chairman. >> thank you, senator mikulski. we'll now hear from our witnesses and let me present them. again, dr. hepburn's been mentioned. he's executive director of the national association of state mental health program directors which represent mental health services in all of 50 states. he's been the clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the university of maryland medical system for 20 years. he's cared for patients for more than 20 years. the second witness, ms. penny blake, registered nurse working in an emergency department in central florida. she's been a nurse for 40 years. she's worked in the emergency department for 15 years. she chairs the national advocacy advisory council for emergency nurses. dr. eaton, who senator mikulski mentioned, is professor at the bloomberg school of public health, an expert in his field, written hundreds of articles. mr. hakeem rahim is the ceo of live breathe, an organization focus and mental health advocacy and reducing the stigma associated with mental health. he brings his ow

i thank vice-chairman mikulski for inviting me. i'm honored to accept your invitation to speak on an issue of importance to all americans -- reducing gun violence while ensuring the fundamental right of citizens to bear arms is not infringed. i wish to commend your centrally for convening this panel because these goals are not mutually exclusive. my duty is to enforce the law and i am here today as the chief law enforcement officer to deliver the law enforcement officers on the streets perspective on this issue. for the last five years, i have witnessed the challenge of safeguarding the gun rights of law-abiding citizens also working to deny lawbreakers the ability to use firearms to commit crimes. i've learned an important lesson -- further limiting the ability of responsible citizens to buy guns will not keep criminals from getting one. in fact, i reached out to local police chiefs soliciting their advice on what is working and what is not working in stopping gun violence on the street. i wanted to be able to carry their message

senator mikulski. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman, and i congratulate you on holding this hearing so quickly in the opening session and taking up a topic of the issue of guns and their excessive availability in our society. this does tackle the very pressing issue of guns and gun violence. an average of 300 americans are shot every day. 90 of them will die, almost a third. we do need to change our nation's culture of violence. we do need to stop guns getting into the wrong hands, the criminals, those with mental illness, without infringing on the right of law-abiding citizens to purchase firearms. but know that i do support the president's measure on guns. he is within his constitutional authority to act in of these activities by adding more fbi and atf agents has strongly been supported by this committee. i think last year's omnibus under your chairmanship, sir, really showed our commitment to enforcing the existing laws. i do look forward to hearing the attorney general, loretta lynch, testimony today and the impact it wil

chairman. >> thank you senator mikulski. we'll hear from our witnesses and let me present them. again dr. hepburn has been mentioned. he is executive director of national association of state and mental health program directors which represent mental health service delivery systems in all 50 states. he's been a clinical associate of professor of psychiatry at the university of maryland medical system for nearly 20 years. and he has cared for patients pour more than 20 years. the second witness, miss penny blake, registered nurse working in an emergency department in central florida. she has been a nurse for 40 years. worked in an emergency department for 15 years. she chairs the national advocacy advisory council for emergency nurses. dr. eaton, who senator mikulski mentioned is professor at bloomberg school of public health, an expert in the field, written hundreds of articles. much of his work has focused on the cooccurrence of mental health disorders and other chronic health issues like diabetes and heart disease. mr. hakim rahim is the ceo of live breathe. organization focus

i think vice-chairman mikulski for inviting me. i'm honored to accept your invitation to speak on an issue of importance to all americans -- reducing gun violence while ensuring the fundamental right of law-abiding citizens to bear arms is not infringed. i was to commend your centrally -- wish to commend your centrally for convening this panel because these goals are not mutually exclusive. my duty is to enforce the law and i am here today as the chief law enforcement officer to deliver the law enforcement officers on the streets perspective on this issue. for the last five years, i have witnessed the challenge of safeguarding the gun rights of law-abiding citizens also working to deny lawbreakers the ability to use firearms to commit crimes. i've learned an important lesson -- further limiting the ability of responsible citizens to buy guns will not keep criminals from getting one. in fact, i reached out to local police chiefs soliciting their advice on what is working and what is not working in stopping gun violence on the street

i'm going to ask senator mikulski to introduce one of you since she has a conflict which will require her to leave soon. : thank you soki much, senator alexander. i want to thank you for your progress on holding hearings on the issue of mental health. i know this is your third hearing on the topic and i want to salute you and senator murray for moving in this direction. justiceerce subcommittee is holding a hearing on president obama's proposals on gun control and as the vice chair, i must be at my duty station and have to excuse myself. i really want to be at this hearing because i am a professionally trained social worker. we have been working on this -- these issues all of my professional life. this is why i came to the senate , to listen to good people with great ideas on how we could help our people. we have two distinguished marylanders here. one is dr. hepburn who headed up the state of maryland's agency on mental health and himself a university of maryland trained clinician who went on to breathe mental health into a bureaucracy and bring care to our people in a state -- we ar

eleanor: senator barbara boxer and barbara mikulski. two women who were trailblazers. they announced again they won't run again in 2016. tom: the u.s. military personnel who died this year in combat operations but also those who lost their lives due to mental health issues. clarence: i'm sorry to see john boehner go the way that he did go. it was noble for him to try to set things up so we wouldn't have to worry about government shutdowns for a while as he headed out the door. but it was really more of a result of the chaos in the house than the productivity of it. john: boehner was a class act. clarence: he was a class act but not a class act on capitol hill. john: sorry to see you go. cecil the lion. who was killed by a trophy hunter. the u.s. dentist walter palmer. he's back hunting in zimbabwe. his wife gave him full chance -- full -- his wife gave him a -- tom: well, i'd leave it like that. let's go to the next one. john: well, i kind of like it. you're taking over the show now? clarence: yeah. john: gave him full clearance to go. she's the daughter of rob -- of f

barbara mikulski's here and she will remember as i have as a couple of new, young senators that we wererip led by john glenn and ted stevens. it was a wonderful trip. so, to be with these two fine senators, i was so happy that i could go. i can remember many things about that trip, and i'll talk just about a couple of things. we left vienna to go to czechoslovakia as it was called at that time. when we came to the border the iron curtain was still down. they stopped the train and brought out the dogs and the people with their rifles. and they were looking around and under the train, and we were asked to get out of the train. as things calmed down a little bit, one of the soldiers looking around so no one would see what he was doing came over to john glenn quickly and said, could you give me an autograph? we then went to prague and had a meeting with some government officials there. as we were walking up the street, someone came out of an apartment building with an encyclopedia and had it open to john glenn's picture and came to him and said, would you autograph over your picture? we foc

barbara mikulski maryland"what can we do in just plain english, to keep the guns out of hands of criminals?" s/loretta lynch /u.s. attorney general "one of the most important things we can do is make sure the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms is fully resourced." flash to: 311-331 "we are targeting not just gun traffickers, but as my atf director calls it "the trigger pullers" gang violence place where we have seen an increase in violent crime. we are looking at ways to target our resources to focus on those individuals who are causing the most harm to our communities." on top of that lynch says congress should also act to increase mental health funding. another year ... another record for the earth's temperature. nasa and the national oceanic and atmospheric administration ... or "noah" ... now say 2015 was the hottest year on record. that continues the trend that's been ongoing for more than a decade... of each year breaking the previous year's record. was one-point-eight degrees warmer last year than it was in the late 19th century... when records were first kept. scientists and c

. >>> happening today, barbara mikulski, the senator is going to announce federal funding for the goddardcenter in prince george's county. the measure provides about $19 billion for nasa, an increase of about a billion over last year. the goal is to continue all of goddard's missions including the hubble space telescope. >>> d.c. mayor muriel bowser will join d.c. police chief cathy lanier to announce a new task force in an effort to combat robberies. the force is going to include police officers, metro transit police officers, and representatives of the office of the attorney general. the goal is for all of those agencies to help target offenders by quickly identifying and responding to patterns of a robbery spree. >> reporter: we've been kmc;pe4t out of calvert county all morning long. take a look at this devastating scene here off route 4. this strip mall and flower shop destroyed after an suv left the road just after midnight and slammed into the building bursting into flames. you can see a crane has been working for several hours now removing the debris. we'll have much more on our w

. >> senator barbara mikulski is resigning a retiring from congress. thank you. and then killing his uncle you are here representing the flint area. what is the current situation? >> it is tough. >> up to 10,000 children have been poisoned with lead three -- use untreated flint river water. finally tonight i see he called in the national guard nothing short of pathetic. and i've asked for federal help, spoke to the present briefly, spoke to the chief of staff. we just need to get these kids help. >> is he aware of the issue? >> he is. the president did indicate he has been staying up with the situation. i am hopeful they will be able to provide us help. >> what did you think of the presence last state of the union? >> i thought it was a good speech. there is no excuse using the politics of today to avoid actually governing. we should not let 2016 be a lost year. do with the american people are asking. as questions about political reformer particularly important and his call for us to not judge people based upon heritage or religion are important. one of my consti

they are hoping to succeed barbara mikulski. who is retiring. primary is in april.no chances. >> if the storm hit and i would kick myself. leon: people are bracing for a storm that hasn't formed yet. >> screams pierced the night in a quiet neighborhood. a mother stand by helpless as the family tragedy unfolds. >> plus a couple drives from colorado to the d.c. area. to send a message to the automotive giant. >> prepare now. that is the message tonight as it's more and more like we are in for a winter storm. alison: we will check in with stephen tschida to see how people are coping with the cold. leon: but first, check in with doug. doug: the computer model on track to bring snowstorm to the mid-atlantic. in the friday/saturday time frame. it's 26 in the nation's capital. the winds are a factor. not as gusty as yesterday. tonight is clear. it's a little breeze so the wind chill in the upper single numbers overnight. a lot of sunshine starting the day tomorrow. traveling ahead in time snowshowers tomorrow. sunshine on thursday. friday is cloudy, cold, breezy with the p

. >>> also in the week ahead, senator barbara mikulski will announce a tool designed to detect weatherater warnings. the new noaa and clie ma'am center is up in college park. it can detect it faster and more accurately than ever before. >>> they may be one of the hottest gifts this season but hover boards are being linked the more and more injury sfloo touf the see at times. nbc 4's candice wen looking at it. >> reporter: you've seen the youtube videos and some are pretty funny. even landing celebrities like mike tyson on the ground. but this doctor and other medical professionals say this newest toy trend the no laughing matter. >> we have lots of injured related to it. when a kid falls or any human tries to brace himself that's when you see injuries. >> reporter: in fact hospitals nationwide are seeing an uptake. they've had numerous cases since christmas including patients with fractures. a children's hospital says it's had a handful of cases and they're now keep ang eye on hoverboard related injuries. dr. maloney says they're not talking about bruised wrists and elbows. >> the othe

i also want to compliment chairman mikulski and rank -- murkowski and ranking member cantwell in their partnering to produce the legislation which we are considering out here on the floor. it represents bipartisanship in the way it is meant to operate, and towards that goal, i have an amendment that i'm going to speak to right now, which is one that senator cassidy from louisiana and i have introduced, and it is an amendment to improve the way we are going to be selling oil from the strategic petroleum reserve. our nation's oil stockpile is supposed to be there to protect american consumers and our security in the event of an emergency. we shouldn't be using it as a piggy bank to pay pour other priorities. but if we're going to sell oil from the strategic petroleum reserve, we should at least make sure that we do so strategically to get the best deal for taxpayers and american consumers. last year senator cassidy and i offered a nearly identical amendment to the transportation bill, which was adopted on the senate floor and ultimately became law. that amendment protects taxpayers by im

edw each is running to succeeducce barbara mikulski who is retiring.retiring cummings is from baltimoret is an honor that moves long time civil rights leader john louis to tears.ea the he met with navy secretaryecreta ray maeve vis . they were discussing a newcussing fleet of ships to be built inip the coming years.s >>> the two men began men beg discussing the civil rightshe civil r movement and maeve vis told louis he would name one of theof new ships after him. well yesterday maeve vis madeaeve vis m it official during a ceremony ceremon at the cannon office building. bldin >> friends and family of an alexandria man seriously hurtur decorating his house for christmas -- are helping to hel take down hundreds of inflatable ornaments. orn just look at what kirk farmerrm and his family created at at their home on fairview driverv in alexandria.lendri farmer was hurt when he fellas off the roof putting up the h decorations. he is still in the hospital and faces a long road to recovery. this tradition was started by staed family's father 50 years agor 50 yea when he owned this house. hou f

and if any other woman wins the presidency it will be because maxine and barbara lee and barbara mikulskiand all of the people who have been out there proving that women can be respected in authority in public life, it will be because all of those women and a maxine especially in summary ways have demonstrated that women's authority in public life is okay, it's normal, it's a good, it's positive because otherwise i think we are so used to seeing women only in child rearing, women to. we associate women authority with nurturing and emotion and things inside the home. we see male authority as rational and appropriate to affairs outside the home and communal, i think that's part of the reason that it's hard for some women to and especially for men and i see it when i think and see some of the grown-up guys on television saying ridiculous things about-- well, i'm thinking that 2008, now when hillary clinton took all of this [bleep] and a big grown-up news guys were saying i cross my legs when i see her, she reminds me of my first wife waiting outside for alimony. coming, hello? and i think it

. >> you worked with senator mikulski? >> yes. >> you can get no better boss, to be sure, and her standards are extremely high, would you agree? >> absolutely. >> do you agree that the state department's internal document management systems are not ideal? >> yes, we do. >> and in your position as the head of the legislative affairs at the state department, do you have the ability to talk to secretary kerry about the challenges that you face? >> yes. >> and have you ever done that? >> yes. >> have you ever proposed changes to the current systems, and if so, what was that response? >> yes, we've created a whole new system for responding to congressional requests that is separate from the foia system. we've gotten full support from the state department, from the secretary, to do that. it's only recently up and running, so we're still working out some of the kinks. but i'm hoping that this will transform the way we are able to respond to congress and enable us to do it in a quicker way, and also in a more convenient way, so it

you have barbara mikulski talking about the second amendment and she said just last week, don't talk to me about this constitution, let's get this done. >> it is irritating at times, isn't it? >> you got to root it in the constitution. >> i want to stop you there. we have much more to discuss with glenn as you can hear, including the attacks that have come down against him since this announcement became public and his thoughts on another endorsement that occurred last week, that of sarah palin for donald trump. stay tuned. >> glenn beck, be on my show, be on my show. every time i see him, he's a weird guy. he's always crying. he's a weird dude. introducing metris, the mid-size van from mercedes-benz. it's got small-ability and big-ability. towing-ability and stowing-ability. rack-ability and hvac-ability. it's fully customizable and sized just right to give you cupcake-ability, entourage-ability... ...garage-ability and even afford-ability. starting at $28,950. available in cargo or passenger. from mercedes-benz. and i'm still struggling with my diabetes. i do my best to manage. but

. >> senator barbara mikulski is resigning a retiring from congress. thank you. and then killing his uncle you are here representing the flint area. what is the current situation? >> it is tough. >> up to 10,000 children have been poisoned with lead three -- use untreated flint river water. finally tonight i see he called in the national guard nothing short of pathetic. and i've asked for federal help, spoke to the present briefly, spoke to the chief of staff. we just need to get these kids help. >> is he aware of the issue? >> he is. the president did indicate he has been staying up with the situation. i am hopeful they will be able to provide us help. >> what did you think of the presence last state of the union? >> i thought it was a good speech. there is no excuse using the politics of today to avoid actually governing. we should not let 2016 be a lost year. do with the american people are asking. as questions about political reformer particularly important and his call for us to not judge people based upon heritage or religion are important. one of my consti

eaton thinks about is how can we do the preventive work senator mikulski: he will talk to you today about his work appeared everybody with a mental health problem needs individual treatment, but they live in a social world and we need to look at indicators and how we can make certain that institutions are with families and with goals. i have already learned a lot from him. and i have listened to the folks at the school of public health. i look forward to where we are going on this issue. when i got out of graduate went -- school, i went when they were training social health workers. president kennedy led the battle to establish community centers, to get rid of the old type of hospitals, everybody at the table remembers that. and i am sure you have heard stories. need newis not that we ideas, i mean institutions, maybe we need to look at thought we arewe going to do and we never did it. we never follow through on community health centers. maybe that is the way to go. we never follow through in an theessive way to enforce parity act. it may be that is the way to go. speaking as a social wor

. >> i think you worked with senator mikulski.you can get no better boss, that's for sure, and her standards are extremely high, would you agree? >> absolutely. >> do you agree that the state department's internal document management systems are not ideal? >> yes, we do. >> and in your position as the head of the legislative affairs at the state department, do you have the ability to talk to secretary kerry about the challenges that you face? >> yes. >> and have you ever done that? >> yes, sir. >> have you ever proposed changes to the current systems? and if so, what was that response? >> yes, we've created a whole new system for responding to congressional requests that is separate from the foia system. we've gotten full support from the state department, from the secretary to do that. it's only recently up and running so we are still working out some of the kinks but i'm hoping that this will transform the way we are able to respond to congress and enable us to do it in a quicker way and also in a more convenient way so it's com

senator mikulski will introduce the first witness at and after eyewitness testimony senators will have, each have five minutes of questions. and four we begin today's hearing i want to briefly mention for the information of the committee of our progress on two or three items on our agenda. yesterday i announced that we placan't hold our first mark on february 9 to consider the first set a bipartisan bills aimed at spurring biomedical innovation for american patients. senators and staff have been working through 2015 on this on a number of bipartisan pieces of legislation. the house has completed its work on the 21st century cures act. the president has reiterated his support for precision medicine initiative and in a state of the union address for cancer moon shot. so it's urgent that the senate finished its work and turn into law these ideas that will help virtually every american. we have also been working for months together on legislation to achieve interoperability of electronic health care records for doctors, hospitals and their patients. we have a lot of credit for what to do a

i see senator mikulski from maryland. our committee work and it bipartisan way. so did the house of representatives. the president and staff members and secretary duncan have been straightforward in dealing with us and i'm grateful for that and we knew from the beginning and said to the president, mr. president, we know we can't change the law, we can't fix no child left behind, unless we have your signature. he dealt with us in a straightforward way. and then we found the consensus and once we found that consensus it made it difficult problem a lot easier. we keep the important -- parents teachers and schools will know how parents students are doing. 17 tests administered from the third grade to the took great, keep those report the results, and then leave it to classroom teachers, school boards and states, the decisions about what to do. that should result in better and fewer tests. that consensus underpins the success we have had. six years ago in december we had a disagreement in this chamber. we passed the affordable care act with all the democrats voting ye