and mr. bruce, i think -- did he leave? ok, well maybe not. >> clerk: he must have stepped out. >> president breed: let's go back to roll call for introduction. we can vote on it without him here. we'll hold off and continue with roll call for introduction. >> clerk: you're next. >> president breed: submit. >> clerk: supervisor cohen. >> supervisor cohen: i want to talk about the legislation that supervisor yee discussed. he introduced legislation for participatory budgeting. the residents of district 10 and i are excited to move forward for the next steps. hundreds of community members voted on various projects that would they would like to see implemented in the community. and the projects range from placing neighborhood trash bins to improving pedestrian safety measures. here are a few that i would like to highlight. first, which has been very well received, restoration of the 29-year-old mural on 3rd. a second very popular item that was voted on was good fatherhood day. which is a community event that provides an opport

there will be opportunity to speak with mr. bruce after he conclude public comment. >> thank you. >> president breed: any other members of the comment that would like to speak on blighted properties? seeing none, public comment is closed. for those of you here for this particular item, blighted properties, mr. bruce will be able to talk to you outside. in order to address those particular issues, so if you could -- mr. bruce? yes, if you could step outside with those who would like to talk to you about the issue and then maybe bring back to us what might be amended from the particular file. we would appreciate it. thank you. ok, colleagues, let's go to roll call for introductions. >> first up to intro does new business is supervisor safai. >> supervisor safai: that's right. thank you very much, madame president. just kidding, it's been a long meeting. i have a few things. one i'm going to re-refer, proud to be cosponsors supervisor tang, big announcement that is environmentally friendly, thank her for her leadership but i'll say more

justice department and agreed to turn evidence against his former ally mr bruce schwartz said that he knowingly conspired to in slave time workers with the full knowledge of mr laurean and other members of global horizons that together they purposely withheld the passport of the thai workers thus making it impossible for them to escape and they also knowingly used the huge amount of debts that the thai workers had entered into as a way of enforcing the thai workers to remain and global horizons important. to everything that you have had to face in your code if you personally do you have any regrets i believe if i was myself i would not really go i don't i think i'll fight it to so now because i think what i've done was a great thing i changed people's life i think the pain of what my family went through and my kids it was a little if i can call it a little holocaust for my family in that if nothing else mr and his alleged victims have something in common. what. about what. about what did. you have to do. parallel. to your. twitter or. subclinical me what i. need but don't really well.

minutes to my good friend and very, very much active member of the veterans' affairs committee, mr. bruce poliquin. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. poliquin: thank you very much, mr. speaker. thank you very much, mr. chairman. i appreciate it. mr. speaker, it's a great day, a eb great week for america. here we're celebrating not only our great veterans who have given our freedom and way of life but also our great police officers who stand between ourselves and the more chaotic environment, so we're grateful for everybody that steps up, not only our men and women in uniform who have represented us, but also our men and women in blue. mr. speaker, i represent he the second congressional district of the great state of maine. this is the largest geographic district east of the mississippi river. we have an eight-hour drive over beautiful country roads, all kinds of critters on the road, including moose, so you have to be careful if you're driving. let me tell you, we also have 125,000 veterans in the state of maine, more than half of which, mr. speaker, are in the se

mr. courtney: dave, bruce, fill and none of this is possible without the countless hours they put in and the expertise they provide us. thank you for a productive and collaborative process that has led to an excellent product here today. and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas. mr. thornberry: i yield three minutes to the chairman of sea power and projection forces, mr. whitman. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. whitfield: why do we need to -- >> it could be perceived as contrary to my concerns on in sufficient national security funding. our federal government has choices to increase or diminish specific programs that make a more efficient government. however, when it comes to our national security, our choices are limited. it is our obvious that our nation's military is at a cross roads, we could choose to retreat or we could choose to lead from the front and shape the affairs of our national security. i choose the latter. i choose a military that can provide for our domestic security and capable of protecting our n

i was just curious why you thi nk bruce's music resonates with so many people? mr. christie: i think it resonates with people all over the world because it is honest. there is raw emotion in what bruce does both in terms of his writing and his performing. people love to feel. i have been to 138 shows. i cannot wait for 139. it's because he makes you feel a certain way. he makes you think and feel. imagine if you are a kid from new jersey. it is 1975 and you are 13 years old. "born to run" comes out. he is talking about the exxon sign and you know where that is. he is talking about highway nine and you have driven on highway nine. he's talking about all these places, and people say new jersey sucks, but let me tell you something -- this guy is writing about us. as great as he is, he's making us feel great. it particularly resonates with people from new jersey because we have a chip on our shoulder. we are stuck between new york and philadelphia. benjamin franklin called us a keg tapped at both ends, right? when you have a chip on your shoulder, people like bruce make

mr. courtney: dave, bruce, fill and none of this is possible without the countless hours they put in and the expertise they provide us. thank you for a productive and collaborative process that has led to an excellent product here today. and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas. mr. thornberry: i yield three minutes to the chairman of sea power and projection forces, mr. whitman. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. whitfield: why do we need to -- >> it could be perceived as contrary to my concerns on in sufficient national security funding. our federal government has choices to increase or diminish specific programs that make a more efficient government. however, when it comes to our national security, our choices are limited. it is our obvious that our nation's military is at a cross roads, we could choose to retreat or we could choose to lead from the front and shape the affairs of our national security. i choose the latter. i choose a military that can provide for our domestic security and capable of protecting our n

i have been to 138 bruce springsteen shows. [laughter] mr. christie: first of all, i keep count, which should disturb you. i don't drink, i don't smoke, i don't do drugs. this is it for me, okay? as i told you, we spoke to president obama every day. on that friday -- mr. axelrod: i was on the plane with his happened. mr. christie: i am in the emergency operation center in new jersey. we got to the point where it was not unusual for my assistant to come in and say the president is on the phone. ok, here's my daily phone call with president obama. we are ready to brief him. i pick up the phone. mr. president, how are you? "great, chris." remember, this is the friday before the election. there was nothing certain about the outcome of the election at that point. he asks me if things are going ok. i give him a little briefing. he says, do you mind if i put you on speakerphone. he has someone who once the talk to me. i said sure. so he gets on the phone i hear, "hey, chris, how you doing?" and it's springsteen. and he goes, "i'm on the plane with t

welcome to the party, pal, like bruce willis said in the movie "die-hard." with respect to mr.erg. this is why we had the tea party several years ago and donald trump as businessman as president because he is delivering promises and truth to the american people. he promised tax cuts. we got tax cuts. he promised cuts in regulations. we got cuts in regulations. he promised the united states energy superpower. keystone xl pipeline, dakota pipeline. doing something on international front. got us out of horrible paris climate change agreement. got us out of the horrible iran agreement. got us three hostages out of north korea, without sending $400 million in cash like president obama did. he is delivering promises to american people. >> you ran down trump's rest may. that is the truth. >> i would agree those are pluses for the trump administration. but bloomberg is talking about something else. he is talking about latetantly misleading blatant facts are one thing and donald trump. >> that you talk about crowd size is more important issue than say terrorism? >> wait a minute. we, i

tammy bruce says it is another example of the left singling out women who are not aligned with them. >> mrsobama complains again about women who voted for donald trump. a woman who worked in this line most of my adult life. it was supposed to be about and we achieved this, women making choices that were best for themselves and their families and that is denigrated. this should be celebrated that women are making a choice based on what establishment or celebrity or political celebrity is telling them to do. we are thinking about the future. if we can afford to pay the rent, this is what the movement is about and it has got to be embraced. >> important to note english is the first lady's 6 language. she also speaks french, italian, german, slovenian and serbo-croatian. 11 minutes after the hour, fox news alert, go now, that is the urgent warning for thousands is rushing love our turns paradise into a total nightmare. >> my life here. kim jung un what is being done to keep people safe in hawaii as a volcano pours rivers of lava. amazing video. all lies on the iran deal ahead of donald trump's

have that chip on your shoulder, people like bruce make you feel particularly proud of the grit and emotion that new jerseyans have. that is why i like him. mr. axelrod: let me add one postscript. if you have not read his autobiography, you should. one of the things he does is creatively talk about his battle with until illness. -- mental illness. the more people who are open about those, other people will get the help that they need. it speaks to the humanity of him. it is a very moving book. gov. christie: i saw springsteen on high -- on broadway. one of the great lines he has in there is my whole life, i made a fortune, and embarrassing fortune over writing about men and women who worked 9:00 to 5:00, who worked five days a week. 9:00 toever worked a 5:00 in my life. i am a total hypocrite, but it made -- i made a lot of money off of it. endearingkes him more as time goes on. >> thank you. gov. christie: i'm sorry about the sweater. being a reds fan is tough. sorry. to come back to the opioids question. he talked about the role of the pharmaceutical companies. i was wondering if you talk about the huge number of lawsuits from states, coun

mr. president, to say that vaughan has been the beating heart of my office. she has made a mark here by doing her job with love and laughter every single day. my husband, bruce, and i are very thankful for her service and, most importantly, we're thankful for her friendship. she is one of a kind. and we wish her the very best as she returns home to nebraska. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. quorum call: mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the assistant democratic leader. mr. durbin: if we're in a quorum call -- the presiding officer: we are not. mr. durbin: i ask to be recognized to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, it was about five or six weeks ago that i accepted an invitation and an opportunity to visit caracas, venezuela. i'd never been to that country before and spent four days. turns out that not many members of congress go to this country, and very few are given permission if they ask. but for some reason i was given permission and went down there to meet with the leaders of their government and to take stock of what was happening in venezuela. sadly, i have