mr. cardin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: thank you, mr. president. first let me tell you how pleased i am, the people of maryland, that we are now in the process of ending this government shutdown. a government shutdown does not benefit anyone. it certainly doesn't benefit the federal workers who live in maryland and the federal workers around the nation. the uncertainty that a shutdown brings, those that are exempted are asked to work without knowing when they will get a paycheck. those that are on furlough don't know whether they'll ever get a paycheck or not. it's not in the interest of our federal workforce. it's certainly not in the interest of federal contractors who depend upon contracts that have been put on suspension. it's not in the interest of the public who depend upon governmental services and it ends up costing taxpayers more money. mr. president, i'm pleased to see that we're on a path to end this shutdown, to get government back up and a path forward. i also am pleased that we've at least accelerated by two weeks the deadl

mr. cardin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: mr. president, i succeed that the -- i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: mr. president, i take this time to go over with my colleagues the reasons why i unequivocally oppose the trump administration's decision to allow oil and gas drilling along our atlantic coast. there's many reasons why i oppose this policy. one is the risk to the environment is too great. the atlantic coast contains some of the most pristine coastlines in america. the -- this region is very much aware of the importance of the chesapeake bay and how fragile the chesapeake bay is and what an oil spill off the coast of the atlantic could do to the chesapeake bay. there's also reasons to oppose this because, quite frankly, the amount of suspected reserves are just not great enough to warrant this risk. and then, mr. president, we also know that there is already sign

mr. cardin: i would ask consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: mr. president, before coming to washington today, i went to annapolis. the maryland general assembly is in session. i had a chance to meet with several of our regional delegations in the maryland general assembly, with our senators, and with our members of the house. obviously, the question that was asked the most is what's happening in regards to the federal government, what's happening in regards to the f.y. 2018 budget? will government be funded past midnight tonight? i must tell you, i was talking to both democratic and republican members of the maryland general assembly, and there was a common concern, for you see the maryland general assembly will shortly be receiving from governor hogan the f.y. 2019 budget, the f.y. 2019 budget. and a good part of any state's budget is the -- is the federal funding programs, and the state of maryland and none of our local jurisdictions have the f.y. 2018 budget let alone a blueprint for lik

mr. cardin: mr. president, i take this time, i'm going to ask unanimous consent request concerning our federal workforce and the reason for doing this is that we've gone through shutdowns before. it's been our view that our federal workforce should receive their pay. that's been a bipartisan effort after each of the shutdowns. i could tell you our federal workforce is concerned. they're concerned as to those who are on furlough whether they will receive tear paychecks when government opens -- their paychecks when government opens up again. i was pleased to see a comment come out of the white house where the white house says they support the pay for our federal workforce. i think it's important that we give them that assurance. i understand there is disagreement as to what has happened to date and how we're going to reopen government. but let's not make our federal workforce have anxiety where they should not have it. our federal workforce has suffered long enough under furloughs and c.r.'s and pay ra

mr. cardin: thank you, mr. president. i take this time to share with my colleagues a report that i released yesterday, which is the product of the senate foreign relations committee. the report's called putin's asymmetric assault on democracy in russia and europe, implications for u.s. national security. i commissioned this report to be done early in 2017. i had to make a decision on the allocation of resources. and i thought that it was extremely important that the american people and the international community understand the breadth of russia's campaign against democratic institutions. yes, we saw it in 2016 in the u.s. elections, but that was only one part of a much broader design, and that i recognize that we -- recognized that we needed to devote the resources at that time in order to make this report work. it is how russia has interfered not just here in the united states but in europe. i want to start by acknowledging some of the staff. mr. president, i would ask unanimous consent that floor privileges be granted

mr. cardin? mr. carper? mr. casey? >> so getting some clarification, yes, this is the vote that's happening now. mitch mcconnell and chuck schumer will speak afterwards, everyone stand by, will the government shut down, we'll find out momentarily. >> mr. coons? mr. corker? mr. cornen? >> aye. >> ms. cortese-masto? mr. cotton? mr. crepo? mr. cruz? >> aye. >> mr. danes. >> as we -- as a vote, we'll continue our conversation. sorry, david, to interrupt you, did you finish your thought? >> it's not a problem. don, look, i think the bottom line is that once you get this close to a shutdown, into a government shutdown, it's no longer about the policies that brought you to the brink, it's about who blinks first, whoever blinks first ends up weaker in the next round of negotiations, that is governing all of the decisions both democrats and republicans as well as president trump are making as we go forward. >> molly, i want to bring you in here, and get what you think of this conversation, here we are at the once again, really

senator cardin. >> again, thank you, mr. chairman. i thank all four of our witnesses, and i think this committee will continue to strengthen our authorization bills, including the movement of freight. but we're going to need to come together on revenues necessary to support the type of infrastructure this country needs. which will help our economy and will create jobs. and mr. parker, i appreciated your statement of your industry supporting increased diesel fees in order to get the necessary resources to deal with our inland waterways. i think we need to look at that type of an example to figure out how we can make sure we have adequate resources devoted towards infrastructure improvements. and it's intermodal. if you don't pay attention to all of the means, you're going to short-change the efficiency factors of moving freight through america. mr. thomas, i want to talk about two issues that you did raise. first, let me talk about midday for one moment. mr. parker also mentioned the fact that this committee has been successful, at lea

cardin? >> thank you, mr. chairman. ambassador, thank you. just about everything you said i agree with and i like the way you emphasized the importance of mr. assad leaving. but let me just express some skepticism with russia's involvement and try to understand how we are prepared to deal with what is likely to come about and that is russia's goals of not having a free syria. they want to have a footprint in syria. they're comfortable with mr. assad. they certainly are -- looks like they are setting him up to be immune from being held accountable for his war crimes. how do we -- i agree with senator corker's inference. that it is beyond reasonable expectationst ha that syria woud have traditionally free or fair elections in the near future. that would be extremely difficult to pull off. >> senator, there are two things we do to achieve that goal. i do not disagree with the things you just said. we have an international consensus at this moment, which is widely supported that there should be no printing of legitimacy, authentication, to what h

cardin? >> thank you, mr. chairman, ambassador, thank you. just about everything you said i agree with and i like the way you emphasized the importance of mr. assad leaving but let me express some skepticism with russia's involvement and try to understand how we are prepared to deal with what is likely to come about and that is russia's goals of not having a free syria. they want to have a footprint in syria. they're comfortable with mr. assad. they certainly are -- looks like they are setting him up to be immune from being held accountable for his war crimes. how do we -- i agree with senator corker's inference. >> that's first tool. second tool is money. syria needs reconstruction. the bill varies in estimate, but let's say between $200 billion and $300 billion plus to reconstruct. the international community has committed itself not to provide that reconstruction assistance until those goals -- constitutional reform, u.n.-supervised elections -- are realized. that's a powerful incentive because our assessment is russia, iran. syrian regime

mr. meehan: he graduated from cardinal o'hara high school in 1983 and served 11 years as a member of the philadelphia fire department he joined springfield's fire company at the age of 16 and continued to serve as instructor as the delaware emergency services center where he was praised by colleagues for his skill and the knowledge he passed on to them about how to keep themselves safe he served his community with dedication, commitment and his colleagues said we took a big loss in the fire service. j.j. bonsall, one of his closest friends, said he was one of the greatest firefighters he we know. he was also a participant in something called red paw, making sure animals harmed in fires have a safe place. thank matt letourneau for his service. the condolences and congratulations are wiz h his other, his extended family and with his fellow firefighters. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona seek recognition? without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> madam speaker, i rise today to recognize the stop the b

archbishop carroll high school, the first integrated high school founded by cardinal o'boyle, as you mentioned. for archbishop gregory and mrllace, i wonder how our churches need to change. given the fact that the current administration was mostly elected by people who identify themselves as christians but tend not to go to church. if we are talking about the role religious institutions can play, it is hard to play that role if religious institutions are not factors in people's lives. i wonder how you think the church has to change in order to inform that moral imagination, as you framed it. >> the first thing the church has to do is acknowledge that it also is racist. that the sin of racism is not a sin that is out there. it is a sin that permeates all of us. one of the things that pope francis does, and he does quite well, when he describes himself, -- it was asked -- how would you describe yourself? and he said -- i am a sinner. and it was not just a cute response. it was a sincere response that as a minister of the gospel, i'm going to invite the people that i care for and serve to conversion and so i have to begin by s

senator cardin, turn to you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. first let me welcome mr. azar.particularly i i want to welcoe your dad who is with us. mr. chairman, mr. azar grew up in maryland, , his father who ia distinguished physician and was involved in policy development in our state of maryland on health care policy, and i had a chance to work with windows in the state legislature, so it's good to see the family is here we thank mr. azar for his willingness to serve in this very important position. so the first question i'm going to ask you will be a parochial one with maryland. if necessary to future father involved here, and that is protecting some initiatives we've had in maryland. we have as you know and all higher rate system for hospital care that requires the attention of hhs to make sure we can continue to provide this uniform type service in our state. many states have come up with innovative ways to cut health and a health care system and we had a chance to talk about it but i just urge you to pay attention to these types of initiatives and the understanding th

cardin expressing this new report. >> today current president of the united states still barely acknowledges the threat posed by mr. putin's repeated tasked. let alone the kind of leadership necessary to effectively counter this kixd aggression. never before has a u.s. president so severely ignored such a grave and growing threat to u.s. national security. >> is that fair to the president to say that never has anyone ignored a threat this much? >> i think it is extremely fair. this gets to the heart of what the special counsel inquiry is all about and why it actually started. so the president can continue to call this a witch hunt. what sits a vital investigation to get to the one question, to what resident a fortune government attempt to med well our last presidential election and what will we do about it? we have mid-term elections coming and there is no plan to deal with foreign governments influencing and shaping our next election. >> i think it is important to wreb the context, that these have the effect. the goal of the probes is he to name and shame foreign bad actors who try meddle in elections to the exten

senator cardinal, we'll turn to you. >> thank you mr. chairman. i want to welcome mr. azar and your dad, dr. azar. mr. chairman, mr. azar grew up in maryland. his father is a distinguished physician and was involved in policy development in our state of maryland on health care policy. and i had a chance to work with him when i was in the state legislature. so it's good to see that the family is here and we thank mr. azar for his willingness to serve in this very important position. >>> if confirmed i'd love to come back home to maryland and spend time with you really learning more about the maryland approach, it's very innovative, it's cutting edge, and you have my commitment that if i'm confirmed as second i will want to work with you and be a good partner. i think in all kind of innovation and approaches at the state level as you said are what we need to be trying. no one entity, one person has the right answers. i want to be supportive of you and the state of maryland and what they are trying to do here. >> appreciate that. one of the major accomplishments of the af

mr. chairman and i appreciate the exchange you had with senator cardin on the chesapeake bay.'m hoping you will prevail upon the administration to put the $73 million or more for the bay program. you would agree, that epa's decisions be based on facts and merit, be based on the law and [inaudible] politics, would you agree with that? >> absolutely. we have to go to record and. >> i mean like in your procurement and contracts would you agree it needs to be based on the lot merits and not politics. >> i believe the way say generally. >> it disturbed me to find this report in december, is headline dpa contractor has been pastor scouring agency for anti- trump officials. in exchange with a colleague on the up society said there's no reason for bad morale. are you familiar with this? >> no. >> you should be because both senator harrison -- everett new letter. what the article stated was that the epa contract on a no-bid basis with an entity called diviners public affairs. all your familiar with that? >> i think it's the -- service. >> that's right. the clipping service both well-kn

mr khatami is wrong totally wrong where you prove that when you are certain that the african union the perception of the africa you number africans are joan dramatically tough not because one of the cardinal. objectivity of certain of the african union is about fifty years of existence which is the promotion of peace security and stability in the african continent has not been achieved in most very many african countries starting with nigeria there is massive destabilisation of the populace in the not is we had the boko haram consistently last page in the social life life of the people in the place between two thousand and fifteen and now does this some appreciable improvement in the security of loss of property in the not is that that has been replaced by is the climate of instability in the north central and also part of the not is i talk about this like terrible like a ben when this north central plateau and the rest so there's a climate of the security even here in nigeria and so does the stand there otherwise i think that is why has the sales on that count. well one of the reasons why you do within the air you are played some more fundamental role is that there's be muslim movement i

senator cardin, i'll turn to you. >> thank you, mr. chairman, first, let me welcome mr. azar here. i particularly want to welcome your dad, doctor azar, who is with us. mr. chairman, mr. azar grew up in salisbury, maryland, his father is a distinguished physician and was involved in the policy development in our state of maryland on health care policy and i had a chance to work with him when i was in the state legislature so it's good to see the family here and we thank mr. azar for his willingness to serve in this important position so the first question i'll ask you will be a parochial one with maryland. if necessary, i'll get your father involved here, and this is protecting some of the initiatives that we've had in maryland. we have, as you know, an all-payer rate system for our hospital care that requires the attention of hhs to make sure we can continue to provide this uniform-type service in our state. many states have come up with innovative ways to help with our health care system and we have a chance to talk about it. i urge you to pay attention to these types of initiati

cardin traces a web of russian interference in government and private institutions around the world. >> the senator told fox5 that vladimir putin used a wide array of tactics to undermine governments and groups. >> mrputin has an arsenal of weapons. these weapons including the use of corruption, cyber attacks, the use of his own military, the use of energy as a weapon, misinformation, propaganda in order to try to compromise democratic institutions and we outline his efforts in 19 european countries in addition to the united states. this is not a partisan report. this is a represent -- this represents the work of many members of congress including republicans. clearly when you have a country that interferes in your own institutions, sometimes we call that war. we call that an attack and what is done by traditional militaries is very well understood but when we have cyber attack or attempts to influence domestic politics, that's just dangerous and we got to take steps to protect ourselves. >> the new report makes dozens of recommendations for reigning in russia including a closer partnership with european allies to defend against cyber attacks tracking and freezing dirty money laundered by the kreml

today, cardin writes, "while our european partners have taken steps to better defend themselves, the united states has not protected the institutions. clearly ignored a national security threat. >> mr trump must show unprecedented support for our people. >> democrats are calling on president trump to work with u.s. allies to take steps to battle the russia threat together. >>> lawmakers in maryland and virginia returned to work today as the start of the new legislative season gets under way. in maryland, everything from paid sick leave to health care and taxes are on the table. they are also hoping to tackle the culture of section sexual misconduct in the workplace. in virginia, a record number of women and minorities joined the house. let's start with northern virginia bureau chief julie carey. she's in richmond. >> reporter: the strong showing in the northern virginia delegation. just take a look at the front rows of the democratic side of the aisle and increased diversity. the first two latina delegates from prince william county including kathy tran who held her youngest child in her lap and first transgender woman from manassas. another history making newcomer. they will push

cardin of maryland, commissioned the report, had this to say about president trump's lack of action on the issue. >> today the current president of the united states still barely acknowledges the threat posed by mr. putin's repeated attacks on democratic governments and institutions, let alone exercises the kind of leadership history has shown is necessary to effectively counter this kind of aggression. never before has a u.s. president clearly ignored a grave threat to u.s. national security. >> bringing in reporter mike nemly. what can you tell us other than a criticism of the president not even giving a basic acknowledgement of the interference russia has had in the u.s. elections. what else is in there? it's a big report. >> yeah. 200 pages, ali. what the democrats on the senate foreign relations committee really wanted to do, lay out in as much detail as possible how over the last two decades vladimir putin first strengthened his hold on power in russia and then sought to expand russia's influence throughout the world in large part by undermining the democracies of were western europe and ultimately trying that here in the united states. this report gets into everything from how russia esse

cardin. since my mom grew up in maryland in dundof, maryland, summer job, two of you from maryland, this history now we make sure that the chesapeake bay is fully protected. i know that -- >> mr. chairman, i will say no more. [laughter]. >> welcome to the committee. we're now going to hear from our witnesses. we'll start with a introduction in a second from senator inhofe. we have mr. scott robinson. miss julie ufner, associate legislative director of the national zooks of counties. william friedman, chairman of association of port authorities, nicole carter national resource policy expert for and steve cochran, coastal protection, restore the mississippi delta coalition. i believe senator cassidy will be here to introduce mr. cochran. if i could start by senator inhofe please introduce our guests. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i appreciate that. having presence of scott robinson here. he has spent a lot of time in this business. we became good friends. i have to say one thing, building a little bit on what carper just said, it is not just the coastal states we're interested in. we are in oklahoma, the america's most inland warm water port. the problem is nobody knows it. i rem

mr. cardin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: thank you, mr. president. first let me tell you how pleased i am, the people of maryland, that we are now in the process of ending this government shutdown. a government shutdown does not benefit anyone. it certainly doesn't benefit the federal workers who live in maryland and the federal workers around the nation. the uncertainty that a shutdown brings,

mr. cardin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, the dreamers are part of this country. they are america's future. they are helping to build this great nation and they need our attention now. the republicans control the house, the senate, and the white house. one of their principal responsibilities is to pass a budget. we are now four months into the fiscal year and we don't have a budget and we're talking about another continuing resolution through mid-february. a couple of week ago we were told on the floor to give it a couple of more weeks and we would work some of these issues out, but that time has now come and we still do not have a budget. we should not be going into february without dealing with the problems of this country. we need a deal on the budget. we need an agreement on the dreamers. we need so many issues that need to be addressed. there's no excuse why the republican leadership has not brought these issues to the floor of the senate for action. i want to start in regards to the dreamers to

mr. cardin: mr. president, i come to the floor today to reflect on the troubling foreign policy of president donald trump's one year into his administration. a recent poll out from gallup showed a dramatic reduction in global public opinion towards the united states. confidence in the united states by the global community has plummeted to 30% under president trump. low public opinion of our great country, among other nations, is not a good thing. it's not something to celebrate. in fact, it makes the world less safe for america and americans. it limits our economic opportunities. and it undermines our ability to promote our values, portraying president reagan's vision of a city on a hill. in just one year, the trump administration has betrayed american values, abandoned our allies, and appeased our enemies. american alliances, for example, with the united nations and the north atlantic treaty organization keep our country safe and prosperous while also building a more secure world. president trump ha

mr. cardin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: thank you, mr. president. first let me tell you how pleased i am, the people of maryland, that we are now in the process of ending this government shutdown. a government shutdown does not benefit anyone. it certainly doesn't benefit the federal workers who live in maryland and the federal workers around the nation. the uncertainty that a shutdown brings, those that are exempted are asked to work without knowing when they will get a paycheck. those that are on furlough don't know whether they'll ever get a paycheck or not. it's not in the interest of our federal workforce. it's certainly not in the interest of federal contractors who depend upon contracts that have been put on suspension. it's not in the interest of the public who depend upon governmental services and it ends up costing taxpayers more money. mr. president, i'm pleased to see that we're on a path to end this shutdown, to get government back up and a path forward. i also am pleased that we've at least accelerated by two weeks the deadl