we are going to have

i thank chairwoman mikulski and subcommittee chairman reed for including this important provision in the supplemental bill and i would like to thank senators wyden and crapo for their tireless leadership in the fight to end fire borrowing. the proposal included in the emergency appropriations supplemental is a fiscally responsible solution to a devastating problem with wide-ranging impacts. it will help us respond to wildfires and support businesses and thousands of jobs in the timber industry 23 in wisconsins well as throughout the country. and i would urge my colleagues in the senate and the house to come together to solve this problem once and for all. madam president, i yield back. mr. heller: madam president? the presiding officer: the senatosenator from nevada. mr. heller: thank you, madam president. last week a piece was written about israel's interest in cross-border violence. rather, the goal of the current military action is to establish peace. i believe the writer correctly suggests that israel has been left with no choice but to act in order to defend herself from the ter

you have senators barbara mikulski saying let's house temporarily the illegal immigrants and children in abandoned federal buildings that's near highway traffic jams. that means you're putting five-year-olds in danger of being near traffic. what do you think of the decision-making that's going on even at that level as well? >> i think illegal immigration harms americans in many different ways and most americans know. that a lot of the people they're bringing in are not children. most of the illegals are coming in and telling people at border they're coming because obama wants them and will take care of them and they're right. we think this is obama inspired invasion of united states of america and incumbent upon all citizens and federal employees to disregard any type of unconstitutional orders to join our protest and take that groundswell of activity out there at the protests today and turn it into real change in the 2014 elections where we have gop primaries and general elections where we intend to remove many immigration reform amnesty supporters responsible from this. liz: william

. >> reporter: senate appropriations committee chair barbara mikulski took to the senate floor. >> iron dome the funding is needed now. >> reporter: but rather than introducing a bill to give israel a money she and democrats tied the funding to a problem more than 7,000 miles away. the highly controversial senate border bill giving president obama more money to deal with the immigration problem. >> the border vote that harry reid has keyed up is designed to be voted down. knees it will be voted down. they attached the iron dome funding to it because they want to play partisan politics and pretend that the republicans who are not going to support a border bill that doesn't solve the problem are somehow opposed to funding for iron dome. >> reporter: now this begs a very simple question. if the iron dome bill is so critical and time sensitive why tie it to something so controversial? democratic senate sources say it wasn't their idea to join the two but rather a move orchestrated by those up pennsylvania avenue at the white house. we have reached out to the white house for a comment but ha

mikulski: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: mr. president, i rise today as the chair of the appropriation committee that will be proposing the emergency supplemental bill. this bill will be introduced tonight, and i want to briefly describe it. first of all, what does the emergency supplemental bill do? it deals with three crises. one, it will fight wildfires with additional resources about what's going on in our own country. second, it will help israel be able to continue to man its iron dome antiballistic missile system as it's been under siege by hamas rockets. and third, it will help be a down payment on resolving the crisis of the children arriving at the border. to be specific, it will fight wildfires to the tune of $615 million. right now, there are 127 wildfires burning in our western states, covering over -- four or more states. second, it will strengthen israel's iron dome and add $225 million to replenish the antimissile defense rockets, saving the lives by shooting down hamas rockets, helping our central ally israel. an

casey: i understand that s. 2648, introduced earlier today by senator mikulski, is at the desk and i ask for its first reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title for the first time. the clerk: s. 2648, a bill making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2014, and for other purposes. mr. casey: i now ask for its second reading and object to my own request. the presiding officer: the objection having been heard, the senate will proceed on the next -- the bill will receive a second reading on the next legislative day. mr. casey: i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. i ask that the quorum call be lifted. officer sphe without objection. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. while presiding for a couple of hours just now, i listened to some really very powerful and eloquent debate organized by the presiding officer, and i thaipg

in the senate, democrat barbara mikulski proposed legislation to cut the president's funding request$1 billion. but it would not change the 2008 law on deportations. homeland security department officials warn border and immigration agencies will run out of money in the next two months, unless congress acts. >> ifill: lawmakers in iraq have again delayed voting on a new president. they agreed today to put off a decision until tomorrow, after the kurdish political bloc asked for more time. at least 95 candidates are running. meanwhile, the islamic state group claimed responsibility for an overnight suicide bombing that killed 31 people at a checkpoint in baghdad. >> woodruff: in indonesia, a former general who lost the presidential election now plans to challenge the results in the nation's highest court. his campaign alleges widespread fraud in the voting, although election observers have said it was generally free and fair. election officials declared jakarta governor joko widodo the winner, yesterday. >> ifill: the costa concordia cruise liner began it's final voyage today, more th

what we should do is pass the legislation that senator mikulski put forward.e the house would join us in that now that they can't get their own bill moving. >> senator bob casey, we will see you in a few weeks. >> thanks very much. >>> up next, a major ruling on an issue that divided wisconsin and the nation. the impact where it matters most, american families. >>> we continue to watch for the president, who's slated to make remarks any moment and expect some more fighting words for house republicans out to sue him. keep it here. so factors like diet can negatively impact good bacteria? even if you're healthy and active. phillips digestive health support is a duo-probiotic that helps supplement good bacteria found in two parts of your digestive tract. i'm doubly impressed! phillips' digestive health. a daily probiotic. i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. then i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may kn

chaired by barbara mikulski of maryland. life coverage on c-span3.aÑ

in may, appropriation committee chairwoman barbara mikulski and i wrote a letter to the attorney general eric holder and called on the department of justice to begin appropriate criminal and civil investigation into the allegation of misconduct at the veterans administration. we've also recommended that the commerce, justice and science appropriation bill that we serve as chairman and ranking provide the resources for these investigations. the veterans' affairs and military construction appropriation bill provides an additional $5 million to investigate v.a. scheduling practices alone. madam president, legislation introduced this week requests an additional $17 billion to improve the v.a. over the next three years. and while i commend these efforts to initiate corrective action, i believe that it's only a starting point. a lack of funding is not the main spring of the v.a.'s troubled past. i look forward to working with you and others, with the new v.a. secretary to ensure that these problems at the v.a. are rectified as soon as possible before any more veterans are virtually -- are adve

. >> reporter: now democratic senator who made the move, senator barbara mikulski of maryland.ession passioned speech on senate floor need for iron dome and funding. we asked her interview or statement. ask very simple question, if fund something so important to defend ally why tie to it controversial bill. she refused interview. the spokesman said saw fitting tie funding of number of emergencies including wildfires together. mean israel keeps using up supply of very expensive interceptor rockets. bill: we'll watch that debate. leland vittert live in washington that. martha. martha: here is question always gets asked around election time, are you satisfied with the current direction of economy. president obama says he has the country back on track now. do you agree with that? results of latest "fox news poll" coming up. bill: the all-american tradition doesn't get any better than that. martha: this awesome. bill: dream of winning the big soapbox derby in akron. martha: take the pink one. color of my dress. bill: i will take the blue one. we'll see who wins. martha: professional

. >> senata probation's chair barbara mikulski of maryland came to the floor to announce a $3.5 billionemergency supplemental spending bill. it includes spending for the unaccompanied children crossing the border fighting wildfires and aiding israel's antimissile system. this is 10 minutes. >> i rise today as the chair of the appropriations committee that will be proposing the emergency supplemental bill. this will bill will be introduced tonight and i want to briefly describe it. first of all what does the emergency supplemental bill to? it deals with three crises. one, it will fight wildfires with additional resources about what's going on in our own country. second, it will help israel be able to continue to man its iron dome anti-ballistic missile system as it's been under siege by hamas rockets and third pupil help be a down payment on resolving the crisis of the children arriving at the border. to be specific it will fight wildfires to the tune of $615 million. right now there are 127 wildfires burning in our western states covering over four or more states. second, it will streng

. >> i want to associat don't asso the remarks of the appropriations committee chairwoman mikulski andould add perhaps one particular point, and that is the senator will be basking in the sun in illinois during the recess. they won't be in a vacation it will be in my home state and i'm sure you're going to be spending a lot of time as well. >> i am staying in maryland while you are in illinois and im in maryland is the only don't want our veterans standing in line for their healthcare or disability benefits. some shoulder to shoulder together. >> this bill is timely. one of the provisions is an additional $225 million for the i aired job defense that is a joint effort by the united states and israel to protect israel from the rocket attacks. imagine you are living in your hometown and in the neighboring state or neighboring town. you want some protection and it provides protection for israel. the joint effort of the united states and israel has been successful despite the rocket attacks the casualties on the israeli side has been minimal, relatively minimal and it is because of the iro

. >> chairwoman mikulski, ranking member shelby and members of the committee, i thank you for the opportunityo discuss these issues. the influx ever children is an urgent humanitarian situation that calls for a robust humanitarian response. it is a complex evolving situation for which there are no easy answers. it is a situation we are taking very seriously across the administration recognizing our dual purpose of taking care of these children while we also enforce the law. as a nation of laws, we must acknowledge that many of the children crossing our borders do not have a legal basis to remain in this country. we must acknowledge that we are talking about children, many of them young children, who are escaping unthinkable violence and living in conditions that are difficult for many of us to imagine. often times they are preyed on my smugglers who have made it their business to bring unaccompanied children across the borders. i had the opportunity to meet a few of these children last week as the chairwoman mentioned. we visited a customs and border patrol station along with a temporary shel

. >> chairwoman mikulski, ranking member shelby and members of the committee, i thank you for the opportunityo discuss these issues. the influx ever children is an urgent humanitarian situation that calls for a robust humanitarian response. it is a complex evolving situation for which there are no easy answers. it is a situation we are taking very seriously across the administration recognizing our dual purpose of taking care of these children while we also enforce the law. as a nation of laws, we must acknowledge that many of the children crossing our borders do not have a legal basis to remain in this country. we must acknowledge that we are talking about children, many of them young children, who are escaping unthinkable violence and living in conditions that are difficult for many of us to imagine. often times they are preyed on my smugglers who have made it their business to bring unaccompanied children across the borders. i had the opportunity to meet a few of these children last week as the chairwoman mentioned. we visited a customs and border patrol station along with a temporary shel

facility in northern nevada, it's been there for many, many decades, and to the credit of senator mikulski from maryland, she came and visited that a number of years ago and said this is wrong. that facility couldn't get the modern equipment down the halls in the bedrooms. so we had to renovate that. so it's in good shape. and the veterans in northern nevada had a facility long before one in southern nevada. mr. president, in spite of all the happy talk about what a wonderful facility this is, veterans dependent on v.a. care have been stunned. why? because they're waiting 50 days. if you're a new patient you call and they say, well, we'll see you in a couple months. come on in. and about 2,000 patients have been waiting 90 days or more to geffen get an appointment. -- even get an appointment. this is just unacceptable. mr. president, it's not just this big, fancy, new facility in las vegas which is ill equipped even though it has all these nice things in it. it's not equipped because we didn't get the money to furnish it the way it should have been. but it's not a problem in las vegas, it'