mr. collins, for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thank you, mr. patterson, for being here. i think you can tell your get out of jail free card today as you've been in this particular job five months. i would hope five months from now you would not be giving many of the same answers. following up at what mr. ruiz said. i think we're all frustrated there seems to be the bureaucracy mindset. in the dea today, much like we've seen in the va. and, you know, we are finally seeing heads rolling in the va, not as fast as we want. i'm just curious because there is no doubt there was an abject failure in the dea going back the last ten years. have a lot of heads been chopped off? i mean, have you got a new team in place? >> sir, so as i said, we have a new head of diversion control. i think the last two people who have done that job have done -- been both successful in turning around that program. i -- >> well, not to interrupt, but to interrupt, i think the right people can turn this around in 48 hours. i'm a turnaround guy. that's what i've spent my whole

there has been no additional evidence of any russian interference in bragg's that referendum now mr collins traveled to the u.s. to try to grill the officials from a number of leading tech companies and again the message was clear that russia has been interfering in the democratic processes there be looked at all advertisements of any connection to russia and we found no evidence of our services being used to interfere in the referendum and a very small number of suspects it's not research agency linked accounts it's forty nine such accounts were active during the campaign which represents less than not point five percent of the total number of accounts these are very low level things ajman now despite those testimonies that runs against what we've been hearing from leading politicians including the prime minister to resign may who insists that russia is up to no good it is seeking to weaponize information deploying its state run media organizations to plant fake stories and photo shopped images in an attempt to sow discord in the west and undermine our institutions so i have a very simple

there has been no additional evidence of any russian interference in the braggs that referendum now mr collins traveled to the u.s. to try to grill the officials from a number of leading tech companies and again the message was clear that russia hasn't been interfering in the democratic processes there be looked at all advertisements of any connection to russia and we found no evidence of our services being used to interfere in the referendum and a very small number of suspected research agency linked accounts of forty nine such accounts were active during the campaign which represents less than not point five percent of the title number of accounts these are very low level things now despite those testimonies that runs against what we've been hearing from leading politicians including the prime minister to resign may who insists that russia is up to no good it is seeking to weaponize information deploying its state run media organizations to plant fake stories and photo shopped images in an attempt to sow discord in the west and undermine our institutions so i have a very simple message for r

there has been no additional evidence of any russian interference in bragg's that referendum now mr collins traveled to the u.s. to try to grill the officials from a number of leading tech companies and again the message was clear that russia has been interfering in the democratic processes there be looked at it has met with any connection to russia and we found no evidence of our services being used to interfere in the referendum and a very small number of suspected research agency linked accounts forty nine such accounts were active during the campaign which represents less than not point five percent of the total number of accounts these are very low level things now despite those testimonies that runs against what we've been hearing from leading politicians including the prime minister to resign may who insists that russia is up to no good it is seeking to weaponize information deploying its state run media organizations to plant fake stories and photo shopped images in an attempt to sow discord in the west and undermine our institutions so i have a very simple message for russia we kno

there has been no additional evidence of any russian interference in the braggs that referendum now mr collins traveled to the u.s. to try to grill the officials from a number of leading tech companies and again the message was clear that russia hasn't been interfering in the democratic processes there be looked at all advertisements with any connection to russia and we found no evidence of our services being used to interfere in the referendum and a very small number of suspected research agency linked accounts forty nine such accounts were active during the campaign which represents less than not point nor five percent of the title number of accounts these are very low level things judgement now despite those testimonies that runs against what we've been hearing from leading politicians including the prime minister to resign may who insists that russia is up to no good it is seeking to weaponize information deploying its state run media organizations to plant fake stories and photo shopped images in an attempt to sow discord in the west and undermine our institutions so i have a very simple

mr. collins is a world war ii veteran who was wounded in the battle of the bulge. and mr. and mrs. mayors of the same city, caribou, maine. to pat and don collins, congratulations on 70 years, we at the press want to know what it takes to get there, after all we turned 70 last year. and if it's sunday, it's "meet the press" on your nbc stations. "the beat" with ari melber starts right now. >> chuck, you don't look 70. >> thank you, ari. >>> the big news tonight, donald trump's son-in-law facing very big new questions about whether he tried to misuse the power he has in that nepotismic job. as well as more big news this friday night. >>> questions coming now from bob mueller, take a look at this from nbc news, mueller analyzing kushner's meetings during that pivotal and volatile transition period, asking, did he try to shape public policy

there has been no additional evidence of any russian interference in the braggs that referendum now mr collins traveled to the u.s. to try to grill the officials from a number of leading tech companies and again the message was clear that russia has been interfering in the democratic processes there be looked at all advertisements of any connection to russia and we found no evidence of our services being used to interfere in the referendum a very small number of suspected research agency linked accounts forty nine such accounts were active during the campaign which represents less than not point five percent of the title number of accounts these are very low level things now despite those testimonies that runs against what we've been hearing from leading politicians including the prime minister to resign may who insists that russia is up to no good it is seeking to weaponize information deploying its state run media organizations to plant fake stories and photo shopped images in an attempt to sow discord in the west and undermine our institutions so i have a very simple message for russia we k

collins: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: mr. president, i ask consent that when the senate proceeds to the consideration of the house message to accompany h.r. 1625, the omnibus appropriations bill, that the collins-alexander amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to. the presiding officer: is there objection? mrs. murray: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: reserving the right to object, i do want to take a moment to talk about how we got this moment and why i am hopeful that despite the republican leader's decision to once again scuttle bipartisan negotiations on health legislation, we can do what patients and families want -- that is to strengthen health care and lower the premiums next year. mr. president, chairman alexander had said that in september every democrat in the senate was ready to pass the original alexander-murray legislation, and he is right. we wanted to work with republicans to undo as

mr. collins, thank you for joining us. >> good to be with you, wolf. >> your area includes the niagara fallsnt. a lot of production for electricity coming from your district and the district next to yours. what have you been told about these alleged cyber attacks that the russians are planning, and how close are they to actually succeeding? >> well, we've been monitoring this, we've held hearings on it. when you look at it's not just russia, it's north korea, it's iran. we said all along that the cyber attacks into our infrastructure, which includes power plants but also any and all computer-related things, is something that we all take very seriously. we're trying to harden everything we can, even from an electromagnetic pulse which we've always been talking about the last ten years, the vulnerability of electronics. we've always been concerned about this. we need to make sure our counterterrorism folks are on this. on the energy congress committee in congress are very aware of it, the industry is very aware of it. we take it very, very seriously. >> even with the announcement of these new

mr. president, i ask that i be added as a cosponsor to the collins-alexander amendment. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i understand that the senate has received a message from the house to accompany h.r. 1625. the presiding officer: majority leader is correct. mr. mcconnell: i ask that the chair lay before the senate the message a company h.r. 1625. the presiding officer: the chair lays before the senate the following message from the house. the clerk will report. the clerk: resolve that the house agree to the amendment of the senate to the bill h.r. 1625, entitled an act to amend the state department basic authorities act of 1956 to include severe forms of trafficking and persons within the definition of transnational organized crime for purposes of the rewards program of the department of state and for other purposes, with an amendment. mr. mcconnell: i move to concur in the house amendment to h.r. 1625 and send a cloture motion to the desk on the motion concur. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the un

mr. collins has been accused of assaulting another inmate. was never a verification of that, but the accusation was there. >> brian had a history of aggressive behavior, a history of getting into fights with inmates and staff. he was a convicted sex offender, obviously in jeopardy inside a prison, so i think a lot of his aggressive behavior was a means of protecting himself. >> prison officials allowed us to give collins a small videocamera to record his personal thoughts inside his cell. he gave us a rundown of the numerous disciplinary write-ups that he had taped to his wall. >> this is a battery. this is a battery. this is a battery. all of these are batteries. influence to others, disruptive, temperament, volatile, safety habits, careless, supervision required, constant. >> but what we really wanted from collins was the truth about the fight. >> there are two offenders over there that have been messing with me so i went in their room and hit him one time. actually i -- i hit him here. you have an equilibrium station. right here. you have

collins: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that i be permitted to speak for up to 30 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, today we have the opportunity to take immediate action to lower the cost of health insurance by as much as 40% and to increase the affordability of insurance for millions of americans who purchase plans in the individual market. i want to commend senator alexander, the chairman of the senate health, education, labor, and pensions committee, for his extraordinary leadership and hard work in this area. i'm also very pleased with the work that has been done by representative gregg waldon, the chairman of the house energy and commerce committee and representative costello. we have come back along with a substantial number of our colleagues, including senators graham, rounds, isakson and murkowski, among many oh, on this very important insurance stabilization and rate reduction package. let me begin by outlinin

johnson: yes, i recall that about mr collins's committee.in fact, you are getting at a specific point here, which is that the dcms committee wanted to have an evidence session at the u.k. embassy in washington. i thought that was a very interesting idea, but the difficulty with that is that it would have been construed as uk interference in domestic us politics, and we had to think very carefully about how to handle that. of course we support the committee going out fact-finding. that is what we are there to do: we are there to support all such inquiries and every effort to get to the truth and to counteract the peddling of lies. mr. tugendhat: i assure you that not only this committee but other committees feel very strongly that, as representatives of the british people, the embassies have a role to host not just the will of the british government but the will of the british people, as assembled here in parliament. therefore, enabling the committee system to work through the embassy network is seen as an important aspect of that. mr. johnso

mr. collins' committee in fact -- i think you're getting to specific the point which is that the d.c. desk they wanted to have a session at the uk embassy in -- in washington. >> that's right. >> and i thought that was a very interesting idea. i think the difficulty with that is that it would have been construed as -- as uk interference in domestic u.s. politics. and we had to think carefully about how to ham that. of course we support the going out, fact finding that's what we are there to do. we are there to expert all such inquiries and every effort to get to the truth and to counteract the peddling of lies. >> i can assure you not only this committee but other committees feel strongly that as representatives the british peoples the embassies have a role not just to host the world to the british government but also the british people as assembled here in this parliament and therefore holding -- enabling the committees systems to work through the -- through the embassy network is seen as an important aspect. >> yes. let me take that away. let me take that away. >> if we're not willi

mr. collins neighbor that he referenced those remain in operation and it is unclear to what extent the deafollowed up on those reports it received so tell us what is the process when evaluating suspicious order reports and the actions it takes to respond? >> they are reviewed at investigation to bring this into the headquarters process some of these companies have districts throughout the country why we went to look at those see if it is a corporation not just individual entities so that is a change we are doing i have to look back on specific issues of any database but i think that id centralization we have had structural problems how we use not just some of this information but we are rapidly trying to get a handle on these with these reports because we need them. >> you have discussed implementing that process suspicious orders to dea headquarters have they identified breakdown of that process in the past and what corrections or adjustments? >> how we look at these things with the accountability when we get these reports is one of the big changes that i have had conversations with all s

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator collins. senator warren? >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you both for being here today. far too many families in massachusetts and all across the country have had to bury swn they love because of this opioid crisis. more deaths, more funerals. this crisis didn't happen overnight and it didn't happen on its own. and a big reason it happened is because the biggest drug -- a billion he dollars doing it. i think it is time to start talking about holding these companies accountable and holding their executives accountable for the crisis they helped create. in massachusetts attorney general healy is helping lead a bipartisan coalition of 41 states investigating drug manufacturing distributors for their role in the opioid epidemic. cities and towns in massachusetts have already filed lawsuits and a number of native tribes including the cherokee nation have also seen in both tribal and federal court. so let me ask this. governor hogan, maryland is also part of this investigation. baltimore and several county governments in maryland have filed

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mrs. shiman. thank you. >> good afternoon. i want to thank senator collins and the committee for their interest and work on this problem of scamming of senior citizens. we also want to thank our friend, bill king, the sheriff of orange county in maine for his work and educating centers about scamming. when we realizes we were scammed, we felt so embarrassed and humiliated, we told no one about it. except our children, and sheriff king. when we were getting ready to leave for washington, we had to tell our friends why we were coming. they responded almost unanimously that they either knew someone or had a relative who had been scammed, and so we feel especially pleased to be able to be here because now we feel we can really open up and talk about it because i think so many more people want to talk about it that are afraid to do so. there's a special bond between grandparents and their grandchildren. the scammers know this well and they take full advantage of it. they know that when a child is in trouble, grandparents good all out to help. it was also a concer

mr. chairman. >> senator collins. >> thank you, mr. chairman. all three of our private sector witnesses today have been understandably very critical of the unacceptable flaws in the government's clearance process and the lack of a system of continuous evaluation. inadequate funding has been mentioned. i want to turn the question around. there have been three widely supported serious breaches at the nsa and all three involved contract employees. it is evident that relying solely on a moment in time shot -- snapshot of an applicant's security profile to determine clearances and secure our information and facilities is simply not working, and i've been a strong supporter of moving to continuous evaluation, particularly following the navy yard shooting. but my question for each of the three of you is what responsibility do contractors have to identify and report changes in employee behavior that may indicate a vulnerability and should trigger a review of the security clearance, and in least one of the widely reported incidents involving nsa, the emp

collins. >> thank you, mr. chairman. secretary manfra, senator heinrich and i wrote a letter to the department asking specifically whether or not you needed new statutory authority or funding in order to help state election agencies and ensure the integrity of our election systems and the voting process. i personally am surprised that the department has not been more proactive in that area in submitting requests to the congress. what is your answer to that question? does dhs need additional authorities or additional funding in order to assist states and ensure the integrity of our voting systems? >> yells, ma'am. thank you for the question. on the authorities piece, i would -- we have the authorities we need right now to do our job, thanks to the work of this committee and the homeland committees, frankly, over the last few years. we have very broad authorities that we can apply. we're continuing to build the capacity and the capability to fully execute those authorities. we have -- we have reprogrammed money. we have re

collins. >> thank you mr. chairman. i know we look a lot alike in all seriousness. thank you very much for holding this series of very important hearings on what is a public health crisis and also a crisis for families across the country. as governor brown pointed out there is no place immune. our serve governor hogan. this month as we have been tallying up the numbers from 2017, we've been hit by a series of heartbreaking statistics. a few weeks ago we learned that last year drug overdoses killed a record 418 people in the state of maine. that's an 11% increase. we are going in the wrong direction. this week the cdc announced emergency visits for opiate overdoses jumped by 34% last year. in three years the number of people in maine who died by drug overdoses has doubled. at the same time at the federal level we have increased funding and federal efforts year after year to combat the crisis. my question is, what are we not doing right. we talked about the multipronged approach, the education prevention and treatment. we look at the leadership of this committee and i

mr. bell and ask promote how do you think having this information will help support these grandparents and relatives who are raising these children as a result of the opiate epidemic? -- opioid epidemic. >> thank you. senator collins did raise this before she left. we are very supportive of what you are trying to do here. it is something we learned from the crack epidemic. these grandparents need support centers, they need navigator

collins. >> thank you, mr. chairman. secretary manfra, senator heinrich and i wrote a letter to the department asking specifically whether or not you needed new statutory authority or funding in order to help state election agencies and ensure the integrity of our election systems and the voting process. i personally am surprised that the department has not been more proactive in that area in submitting requests to the congress. what is your answer to that question? does dhs need additional authorities or additional funding in order to assist states and ensure the integrity of our voting systems? >> yells, ma'am. thank you for the question. on the authorities piece, i would -- we have the authorities we need right now to do our job, thanks to the work of this committee and the homeland committees, frankly, over the last few years. we have very broad authorities that we can apply. we're continuing to build the capacity and the capability to fully execute those authorities. we have -- we have reprogrammed money. we have re

collins: thank you, mr. chairman. ms. savage, i want to thank you for sharing your story publicly and for being here today. you are clearly a family of tremendous strength. and by coming forward, you are truly saving lives. and i just want to tell you that, i am just overwhelmed by your ability to take such a tragedy and turn it into something that is going to help other families avoid what you went through. just yesterday, i met with a group of mainers, a large group of mainers from all over the state, who had received funding from the drug-free communities program. and i was impressed by a group of students from fort ten, maine, way up near the canadian border. they have developed their own program to help their peers avoid alcohol abuse and opioids. the crisis we are in the midst of in maine. do you -- what do you think of those kind of peer counciling or peer groups to help teach students and children that there are alternatives to drugs and alcohol? ms. savage: i think anytime a conversation is started, it is a posit

mr. speaker. i now rise to a democrat, collin peterson from the great state of minnesota for as much time as he may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from minnesota is recognized for as much time as he may consume. mr. peterson: mr. speaker, i rise in support of the brick act, particularly secretary 3 which brings much-needed regulate relief to wood manufacturers that in my district and also across the nation. section 3 delays the second phase of federal emissions for wood heaters by three years. it's important to note since 2007, manufacturers have voluntarily invested in technology to reduce the admissions to comply for the first phase of the regulations. i had one situation in the north part of my district where they spent i don't know how many hundreds of thousands of dollars coming up with this 90% reduction, and six months after they accomplished it they came in with these new regulations to another 90% which can't be done and it's going to put them out of business. so these business owners in my district and around the country have approached me and said, as i said, they'll go

i would like to follow up on senator collins questions to you mr. phillips. what changes have been made by your company in the wake of snowden and martin? >> since then we have increased our insider threat process. >> from what to what? if you can be specific. >> all of government is moving industryandating partnering in this process. what we are doing is making sure -- we go toehavior our program managers and we tell them that if you see a behavior, we need to know. >> where did you miss with snowden? >> we do not have that event within our framework or at the snowden component, or something like that specifically is the employee is on a federal facility in the company cannot access the government stated to see the behaviors. they have to be visually seen by the people around the individual. we need -- point't that an important right there? these are big events. it is very hard for us to know the background, and how it happened. could you go into that in a little more detail? anything that is on a secured government network, or secured government facility is

mr. mcgoo behind closed doors. we begin this hour at white house with cnn's kaitlan collins. in terms of hope hicks, and this resignation, is it tied to that testimony? >> reporter: it is not directly tied to that actually, erica. many drew that conclusion when she stepped down suddenly yesterday after being in front of the house intelligence committee the day before for several hours and as hope hicks told the communications staff here at the white house good-bye, she said and made very clear she felt like now is the right time for her to go, but had nothing to do with those recent headlines, which some took to say she was denying that speculation it was because of that testimony, but, erica, there is no denying this is one of the most significant departures we have seen in this white house in the last 13 months. hope hick was not just a top aide, but one of the president's closest confidantes and compared to being one of his family members. very significant that she's leaving. this is someone who rarely left the west wing because the president would so frequently yell for h

mr. zuckerberg has personally asked one of his deputies to make themselves available, but that's just not cutting it damian collins, chair of the uk parliament's digital culture, media and sport committee, responding saying that he would still like to hear from zuckerberg himself either in person or via video link we reached out to facebook again on the second request and the company just reiterated that these two are available and they report directly to zuckerberg. meanwhile, the whistleblower behind the data scandal, christopher wylie, did appear in front of uk lawmakers today, saying the 2016 election made him speak out about practices employed by the political data firm have a listen. >> i wouldn't say it's just because of donald trump, but donald trump kind of makes it click in your head that this actually has a much wider impact i don't think that military style information operations is conducive for any democratic process, whether it's the u.s. presidential or local council race >> reporter: now, as you know, here in the u.s. lawmakers are also upping the pressure on facebook and zuckerberg himself with a

mr. president. i have known and admired thad cochran for 40 years since he first came to the senate. ms. collins: at the time i was a young staffer for senator bill cohen who also was elected to the senate that same year. i saw from the start that this gentleman from mississippi was so bright, insightful, and creative and yet also humble, kind, and devoted to helping others. he treated everyone with such dignity. he was nice to everyone, from the elevator operators to the highest officials around the world. he truly is one who leads by example. those qualities are his legacy, and i have seen them time and again as a member of the senate appropriations committee when thad was an important member and, of course, when he became the chairman. last year was the 150th anniversary of the creation of the appropriations committee, and thad marked that occasion by reminding all of us of our great responsibility to make thoughtful and informed decisions in the allocation of public funds. in managing appropriations bills, he was always so inclusive, willing to incorporate ideas and priorities from everyone

mr. president. i have known and admired thad cochran for 40 years since he first came to the senate. ms. collins: at the time i was a young staffer for senator bill cohen who also was elected to the senate that same year. i saw from the start that this gentleman from mississippi was so bright, insightful, and creative and yet also humble, kind, and devoted to helping others. he treated everyone with such dignity. he was nice to everyone, from the elevator operators to the highest officials around the world. he truly is one who leads by example. those qualities are his legacy, and i have seen them time and again as a member of the senate appropriations committee when thad was an important member and, of course, when he became the chairman. last year was the 150th anniversary of the creation of the appropriations committee, and thad marked that occasion by reminding all of us of our great responsibility to make thoughtful and informed decisions in the allocation of public funds. in managing appropriations bills, he was always so inclusive, willing to incorporate ideas and priorities from everyone

mr. president, later this week, senators blunt, cassidy, collins, roberts, and young will join me in introducing the school safety and mental health services improvement act. three weeks ago, 14 high school students, a teacher, a coach, an athletic director were killed at marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida. as the authorities try to get to the bottom of what will exactly what happened in this shooting, many of us in local, state, and federal government have been looking at what can be done to help keep students safe at school. we can't stand still and do nothing while our children are being killed. i'm the chairman of the senate education and health committee and sponsor with senator murray of the every student succeeds act of 2015. which reauthorized the law overseeing kindergarten, elementary, and secondary education. i also sponsored with senator murray the 21st century cures act of 2016, which made the first major mental health reforms in a decade, focusing the federal government's efforts on early intervention. the bill i'm introducing this week with several of my col