mr. blumenthal: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: thanks, mr. president. i'm very proud to begin a conversation on the floor with a number of my colleagues about one of the most urgent and pressing challenges that face us as a body here in washington making laws, but even more preeminently to families and students around the country who literally right now are sitting at their kitchen tables in their living rooms, in family gatherings, trying to find a path forward in financing their education, their children's education, their grandchildren's education. we must do better as a nation and we have to do better in giving a fair shot to them, to the innovators and entrepreneurs, and vintors of the future, the people who will power our economy with ideas and energy as a result of college education which is part of american dream -- the american dream, part of giving everybody in america a fair shot at that dream. i've been doing a lot of listening over these past weeks, over threes past three and a half years, over three decade

mr. blumenthal: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: thank you, madam president. i ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: tomorrow the senate has a historic and magnificent opportunity to increase everybody's fair shot at the american dream, everyone's fair shot at a college education that enables and opens the american dream to people who come from families where college was an unachievable aspiration. and i know about those families because i come from one of them. i am the first man in my family to have a college education, not to mention the opportunity to go to law school. and there are a couple of hard, practical facts, apart from all the rhetoric about the american dream. the fact is that today college education is a major -- maybe the most important determinant of income. it is one of the major determinants of employment. the employment rate for college graduates is much higher than for those who lack it. in fact, the unimhoiment rates for -- the unimhoiment rates

mr. blumenthal: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. the photographs on this poster are of a young woman, lori jackson, a connecticut resident, who died tragically, needlessly, savagely in oxford at the hands of her estranged husband. lori is the reason that i have introduced legislation named after her to close a gaping loophole in our federal law. well, she is not really the only reason. tragically, there are thousands of other women and some men who have shared her fate because of a gap in federal law that permits intimate partners to continue to have firearms, even when they are under restraining orders from the court. those restraining orders are placed against them because they evidence clear danger to their partner, whether their husband or their spouse, and the reason that they pose danger is that they become violent. the gap in the law is that it applies only to permanent restraining orders, not temporary ones, and lori jackson sought a temporary restraining order when her estranged husband

blumenthal: mr. p? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. blume thank you. --mr. blumenthal: thank you. i want to begin by thanking a number of our colleagues, especially our good friends and very active members of this body, senator sanders and mccain for acting in a very bipartisan and courageous way to enable us to reach a compromise and vote on a truly historic step fiewrksd a forward, as we y to bring to a close the crisis -- the beginning of bringing to an end this crisis in our health care system in the v.a. i also want to thank my colleague from rhode island for his amendment, and i hope that it has support in some form, as it deserves, and others do as well, in this process because, as commendable as the bill is, certainly it does not solve all of the problems in the v.a. health care system, let alone the v.a. let's recognize that the disability claims backlog persists. the bureaucratic rigmarole and sclerotic bureaucracy of the v.a. in many parts of the country continue to plague our veterans. and we need to recognize that top-to-bottom the v.a. needs an

mr. blumenthal and offer that on our campus. where that runs head long is to public records laws and restrictions that require us to make our police records open to a very large extent, even with the visiting survivors or suspects names, releasing those to the public. while that may be a best practice, that's going to be a challenge for some states to do that. >> how do you all handle public records stuff in terms of your model and where the victim gets to decide. this is very similar to the military system. >> absolutely. >> restricted and unrestricted reports. what happens on public record requests to your police agency on a report where a victim -- where a report has been made but she wanted to keep it confidential. >> sure. let me say first, too, the difference between us and the military mod ceel is we're getty the information to the person doing the investigation. that's the goal from the beginning. it's not going to someone restricted and not doing the investigation. that's what i do believe. i believe this information ne

mr. blumenthal: mr. president, i want to thank my colleague from rhode island, who has been such a champion and a leader in these efforts over so many years, well before i came to the united states senate. he was there working and fighting for more affordable loans to our students. the comments that have been heard on the senate floor over the past hour reflect a growing awareness and worry in the country, a worry about what happens to america in the future, whether we will leave a lesser america and whether the american dream will be not only deferred but denied to so many students who are wondering and worrying right now about their personal futures as well as the future of the country. these comments and this conversation will be extended over this day and the days to come as we prepare for a crucial vote this week on this bill. one of the chief authors of this bill, senator warren, is to be thanked and commended and she will be here on the floor later today or tomorrow to speak for herself, but she h

mr. chairman. >> thank you. senator blumenthal has joined us. >> thank you mr. chairman. thank you to you for having this hearing and for your really instrumental work on a lot of this ledge stratigislation and this panel, particularly bea hanson for your work on sexual assault on campuses and your help to me in the round tables that we worked on and the proposals that we formulated as a result. great work on this issue. thanks to the wonderful staff that he has working on this issue. and to that point, i wonder if you could talk a little bit about what additional steps colleges and universities ought to be taking with respect to cyber stalking and the relationship of cyber stalking with campus sexual assault. you know, in connecticut, more than 50,000 individuals are stalked every year. a lot of it occurs on campuses because college students tend to be more atune to this technology and yet i found as i went around the state of connecticut that college administrators and officials there often were not as focused as perhaps they should be on this issue of cyber stalking an

mr. chairman. >> thank you. senator blumenthal has joined us. >> thank you mr. chairman. thank you to you for having this hearing and for your really instrumental work on a lot of this legislation. thanks to this excellent panel. i want to thank particularly bea hanson for your work on sexual assault on campuses and your help to me in the roundtables that we organized around connecticut and the proposals that we formulated as a result. and the president's great work on this issue. thanks to the wonderful staff that he has working on this issue. and to that point, i wonder if you could talk a little bit about what additional steps colleges and universities ought to be taking with respect to cyberstalking and the relationship or the intersection of cyberstalking with campus sexual assault. you know, in connecticut, more than 50,000 individuals are stalked every year. a lot of it occurs on campuses because college students tend to be more attuned to this technology, and yet i found as i went around the state of connecticut that college administrators and officials there ofte

mr. chairman. i see my time has expired. >> thank you, senator durbin? >> thank you senator blumenthal. thank you, mr. secretary, for being here. i want to address as issue that i don't know if it's come up during the course of this hearing. there is undoubtedly many reasons they children are crossing the border, sonia nazario, "los angeles times" writer, won a pulitzer prize for "enrique's journey" that book she believe 75% of children were coming across the border. she was referring to some 48,000 children, as young as 7 years of age crossing our border, over half of them by themselves. the reason they were crossing the border was not on its face obvious. nfc note something said by the president or by congress or politicians or maybe the things that might first come to mind. they were looking for their mothers. looking for their mothers that, i believe has led them to do things that are unimaginable to those of us with children or grandchildren, to think that a child as young as 7 would hop a freight train, and what they found as a result of looking at this at the university of houston, they found t

blumenthal. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank both you and chairman mill as well as ranking members for your leadership, and to all my colleagues here today for this very bipartisan and cooperative approach, which is quite remarkable to me as a veteran of all three and a half years in the united states senate, and i hope it bodes well for how we will work together on the challenges that continue to face us. i've been doing a lot of listening to veterans over the three and a half years, over the 20 years i've served as attorney general. especially the 683 veterans in connecticut who are waiting more than three months to see a doctor, and veterans coming back from afghanistan who have to wait 18 days or three weeks for a mental health appointment. many of them have come to me. and what i'm hearing from them is that we really face an emergency, a crisis. in fact, it is an emergency that gives new meaning to that word. i'm hoping that we can honor both the commitment of our veterans to our nation and our obligation to

blumenthal. >> thank you, mr. chairman, chairman miller, as well as ranking members for your leadership, and to all of my colleagues here today for this very bipartisan and cooperative approach which is quite remarkable to me. as a veteran of all of 3 1/2 years in the united states senate, and i hope it bodes well for how we will work together on the challenges that continue to face us. especially the 683 veterans in connecticut who are waiting more than three months to see a doctors, and veterans coming back from afghanistan who have to wait 18 days or three weeks for a mental health appointment. many of them have come to me. we really face an emergency, a crisis. in fact, it is a -- an emergency that gives new meaning to that word. i'm hoping that we can honor both the commitment of our veterans to our nation and our obligation to keep faith with them in regarding it as an emergency in a crisis and treating it that way as a matter of funding. time is not on our side. this tragedy is a growing, unfolding burgeoni

reid of nevada, coons, blumenthal, merkley, durbin, gillibrand, cardin, nelson, feinstein, warren, harkin, hirono. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the measure. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. reid: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 736. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed -- all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: leo t. sorokin of massachusetts to be united states district judge for the district of massachusetts. mr. reid: there is a cloture motion at the desk. i would ask it be reported. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion. we the undersigned senators in in accordance with the provi

mr. boomer: thank you very much. i rise to speak on an amendment i filed on the appropriations bill that this chamber is now considering. the amendment is cosponsored by senators rockefeller, feinstein, menendez, schumer, blumenthal, gillibrand, markey, warren and brown. i also ask unanimous consent to add as cosponsors, senator durbin, senator boxer, senator hirono, senator murphy and senator schatzment. the presiding officer: without schatz -- senator schatz. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. boomer: ow amendment woulerd enhance rules that reduce driver fatigue. this bill rolls back enforcement of these rules, rules that are based on years of scientific evidence. it's doing so without further study. it's rolling back these safety rules without public input. it's rolling back these safety rules without even a hearing. at a time when truck crashes are actually on a rise in the united states of america, it is paramount that congress do more to improve transportation safety, to improve the protection of lives, not remove an evidence-based element of reform. keep in mind that the rule the bill is currently considering suspends enforcement of what was the result of feedback from more than 20,000 formal co

wyden, warren, blumenthal, cardin, reed of rhode island, harkin, boxer, shah heerntion murray -- shaheen, murray, durbin, udall of new mexico, whitehouse, murphy, nelson, menendez and baldwin. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, we have filed just now, i'm sorry to s say, another cloture petition to get on a bill. we have more student debt in america today than we have credit card debt. i just had a conference call with some students from the state of nevada. it's really very, very unfortunate what's going on. some of these students lamented the fact, you know, i'm not sure i should be in school. i'm borrowing money. maybe i should do something el else. i don't know how many times we've had to file cloture on just the opportunity to get on a bill but that's where we are. so we'll have a cloture vote on seeing if they'll let us on the bill on wednesday. mr. durbin: would the senator yield for a question? mr. reid: yes. mr. durbin: i would like to ask the senator a question through the chair. is it my understanding you just filed a procedural motion which would allow us

mr. blumenthal: thank you, madam president. i am pleased to follow my friend and colleague from vermont, senator sanders, and i want to begin by thanking him for his leadership, his persistence and his perseverance in the face of resistance that should not exist. this cause ought to be one that galvanizes the nation and perhaps it will since the nation has been appalled and astonished by reports of not only cooking the books but covering up that potential criminality, destruction of documents, falseification of records, secret waiting lists, delays that are unacceptable and untolerable for health care, basic, necessary health care that our veterans need. but these issues are long standing, decades old, in our veterans' affairs health administration. they are endemic to the system. in fact, they reflect systematic failing that are long standing in this system, and they need to be addressed with systemwide reform. i am strongly in support and proudly so in advocating the ensuring veterans access to health care act that senator sa

clerk: senators sanders, rockefeller, murray, brown, tester, begich, blumenthal, hirono, burr, isakson, johanns, mccain, coburn and rubio. mr. reid: note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: quorum call: quorum call: quorum call: mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the call of the quorum be terminated. officer without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the senate now proceed to a period of morning business, senators allowed to speak up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent we now proceed as a body to calendar number 352. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 352, s. 1237, a bill to improve the administration of programs in the insular areas and for other purposes. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the committee-reported substitute amendment be considered, the murkowski amendment be agreed to, the substitute amendment be agreed to, the bill as amended be