mr. president. mr. president, over the weekend president trump celebrated 100 days that he's been in office as president of the united states. newspapers and magazines and pundits on television were all talking about what the president has accomplished in those first hundred days. and from what i've heard talking to people at home in wyoming this past weekend, this first 100 days has been a huge success. people tell me that they think america is finally headed in the right direction again. now i had a lot of people tell me that they feel like they've actually gotten a new spring in their step as a result of the presidential election of last year and president trump taking office. the other day i was home, i was in line at a gas station behind a guy, and a friend of his came in and said hey, how are you doing? the guy said great. we're hiring again. you know, that's the kind of confidence that's happening all around wyoming. the polling company gallup said it's happening not just in wyoming, but all acros

mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to executive session to consider scott gottlieb to be a member of the toed and drug. -- food and drug. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. the ayes appear to have it, the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of health and human services, scott gottlieb of connecticut to be commissioner of food and drugs. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22, do hereby bring to a close debate on nomination of scott gottlieb. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call with respect to the cloture motion be waived. the presiding officer: is there objection? witho

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. a senator: mr. president, this weekend will mark the beginning of the memorial day remembrances that we do every year. mr. blunt: memorial day of course on monday but many activities will begin even today and tomorrow to honor those who have died in the defense of our country. these men and women had families. they had dreams for the future. they had their whole lives ahead of them, but they did something extraordinary. i remember, mr. president, a few years ago i had the opportunity to be at the american cemetery at normandy. at the end of the guide -- the tour of that cemetery, the guide had us set down over on a ledge with the english channel to our back, and those 8,000 graves in front of us that we had just looked at and talked about the sacrifices made. and then he flipped open his computer and at that exact same spot on the 20th anniversary of d-day, general eisenhower, former president eisenhower in 11964 was talking to walter cronkite and he said to walter cronkite, you know, walter, my son

mr. president. i'd just like to welcome the president and his entire delegation here to the white house. it is good to see you again. my family and i have the privilege of your hospitality during a christmas visit just a few short years ago. we welcome you and look very much forward to our discussions. president trump: he's made great progress, hasn't he? you think of it. he's doing a great job. rex is doing a fantastic job also. thank you all very much. thank you. thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national able satellite corp. 2017] >> this weekend, c-span's cities tour, with the help of our charter communications partners, explores the literary scene and history of redding, california. today at noon eastern on book tv, author and former california fish and game warden on his book, "the game warden's son." >> watching my dad learning the little tricks to be in a good

mr. president, thank you very much. [ speaking foreign language ] >> translator: mr. president, your excellencesy, i would like to thank you for this honorable invitation to come and meet with you and i look much forward to working with new order to come to that deal, to that historical agreement, historic deal to bring about peace. mr. president, our strategic option, our strategic choice is to bring about peace based on the vision of the two-state, a palestinian state with its capital of east jerusalem that lives in peace and stability with the state of israel based on the borders of 1967. mr. president, for us to bring about a comprehensive and just peace based on the two-state solution, such matter would give a great impetus to the arab peace initiative and the other initiatives, international initiatives, as well as it enables to fight and deter terrorism and fight the criminal isis group, isis that is totally innocent and has nothing do with our noble religion. and that also, if weapon create peace that is just and comprehensive, that would also lead the arab and

mr. president. the guest book. > mr. president. president trump: thank you. sarah inister netanyahu, netanyahu. chairman abner sharif. and rabbi israel myerlot for hosting us for this moving wreath laying ceremony. vashem to t yad honor the memory of six million jews murdered in the holocaust. 2/3 of the jews in europe were sent to their deaths. words can never describe the bottomless depths of that evil or the scope of the anguish and destruction. it was history's darkest hour. millions of innocent, wonderful, and beautiful lives, men, women, and children were extinguished as part of a systematic attempt to eliminate the jewish people. it was the most savage crime against god and his children, and it is our solemn duty to remember to mourn, to grieve, and to honor every single life that was so cruelly and viciously taken. elie wiesel said, for the dead and the living, we must bear witness. these words should be carved into the conscious of humanity forever. only when we remember the families who wer

mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. enzi: mr. president, i'd ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection,so ordered. mr. enzi: thank you. mr. president, i rise to deliver a difficult speech. my senior communications advisor, ron hindell is retiring after more than 30 years in the united states senate. if you do quick math you'll realize ron has been a part of senate longer that i have. i came in january 1997 and learned ron would be an indispensable part of my team. previously he worked for my pred source -- predecessor. ron has written some of the best speeches i've given over the past 20 years and when ron told me he was retiring, i did back and look at a few of his remarks between the tears. when my long-term state director retired, ron wrote there is an old saying we've all heard before, good help is hard to find. here's my experience. good help is not only hard to find, it's also impossible to replace. that's true about robin and it's equally true of ron. in a speech to the chief officers of s

mr. president. mr. president, i rise to speak in opposition to the nomination of rachel brand to be the associate attorney general. the associate attorney general is the third most senior position at the department of justice. and during these troubling times, i cannot in good conscience support ms. brand's nomination. the american public must have faith in its institutions, and unfortunately that trust is eroding more and more each and every day. for the first time in recent history we are facing questions about a significant interference from a foreign government in an american presidential election. even more troubling, there have been serious questions about a presidential campaign's potential collusion with russia, a foreign adversary. mr. president, we have an idea of the potential problem here, and the justice department is supposed to be part of the solution. unfortunately, the recent conduct of the president's appointees to the department of justice have only added fuel to the fire. first, attor

mr. president. mr. barrasso: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: mr. president, i would congratulate my colleague from missouri for the excellent comments that he made and would bring to the floor a report that camer out last evening, which is essentially the analysis that the obama administration never wanted the american people to see, and it has to do with obamacare from 2013 to 2017. and this report that the obama administration would love to hide from the american people makes the point that my colleague from missouri just made. in those years from 2013 to 2017, once obamacare came into place, premiums around the country in the states that are buying on the federal obamacare exchange, premiums went up 105%, on average. 105%. more than double. more than double in 20 states, triple in three states -- oklahoma, alaska, and alabama n wyoming we went up 107% in just four years. tell me something else that's gone up by that price in your life, in our lives anywhere over that short a period of time. but those are the numbers that are out to

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. mr. blunt: i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blunt: mr. president, all across -- mr. president, i would also like permission to engage in a colloquy with my colleagues on the floor to talk about police week. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blunt: mr. president, all across the country people are honoring the men and women who serve as law enforcement officials during this week. clearly they deserve and receive recognition every day for what they do, but this is an incredibly difficult job. i was with some of our officers last night from missouri and with family members, and i said, you know, a lot of times it is easier for you to walk out the door than it is for your family to see you walk out the door, not knowing what you're going to face every day. when senator coons and i came to the congress seven years ago, came to the senate seven years ago, we created and cochaired the senate law enforcement caucus. it's really

mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mr. manchin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to engage in a colloquy with my friend -- the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. mr. manchin: i ask to vitiate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. manchin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to engage in a colloquy with the senator from west virginia, and my friend and my colleague, senator capito. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. manchin: mr. president, i wish to thank my friend from west virginia, my colleague, senator capito, for her support and leadership in our fight to keep a promise made in president truman's white house more than 70 years ago. for the past two congresses senator capito has been an original cosponsor to the miner's protection act with me and i'm proud to say that the health care portion of that bill is included in this omnibus appropriations bill that we are set to vote on later this week. before sending this permanent fix to the president's desk for his signature, i w

mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr.sullivan: mr. president, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr.sullivan: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr.sullivan: mr. president, every week i've been coming to the floor talking about someone in my state, the great state of alaska, who makes alaska a better place for all of us, our community, for everybody working there. i call this person the alaskan of the week. to be honest, it is one of the most fulfilling things i get to do as a u.s. senator, recognizing back home and across the country special people in my state. there's no doubt many here in the chamber and the people who are watching from home have seen pictures and television shows about alaska. we, a little biased -- i know one of our pages is, an alaskan himself -- that we have the most beautiful state, not only in the country, but in the world. so we want to encourage everybody -- everybody watching to come visit alaska. it will be the trip of a lifetime. i absolu

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: mr. president, it's been said that nothing is certain but death and taxes. to that nowadays we might add bad news about obamacare. because if there's one thing we can count on, it's bad news about this fatally flawed law. high premium costs, huge deductibles, consumers losing health plans, customers losing doctors, fewer choices, failed co-ops, unraveling exchanges, and i could go on. mr. president, there's no question that our health care system had problems before obamacare was passed. reforms clearly were needed. but as the past seven years have made clear, obamacare was not the answer. and this law is rapidly collapsing under its own weight. here's a sampling. this is a sampling of recent obamacare headlines. this is from bloomberg. and i quote. thousands of obamacare customers left without options as insurers bolt, end quote. this is from cnbc. aetna will exit obamacare markets in virginia in 2018 citing expected losses on individual plans this year. end quote. from the arizona republ

mr. president, i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. daines: mr. president, if i could respond to my colleague from hawaii, the folks have been derailed today. they are the men and women who traveled thousands of miles to be here from very small communities across our country. they've taken time away from work and their families to be here, to show our committees what's going on in rural america and the unacceptable quality of water. water should be -- it's a basic need. and to think we have water samples here that i think would be shocking to most members here in this body, and just i'm saddened to see that the democrats are going to derail these hearings this afternoon. yes, let's have the fight about the f.b.i. and the firing of comey. that's -- we can have a good-spirited debate about that. but why are we preventing these folks from rural america who have traveled thousands of miles to testify here today at our request? thank you, mr. president. i yield back my time. mr. hoeven: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator north dakota. mr.

mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 48, h.r. 534. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 48, h.r. 534, an act to require the secretary of state to take such actions as may be necessary for the united states to rejoin the bureau of international expositions, and for other purposes. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the matter? without objection, proceed to the matter. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i further ask that the committee-reported amendment be agreed to, the bill as amended be read a third time and passed, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: thank you. mr. cornyn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority

mr. president. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that all quorum calls until 5:30 today be equally divided. the presiding officer: without objection. the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas. mr. boozman: i rise to recognize national drug court month and show my support for the positive impact drug courts have on cutting crime, saving money, and restoring lives. i've seen firsthand the impact of drug courts in arkansas. its proven approach has helped many arkansans suffering from drug and alcohol abuse who have received the treatment and services they need to turn their lives around. for more than two decades, these courts have offered arkansas' drug-addicted nonviolent offenders an alternative to jail while rehabilitating them through a strenuous treatment program. we have nearly 90 specialty courts in arkansas that are providing lifesaving treatment to more than 3,000 individuals with substance use disorders, and the results are impressive. our state saves $45 million each year by divertin

mr. president, >> mr. esident the senate's thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in manchester england. such violence is particularly heartbreaking when it happens as it did in manchester at a concert with so many young people there. we mourn the families of the victims of last night's terrorist attack. we hope the perpetrators are quickly found and brought to justice. mr. president i saw on tv a mother waiting, trying to e-mail and text her daughter. she got no answer. she was wondering where her daughter was. she thought that the horrible memories for me after 9/11 that her when i went up there and saw hundreds of people holding up signs, have you seen my wife, evelyn? have you seen my son, john? not knowing if they were alive or dead and most of them ended up in bed. we hope and pray that mother and all the other mothers who are waiting and fathers and brothers and sisters who are waiting that their children are alive find them alive. >> the worldwide threat of terrorism is geographically diverse and m

mr. president. it's dramatically different. whether you agree or disagree with what's happened to medicaid, the fact is that it's turned into a health insurance program for about 20% of all americans. now, think about that. we have roughly 320 million people in our country. fully 25% are on medicaid. it gets bigger and bigger every year, and it gets more expensive every year. you can see the numbers speak for themselves. 1996 -- you can see the trend, mr. president. you can certainly see -- we start in 1966. you can particularly see the trend beginning in 1996 and the trajectory. it's also -- it has also become more expensive. this was the cost of our medicaid program in 1966. $1 billion. a lot of money. this is the cost of last year -- $576 billion. and it's climbing. let me just talk about my state alone. in louisiana, the cost of medicaid has increased from $5.9 billion in 2008 to $10.7 billion today. 65% of all of the babies born in louisiana every year now are born on medicaid. think about that.

mr. president. i yield back my time. mr. leahy: mr. president. mr. president, i ask consent the call of the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: the senate is not in a quorum call. the senator is recognized. mr. leahy: i just assumed we were, mr. president. thank you. sometimes we new guys have to double check those things. mr. president, pending before the senate is the nomination of rachel brand to be the associate attorney general of the united states. associate attorney general of the united states. the united states. not the associate attorney general of the president. we once had an attorney general who told us in the judiciary committee that as a member of the president's staff, and i remove the ex-core -- excoriating remarks of the republicans and democrats saying this is the attorney general of the united states. now i say this because her nomination is the third most senior position. the department of justice comes at a time of unprecedented time of chaos and upheaval shows that more important ever the justice department be led b

mr. president. the presiding officer: the assistant democratic leader. mr. durbin: i ask consent to speak in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: this weekend we saw a democratic election in france, a bedrock of european stability after two wars in the last century. what happened just before the sunday election in france? well, there was a massive cyber attack on the leading candidate, the one who prevailed, emanuel macron. and who do experts suspect was behind this cyber attack, trying to manipulate another western election? trying to foster mistrust in that nation's democratic institutions? not surprisingly, russia. yet, none of this should surprise anyone. not only had russia been subsidizing mr. macron's opponent, marine le pen, who is seen as more sympathetic to moscow, not to mention trying to interfere in dutch and german elections as well but we were warned by this by our own intelligence agencies six months ago. in early october last year, the u.s. intelligence community detailed russia's attack on america's electio

mr. president, i know that we can. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. mr. blunt: mr. president, there's a reason that we're talking about health care, and we should be talking about health care. we should be looking for the gaps and trying to find those gaps. i had a long conversation this morning about people who have disabilities, adults who have disabilities and the challenges that they have always faced in the insurance marketplace. people who, like dan and lydia, have a hard time working, are unable to have a full-time job, who may be covered on insurance by their parents until they're too old to be covered. they may not be covered because their parents aren't covered. but normally if that has been the case where you were able to share whatever coverage your parents had, and certainly that's an area we should work on, how we deal with those who are disadvantaged. on the medicaid front, our goal should be to look at the house bill and make it better. now, the people that were added to medic

mr. president. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. a senator: thank you, mr. president. i join my colleague senator mccaskill and her comments about central state pension. we have a number of workers in our state affected by this as well. ms. klobuchar: i really stand here today to thank senator manchin for his work, to thank our leaders senator mcconnell and senator schumer as well as chairman cochran and vice chairman leahy for their ability to put partisan aside and people first and get this deal done. it meant everything from funding for the cops program to helping with the opioid epidemic, capital investment grants, medical research. but for one guy here, it was all personal. and that's joe manchin. he fought long and hard to protect the health care benefits for his coal miners. think about this. in october 12,500 retired coal miners and widows receiving notices telling them that their health care benefits would be cut off at the end of the year. then in november another 3600 noti

mr. president. i yield back my time. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: mr. president, i congratulate the senator from hof not just on his specious, remarks, but on his -- not just on his speeches but on his leadership. he speaks passionately about it publicly and privately to his colleagues just as he was today at our lunches we discussed on health care. he was a leader last year when we passed the 21st century cures act to try to move these medical miracles that we know are coming through the regulatory investment process more rapidly and into medicine cabinets and doctors' offices. senator portman and senator whitehouse and a group of others in a bipartisan way literally forced into that legislation at least $1 billion more funding for states to deal with opioids after they had passed the cara bill earlier in the year. so the opioids epidemic and the families that suffer from it have no more effective spokesman and advocate than the senator from ohio, and i'm glad i had an opportunity to

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. murphy: i ask that we dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. murphy: thank you, mr. president. i am pleased to be joined today on the floor by senator young. we are both members of the senate foreign reels committee, both with an interest in middle east security. we are joined on the floor together to give remarks and perhaps have a short colloquy about a humanitarian crisis that is unfolding before our eyes in the middle east. today inside the country of yemen, a country that frankly not a lot of our constituents give much thought to, every single ten minutes a child under the age of five is dying due to preventable causes. today 18 million yemenees civilians -- that's two-thirds of this country -- cannot survive without humanitarian or protection support. 7 million of those are on what you would call a starvation diet. that means that 0 hadn't a daily dash that means that on a daily basis they don't know where their next meal is coming from. they

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. president, i ask consent to proceed as in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: mr. president, yesterday we received president trump's first budget submission. he calls it a new foundation for american greatness. well, that might get an award for fiction, but it couldn't be further from the truth. instead of building a foundation for the american people, it pulls the rug out from under them. this budget has to be understood as something more than just a photo op with a spoken on the cover of the budget. you know, the president's budget displays a fundamental lack of understanding of the rule of government of, by, and for the people and supporting the middle class, in lifting up the most vulnerable among us, and serving our values and interests as a nation. it proposes to cut nondefense discretionary spending by over $1.5 trillion. that's $1,5 00,000,000,000 over ten years, including a $260 billion cut by 2027. that would be a 40% cut to nondefense progr

mr. president, mr. vice president, it's been a pleasure and an honor to work with you hand in hand to get this bill to this point. and i want to tell what you a great team you have and what a great team i think we have in the congress and on the energy and commerce committee and our subcommittee chair mike burgess. mike, come on out here for a second. dr. mike burgess did incredible work on this as well. [applause] mr. walden: you heard a lot about this goal to get to a doctor-patient relationship, to make insurance affordable and available where they have lower cost and more competition. it's collapsing state by state, county by county. last year there were 225 counties in america where you had one choice on the obamacare exchange. this year there are 1,022. and there are some counties where you have no choice. that's not affordability. that's not access. that's not patient care. that is what we're trying to reform in this legislation. you heard about medicaid reform. i started on medicaid reform in the

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: thank you, mr. president. the last two weekends have surged with political activism. around the world millions of people took to the streets to stand up for science and to call attention to the global crisis of climate change. this past weekend my wife and i marched here in washington alongside 200,000 people from across our country in the people's climate march. i joined faculty and students from rhode island's green school, an environmental charter school named after the great nathaniel green. the gentleman presiding may well know that nathaniel green worked his way through the state during the course of fighting the southern revolutionary campaign -- so we are very proud of in in a nathaniel green in re island and the school that bears his name. the students traveled overnight through the night to participate in that march. joined by 375 sister marvs world -- marchs worldwide, we came together with one voice in fight against climate change. the march over earth day weeke

mr. president, mr. vice president, it has been a pleasure to work with you, hand thisnd, to get the bill to point. i want to tell you what a great inm you have and we have, congress and our subcommittee chair, mike burgess. mike, come out here for a second. dr. mike burgess, he's done incredible work on this as well. [applause] >> you've heard a lot about our goal to get this back to a relationship, to make insurance affordable to every american and available where they have choices and costs and competition in that market. it is collapsing around, state county by county. last year, there were 225 counties in america where you the had one choice on obamacare exchange. this year, it's 1,022. and you've heard there are some counties where you have no choice. that's not access. not patient care. that is what we're trying to reform in this legislation. you heard about medicaid reform. i started on medicaid reform in the 1989 session of the oregon legislature. helped out there. '90.came the majority in we con

mr. president, thank you very much. mr. president, i'd like to get your reaction to deputy attorney general rod rosenstein's decision to appoint a special counsel to investigate the russia -- russian interference in the campaign. was this the right move, or is this part of a witch hunt? president trump: i respect the move but the entire thing has been a witch hunt. and there's no collusion between certainly myself and my campaign, but i can only speak for myself, and the russians, zero. i think it divides the country. i think we have a very divided country because of that and many other things. so i can tell you that we want to bring this great country of ours together and i will also say, very strongly, we have had tremendous success. you look at our job numbers, you look at what is going on at the borders, as we have discussed before. you look at what will be happening, and you will see some incredible numbers with respect to the success of general mattis and others with the isis situation, the numbers have been staggering

mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: before i say anything else this morning, i want to say this. what we saw in manchester last night almost defies description. it was, in the words of prime minister may, a coward terrorist attack that stood out for its appalling, sickening, cowardice, deliberate rattily targeting -- dib rattily targeting defenseless children and young people that should have been enjoying the one of the most memorable night of their lives. though we'll continue to learn more about what happened, this much is very clear: many have died, many more have been injured. and as the prime minister told us, many of them were children. it's hard to imagine the pain that the families of these victims must be feeling today. so on behalf of the senate and our country, let me express our heartfelt condolences to the victims, their families, and to the british people who have been our friends and allies through many challenges. the senate also recognizes that many first responders, medical professionals, an

mr. president. [applause] >> thank you, thank you for this powerful expression. mr. ceful speech of clarity and conviction. you called on all nations to drive outer risks and extremist extremists, you called for the forces of civilization to confront the forces of barbarism. mr. president, for 69 years israel has been doing precisely that. the front lines of civilization and fought terrorism and we built a moderate vibrant, democratic jewish state and in doing so, mr. president, we protected all faiths, muslims, christians, everyone. throughout the middle east christian communities are decimated, minorities persecuted. but here in israel, we are proud to have a growing and thriving christian community and we guaranty the rights of all. mr. president, israel also shares the commitment to peace that you expressed yesterday. we've already made peace with egypt and with jordan and us are real's hand is extended to peace in peace to all of our neighbors including the palestinians. the peace we seek is a genuine and durable one in which the jewish state is recognized securi

quorum call: the presiding officer: mr. manchin: mr. president, i rise to talk about the concerns of the good people of my great state of west virginia about their health care and the needs they have. if the american health care act is passed, which the republican plan that was passed over in the house, many west virginians will lose their current insurance coverage. individuals on the medicaid expansion would not be guaranteed coverage after 20/20. that means anybody who has gotten insurance for the first time, there's no guarantee they can keep it at all. the american hospital association estimates that 68,200 west virginians will lose their health care coverage in 2018 and more will be without medicaid coverage by 2026. the american health care act that's been sent by our republican friends in the house increased the cost to our state. the bill cuts $834 billion from medicaid. meaning that the state would receive less federal medicaid funding and it would not increase if costs rise in the case of health crisis. in fact the american ho

mr. president, let me speak plainly. the prospect that a campaign for the presidency of the united states colluded with a foreign power in order to win our nation's highest office is as grave a topic for an investigation as there could be. it gets right to heart of the pillar of our democracy. the fair and free elections of our representatives and the fact -- the fact that mr. rosenstein and mr. comey -- mr. -- and attorney general sessions were involved in this firing when there are so many questions swirling about. they must come before us to answer questions. i hope leader mcconnell will understand the need for that and answer the plea i made this morning about that. furthermore, the fact that mr. rosenstein, which came out after i made my request -- the fact that mr. rosenstein, by all reports, had a meeting with director comey where comey asked for more resources makes it all the more important for rosenstein to come because that might be the reason that he was fired because he was pursuing the investigation in an ac

mr. president, and i yield the floor. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive

mr. president, i extend my hand to you in welcome on this noble mission. [applause] pres. trump: thank you very much. as president of the united states, on behalf of the people of the united states, i would like to begin by offering my prayers to the people of , and the united kingdom. i extend my deepest condolences to those who were terribly in this terrorist attack, and to the many killed in the families, so many families of the victims. we stand and absolute solidarity with the people of the united kingdom. so many young, beautiful, innocent people, living and enjoying their lives, murdered by evil losers in life. monsters, call the because they would like that term. they would think that is a great name. i will call them, from now on, losers, because that is what they are. they are losers. we will have more of them. but they are losers, destroy member that. -- just remember that. this is what i have spent the last few days talking about during my trip overseas, our society should have no tolerance for this continuation of bloodshed. we cannot stand a moment longer for

mr. president. mr. resident, i rise today to join my colleagues in speaking about the opioid crisis as it's devastated families in states across the country. i want to thank my colleague, senator manchin, for organizing the speeches today. in my state, deaths from prescription drug abuse now claims the lives of more minnesotans than homicides or car crashes. we lost our beloved prince because of an opioid overdose. that's still being investigated. but just as importantly, we have lost a student in duluth and a mom in rochester, minnesota. over 400 people in just the last year. and we continue to see dangerous synthetic opioids shipped across our borders in increasing amounts, a trend that u.s. customs and border protection expects to continue as we heard in the judiciary committee last week, and today i join senator portman in his subcommittee on homeland security, and we talked about what's going on from that perspective as well. so while there is more work to do to combat this epidemic, i want to recog

mr. president, is truly historic. r before as the first foreign trip of a president of the united states included a visit to israel. thank you, mr. president. thank you for this powerful expression of your friendship to israel. mr. president, yesterday in saudi arabia you delivered a forceful speech of clarity and conviction. you called on all nations to drive out terrorists and extremists. you called for the forces of civilization to confront the forces of barbarism. mr. president, for 69 years, israel has been doing precisely that. we've manned the frontlines of civilization, fought terrorism. we've built a modern, vibrant, democratic, jewish state. in doing so, mr. president, we've protected all faiths, muslims, christians, everyone. throughout the middle east, christian communities are decimated, minorities persecuted. but here in israel, we're proud to have a growing and thriving christian community, and we guarantee the rights of all. mr. president, israel also shares the commitment to peace you expressed yesterd

mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: i ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: thank you, mr. president. there's a khao*eurpbs -- chinese curse that says may you live in interesting time. that is certainly an understatement. we fine ourselves and our country at a moment that is profoundly testing the rule of law here in america, testing the strength of our democratic institutions. we have a president who has now engaged in a pattern of removing individuals from office who are executing their responsibilities under the law. first on january 30, just 121 -- 11 days into the trump administration it was sally yates who warned the administration that michael flynn had been compromised by his connection to russia, an incredibly responsible act for her to take, but she was fired. on march 10, it was proette -- proette bharara. he had told he would be retained by the administration and suddenly he was fired. and then th

mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that following the cloture vote on the branstad nomination, the senate proceed to the en bloc nomination of the following nominees, executive calendar 56 and 57. i ask unanimous consent that the senate vote on the nominations en bloc, that if confirmed, the motions to reconsider be considered made en bloc, the president be immediately notified of the senate's action, that no further motions be in order, and that any statements relating to the nominations be printed in the record. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. mcconnell: now, mr. president, i don't have to tell colleagues how important the internet and other wireless technologies have been in our modern society. from the way students learn to the way we do business and even the way, as senators, keep in touch with our constituents, these advancements have, in many ways, fundamentally changed how we operate. but it's important to remember that these groundbreaking te

mrs. sara netanyahu. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states donald j. trump and the prime minister of israel benjamin netanyahu. [applause] prime minister netanyahu: ladies and gentlemen, this museum tells the story of israel. mr. speaker, you have just gone through a fast pace visit through our past, our present, and we work together to fashion the future. here you can see hebrew text of the bible that are 2,000 years old. you can see the coins that bear witness to nearly 4,000 years of our presence in this land. you can see the candles we lit, the synagogues we prayed in during our long exile, but the story of israel is not simply the story of the passion. it's the story of a nation borne of a barron land brought back to life, of an ancient language revised, of an exiled people returned, of jewish sovereignty restored. we have a saying, mr. president, the people of israel lives -- the state of israel lives on, alive at ever. a thriving democracy, a powerful army, innovative, free economy and a proud, resilient people. mr. president, over the years isra

mr. president, is truly historic. oreign trip of a president of the united states included a visit to israel. thank you, mr. president. thank you for this powerful expression of your friendship to israel. mr. president, yesterday in saudi arabia, you delivered a forceful speech of clarity and conviction. you called on all nations to drive out terrorists and extremists. you called for the forces of civilization to confront the forces of barbarism. mr. president, for 69 years, israel has been doing precisely that. we've manned the front lines of civilization, we've fought terrorism, and we've built a modern, vibrant, democratic, jewish state. in doing so, mr. president, we've protected all faiths, muslims, christians, everyone. throughout the middle east, christian communities are decimated, minorities persecuted, but here in israel, we're proud to have a growing and thriving christian community, and we guarantee the rights of all. mr. president, israel also shares the commitment to peace that you expressed yesterday. we

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: before i speak, i have a unanimous consent request that the senate be in a period of morning business with senators -- -- with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: i have two short remarks i would like to make, mr. president. the first deals with may being national foster care month. so i want to thank my colleagues for unanimously supporting this resolution that recognizes may as national foster care month. national foster care month has been recognized for over 20 years as a time that we all celebrate the voices of foster youth and to bring awareness to the challenges that these young people face. during this month, organizations in iowa and for that matter all across the country have been working to support and to recognize the young people who are in foster care. nationally, there are over 425,000 children in foster care. in iowa alone, almost 4,000 kids entered foster care 2015, the last y

mr. comey, if the president has tapes of his conversation with mr. comey, we ought to be able to review those tapes as well to see if the president pressured the f.b.i. director to shut down an active investigation. the "times" reported that mr. comey kept contemporaneous memos of his conversations with the president, and mr. comey has a reputation for accuracy in those memos. those memos should also be provided to the congressional intelligence and judiciary committees, and mr. comey should testify before those committees in public. indeed, providing the congress the tapes and memos may be the only way -- excuse me. indeed, providing the congress the tapes and the memos may be the only way for this administration to credibly make a case to a justifiably skeptical american public about its version of the story reported by "the new york times." the president says what comey said was wrong. prove it. it's easy to prove. as long as there are tapes or transcripts of what happened. if the president's right, he'll have no problem releasing memos, tapes, tra