mr. blumenthal: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: mr. president, i ask the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. i'm here today to urge this body to fulfill its constitutional duty and take action on the supreme court nominee that shortly will be submitted by president obama. i come here not only as a united states senator but as a former federal prosecutor, a united states attorney in connecticut from 1977-1981, a former state attorney general for 20 years and a veteran of four arguments before the united states supreme court. i'm also here as a former law clerk to justice harry blackmon and i share with the presiding officer as having had that sprewell important and formative experience. of course it shapes my view as well of the court. i have immense respect and awe for the position and power and phenomenon independence of the united states supreme court, its role in our democracy and its history of scholarship and public service. i have the same admiration for justi

mr. blumenthal awhile back made a kvery can sid assessment having been treasury secretary under president carter. he pointed out no matter how well intentioned the president lacked the will to make the tough decisions necessary to break the back of inflation. first, let me say i don't think the period in the '80s on these questions of inflation and energy will be easy. the early '80s it's going to be tough and for any candidate for president or anything else to say there's a quick and easy fix out there is wrong. but i think you chart a course and my course in general would be emphasize the fundamentals of economics. we have gotten away from that. spend your way into prosperity. i would change it. more specifically within a fundamental framework of conservative economics, i would restrict the growth of federal spending. i would compel the congress to do that. and if they didn't, i would veto legislation. hold the growth rate to around 6.8%. i would find ways, a

mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. chairman. i want to first just mention the elephant in the room which is the potential hurdles and obstacles to approve this budget. in the potential gridlock and paralysis in the budget process overall. e v.a. illustrates to me the urgency of putting aside partisan differences, putting aside extraneous issues and proceeding to a budget, regardless of what our colleagues in the house of representatives may think about the budgeting process and regardless of other issues relating to the supreme court or any other kinds of challenges that we face here. and i think that you come here in good faith to argue for some really urgent priorities that must be met and they are commendably a part of this budget. rlier this year the hartford -- they reached out to me because they were informed there were no additional hearing dates. travel board or a teleconference dates for hartford in terms of the appeals process. -- r my inquiry, the b.b.a. additional teleconference date has been added, which i appreciat

mr. blumenthal, mr. durbin and mr. whitehouse. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. mr. franken: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to discuss the widespread and harmful impact of forced arbitration, mandatory arbitration. last november "the new york times" published a three-part investigative series on the pervasive use of forced arbitration, or mandatory arbitration, which i would recommend to every member. mandatory arbitration is a privatized system of justice that corporations rely on when their customers or workers seek justice for being cheated or injured or mistreated. this series in "the new york times" while shocking, illustrated something that i've been saying for a long time, that mandatory arbitration agreements, forced arbitration agreements which are often buried in the fine print of employment and service contracts severely restrict americans' access to justice by stripping consumers and workers of their legal rights and insulating corporations from liability. from nu

mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to thank the secretary and the president for a very robust and profoundly significant budget that v.a. is going through major changes as it looks toward the future and prepares for an even more challenging future so far as the needs of our veterans are concerned. in areas of not only health care but also jobs and job training and skill preparation and of course homelessness and connecticut, i am very delighted to say is at the forefront of that effort, announced just last week that we have ended homelessness for veterans in connecticut. and of course that's a continuing effort, it's a milestone, not finished, and we need to continue to provide permanent housing for all of our veterans, not just a temporary of it. ition form this budget request focuses, fortunately, on a numb of areas that i think are important, breakthrough priorities such as community health care, accountability, the appeal prosssess, i also think that in terms of our medical care, the challenges of post-traum

mr. blumenthal: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: thank you, madam president. i am so honored to follow my great friend and very eloquent advocate of massachusetts, senator markey, who said much more powerfully than i can our reasons for opposing dr. robert califf as the nominee for head of the f.d.a., and to say it very simply, this agency really needs drastic reform. it needs an overhaul in the way that it approves these powerful pain-killing substances that can be a gateway to addiction, whether to opiates or to heroin. i'm proud to stand here with senator markey, senator manchin and others who feel that more must be done, that our nation is lagging in addressing an epidemic, truly a public health hurricane that is sweeping connecticut and our country. i have done round tables around my state that are among the most moving public experiences of my service in the senate and indeed my time as attorney general for 20 years on any public issue. and it's an issue that concerns iowa as well as every other state in the country

blumenthal. senator bozeman? >> thank you, mr. chairman.we do appreciate your service in so many different ways to your country and your fellow veterans. we've had your written testimony, we've heard your spoken testimony. lots of issues today. lots of concerns. if you'd just take a second and go through, tell me, if you had to summarize, you know, the top one or two things that you're really concerned about the budget. that's really what we're talking about today. what's at the top of the list? what are your real, real concerns regarding the numbers that we're seeing on the budget as to where they're going? >> yes, sir. >> mr. blake. >> senator bozeman, from pba's perspective on our concern is clearly what is the projected escalated growth in community care spending. i recognize it's a need the address access but that doesn't improve access for the members. by and large the members don't use the existing choice program, they don't avail themselves of the community care programs. so for all of this work towards expanding community care acce

it's time to introduce the ranking member senator blumenthal. >> thanks, mr. chairman. want to second your remarks about the need for an accountability bill which is i think making progress with very close by partisan cooperation between our staffs and ourselves. i want to thank the secretary and the president for a very robust and profoundly significant budget the va's going through major changes as it looks toward the future. and prepared for an even more challenging future so far as the needs of our veterans are concerned. in areas of not only health care but also jobs and job training and skill preparation and of course homelessness. in connecticut, i am very delighted to say is at the forefront of that effort. in fact, announced just last week that we have ended homelessness for veterans in connecticut. and of course that's a continuing effort. it's a milestone, not a finish line. we need to continue to provide permanent housing for all of our veterans, not just a temporary or transition form of housing. this budget request focuses fortunately on a number of areas

it's time to introduce the ranking member senator blumenthal. >> thanks, mr. chairman. want to second your remarks about the need for an accountability bill which is i think making progress with very close by partisan cooperation between our staffs and ourselves. i want to thank the secretary and the president for a very robust and profoundly significant budget the va's going through major changes as it looks toward the future. and prepared for an even more challenging future so far as the needs of our veterans are concerned. in areas of not only health care but also jobs and job training and skill preparation and of course homelessness. in connecticut, i am very delighted to say is at the forefront of that effort. in fact, announced just last week that we have ended homelessness for veterans in connecticut. and of course that's a continuing effort. it's a milestone, not a finish line. we need to continue to provide permanent housing for all of our veterans, not just a temporary or transition form of housing. this budget request focuses fortunately on a number of areas

mr. chair. >> senator blumenthal. >> thanks, mr. chair. as you may recall, dr. woodson and other members of the panel in the 2016 national defense authorization act, i advocated for a uniform formulary for transition from care to the va as service members transition out of active service, this measure was successfully passed and now, we're in an implementation stage. this joint formulary i think is critical to the quality of care and in fact, relates to a variety of related medical issues that may arise when there is a lack of sufficient transition in prescription drugs and other health care. what is the status of the implementation of the joint formulary from the dod perspective? >> i think there has been much progress. certainly in the areas of mental health medications, pain medications and some of those other critical medications for conditions in which a gap would create a great deal of problems. they've been mapped significantly to about the 96th percent level, so that we have a single formulary. there's a little bit more work that needs to be done on that

on behalf the chairman mccain let me recognize senator blumenthal as he gets seated. thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i appreciate your great work on behalf of our country and the work that you've done, particularly in the theaters that you have covered. general scaparrotti, i want to come book to one of the points that was raised by my colleague, senator gillibrand, about soft targets in terms of cyber. how vulnerable do you think those targets are in the area under your command? >> i think first of all, i'm confident in our military systems and my command-and-control systems. we red team that. we exercise it. i think we have a good defense but the problem with cyber, it is very dynamic. it changes every day. so it is something we have to stay focused on. i'm concerned about obviously the civilian cyber network we're connected to and as surveillance in the peninsula. that requires work with their civilian counterparts as well. >> is there, in your view, any action we could take with respect to north korea that would deter their invasive action such as we saw with sony, such as we have see

let me recognize senator blo blumenthal as he gets seated. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i appreciate your great work on behalf of our country and the work that you've done particularly in the theaters that you have covered. general scaporatto, i want to come back to one of the points raised by my colleague, senator gillibrand, about soft targets in terms of cyber. how vulnerable do you think those targets are in the area under your command? >> well, i think that first of all, i'm confident in our military systems and my command and control systems. we red-team that. we exercise it. i think we have a good defense, but the problem with cyber is it's very dynamic, it changes every day. so it's something we have to stay focused on. i'm concerned about obviously the civilian cyber network that we're all connected to and has an influence on us militarily as well in the peninsula. so that requires roiraq-u.s. wo and iraq with their civilian counterparts as well. >> is there in your view any action we could take with respect to north korea that would deter their invasive action

on behalf of the chairman, let me recognize senator blumenthal as he gets seated. thank you. >> thank you, mrn. i appreciate your great work on behalf of our country and the work that you have done particularly in the theaters that you have covered. general, i want to come back to one of the points that was raised by my colleague senator gillibrand about soft targets in terms of cyber. how vulnerable to you think those targets are in the area under your command? >> i think that, first of all, i'm confident in our military u systems and my command and control systems. we red team that and exercise it. i think we have a good defense, but the problem with cyber is it's very dynamic and change cans every day. it's something we have to stay focused on. i'm concerned about obviously the civilian cyber network that we're all connected to. and has an influence on us militarily. that requires work with civilian koupt parts as well. >> in your view, is there any action we could take with respect to north korea that would deter their invasive action, such as we saw with sony, such as we have seen and yo