mr. carper. mr. carper no. mr. cardin. mr. cardin aye. mr. brown. mr. brown aye. mr. bennett. mr. bennett aye. mr. casey. mr. casey aye. mr. warner. mr. warner no. mr. chairman. the chairman votes no. >> the electric clerk will report. >> 11 ayes, 15 nays. >> the amendment is defeated. senator brown do we have any more? senator menendez next. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and i'm in deference to all of my colleagues, i'm going to make this the last amendment i'm going to offer. i'm going to make this the last amendment i'm going to offer. >> thank you. >> but i do hope it gets some serious conversation because i think people will understand it's not about trying to stop tpa. i'd like to call up menendez number 5, which is committee 103, for consideration. basically, what this is about is as we are looking ahead to new trade agreements we should be mindful of the impact that new trade agreements have on our current free trade partners. we negotiated with countries such as canada, mexico, the cafta countries, in part because we recognize that their economic growth was intimately tied

mr. carper: thanks. mr. spero same question please. mr. spero: senator carper, i had a little extra time to formula and i guess the best way to describe it or the way i look at it is it is not necessarily how do we take what is working on the northern border and bring it down to the southern border, but it is an exchange of best practices across both borders as well as the interior of the united states, and i use the border enforcement security task forces as the best example. it was initially created in laredo in 2005 2 fight the violence associated with the transnational criminal organizations that were affecting specifically the southern border. that model, the success of that model with the collaboration and cooperation, working together on the cases was then brought up to the northern border, and now we have best task forces. i happen to oversee two in my aor of buffalo, the buffalo best as well as the miss you know us, but at the same time, it just does not stop there. -- as well as the messino best. we had a great framework to start

mr. chairman senator carper is aye by proxy. >> mr. warner. >> aye by proxy. >> mr. chairman? >> no. >> chairman votes no. >> clerk will announce the vote. >> 16 nays. >> it's not agreed to. senator nelson, i think you're up next. >> you said you would prefer me to offer my amendment to the customs bill. i have filed it. i think this is a preferable bill. >> okay. your choice. it has been in effect since 2005. they bring in yarn and fabric from outside and make it into a garments and textiles. so that the preference is conditioned on the labor department. this is super important to me. there's a town of some 1500 people. it has one industry in the town and it employs 300 people in that little town. that industry takes this stuffing of comforters that has been produce edd they make it into comforters. that business is going to fold. that's my plea, mr. chairman. >> mr. chairman. >> thank you mr. chairman. i urge colleagues to support the nelson amendment. tariff levels are important. the policies were put in place is part of our free trade agreement. i think the nelson amendmen

mr. carper? >> aye. >> mr. cardin? >> aye. >> mr. brown? >> aye. >> mr. bennett? >> aye. >> mr. casey? >> aye by proxy. >> aye by proxy. mr. warner? >> aye. >> mr. warner aye. mr. chairman? >> no. >> the chairman votes no. mr. chairman, 12 ayes, 14 nays. >> the amendment is not agreed to. any other amendments for the taa bill? senator cantwell? >> mr. chairman? yes, i wanted to thank you and ranking member wyden for including my amendment to approve collection of labor statistics in the chairman's modified mark on the customs and enforcement bill. i filed two amendments that i believe are critical to our competitiveness. one amendment is the expansion of the apprentice program and work force development which i think is a very important one as we talk about how we're going to open up economic opportunities in other countries. we also have to talk about how we train and skill a work force. we had two witnesses yesterday at the hearing. both labor and business supported the apprentice program. so i would hope that we can look at this moving forward so appreciate looking at that. the othe

mr. carper: i just would ask if you could get closer to 15, that would be great. hy don't we let you proceed. thank you. mr. toomey: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. toomey: madam president i rise to address two issues this afternoon. the first is amendment 1190, and i'll be quick as i can on this because i want to spend more time dealing with the johnson amendment, which i also will address. so amendment 1190 really arises because of the very unusual procedural circumstances we find ourselves in. madam president, as you probably know very well, for technical procedural reasons the senate has chosen to conduct the debate about the corker-cardin bill, the iran nuclear agreement review act on a house legislative vehicle that was sent over to us, but in order to do this, all of the language from the house bill gets stripped out and it goes away. that original house bill h.r. 1191, it was protecting volunteer firefighters and emergency responders act. i want to talk a little bit about it, but here's my amendment. it's pretty si

mr. carper? no. mr. brown? aye. mr. bennett? aye. mr. casey? aye. mr. warner? no. mr. chairman? no. chairman votes no. final tally is 9 ayes and 17 nays.>> the amendment is defeated. are we getting close to the end? senator burr you are next.>> i would like to call up portman number two and that is committee number 88. and i will say to the chairman he will not love me like he loves senator bennett because i will have to have a recorded vote on this. i will be brief and i have great affection for the chairman and i think you for the support on the issue. but i have to offer this tpa bill up as well because it is the only way i can assure we address this once and for all because this is a great need. this bill would allow companies to apply for duty suspensions on a predictable schedule. this crafted bipartisan agreement would allow for the ntb process to move forward in a post-mark era while still maintaining the role of congress. the bill will explicitly allow members of congress to submit proposal for duty suspension, to the itc, which would be equally considered along with submis

mr. carper and warner in the co-sponsor ship. i want to particularly acknowledge senator kunz from dell wait. and i would ask for the adoption. all right. mr. chairman. ? chairman. please. would you like to join in supporting this amendment. i don't know if anybody thinks about how much the value of the pole tree that we export. and sell but it is 5 bill. and it is a lot of money. we sell almost no chickens to south africa. almost nothing. and the value of the legislation working on that today is not so much to on up the mark toats other countries but to make darn sure that those that are trying to coup our products out are not successful. and i think that have with a lot of imput, they had come with a different proposal here. and i am delight that had you are doing it. and i hope that we will get a big vote on this a menment it is really important. all right. thank you for the comments. and echo what he said about senator kunz and also to talk about what we are standing out as for america. and open markets and trade and prosperit

mr. carper. aye. mr. cardin. aye. mr. brown. no. mr. bennett. aye. mr. casey. no. mr. warner. aye. mr. chairman. aye. chairman votes aye. >> report. >> 20 ayes six nays. >> the ayes have it and the resolution is ordered reported. ask consent the staff be granted authority to make technical, conforming and budgetary changes to all the bills reported today and without objection, it is so ordered. before we adjourn, if i could have order. if i could have order. i want to thank all of my colleagues for their participation today. and i especially want to thank senator wyden for his efforts throughout this process. we've worked very closely together and i've really appreciated it. as we noted today was a long time coming and i want to give credit for senator wyden for his leadership and willingness to reach across the aisle on these important issues. while the day didn't go off as well as i planned it we got a good debate and covered a lot of ground. believe me i recognize there are passively held beliefs on all sides of these issues. i commend all my colleagues for their willingness to work

mr. koskinen: at this point -- sen. carper: and welcome -- and what could we learn from them? mr. koskinen: it all that i have seen i have not seen that there is an ongoing issue in massachusetts. that would lead you to conclude that to the extent the mandate still exist there that people have adjusted to it and it has been implemented without difficulty overtime. our policy is the issue of people outside of texan ministration. i've kept track of what is in the press and i have not seen any indications that massachusetts has run into difficulties. sen. carper: but the go back to examples cited by our chairman to see if i can understand this. let's say one year ago, my family and i thought we were going to earn $50,000 in 2014 and my wife got a job and we end up taking twice that. we felt at the beginning of the year we would be eligible for tax credits at a certain level through the purchase of health insurance at the exchange. but it turns out, due to the unanticipated income, we were not eligible for either as much in tax credits or maybe any tax credit. we will say this example

mr. chairman. ranking member carper and members of the committee, it is indeed a privilege to appear today on behalf of the united states border patrol to discuss our strategy to secure the northern border between the ports of entry. our approach along the northern border supports u.s. customs and border protection overarching strategic themes in collaboration integration and innovation. collaboration at all levels including information sharing among u.s. and canadian law enforcement is critical to the shared security of the border. advanced information and intelligent is that we'll be the key to minimizing risk along our borders. for instance, the operational integration center located at the air national guard base in michigan is a demonstrating project to enhance the situational awareness of cbp in ashen partners including u.s. coast guard immigration and custom enforcement, state and local bomb forstmann as well as the royal canadian border services agency. the oic consolidates a wide range of information including radar and camera feeds database queries not available to cbp can remote sensor in

mr. koskinen: this is in the context of what we can do in the earned income tax credit area. senator carper: you may have answered the question. mr. koskinen: i am happy to repeat it. we need to get w-2's earlier to match up front. we need what is called correctable error authority. when we can see there is an error on a return, that we now have to audit. if we can make the correction, send a correction notice to the taxpayer, they can say i really do have three kids instead of one. another person who claim the child is not my fault. i get credit for it. the third point is that we need help. have to returns for eitc are prepared by paid repairs. making sure their people doing returns on behalf of someone else. those are three things in the green book. i said the fourth thing would be the statute is complicated in terms of figuring out is in charge and what relationships are. i think a lot of tax preparers and a low income people are stymied by that complication. if somebody wanted to step back and say it is a great program with bipartisan support, if there were a way to make it easier for p

mr. chairman. ranking member carper and members of the kplit tee.it is indeed a privilege to appear today on behalf of the united states border patrol to discuss our strategy to secure the northern border. our approach supports u.s. customs and border protections over our themes of collaboration, integration and innovation. collaboration at all levels, including information sharing and operational coordination. it's critical to the shared security of the border. enhanced information and intelligence will always be the key to minimizing risk along our borders. the operational integration center located at south ridge international guard base in michigan is an information sharing demonstration project to enhance the informational awareness of cpb and our mission co-partners. state and local law enforcement as well as the royal canadian mountain police and the canadian border services agency. it consolidates a wide range of information including radar and camera feeds, data base queries remote sensor inputs and surveillance system feeds and video from

mr. carper and dr. coburn on this issue it's one i'm happy to be at a place where hopefully we can bear down and make some progress. senator murray: if the cap adjustment is not allowed to be utilized we'll see an increase in spending? secretary burwell: we won't see the benefits we would have gotten. we see those benefits coming every year. we report the numbers every year. it was one to eight ratio last year this past year it's been a one to almost eight. 1.7 ratio in terms of the return we're getting. senator murray: thank you very much. >> thank you mr. chairman. i had an addition question. in your statement you talk about the a.c.a. provides full funding in the medicaid area all the way through 2016. senator moore capito: and then in 2017 the state share then goes to 90% or less. no, 10% or less. the state of west virginia the legislature this year before the expansion had to fill an $80 million hole in their medicare -- medicaid budget this year. with no cost of the 140,000 new expansion medicaid

mr. hartunian and i share jurisdiction with its just plainly geography, sir. is tough terrain, and it is ripe for smugglers to exploit in all seasons, and then certainly, you have that added. sen. carper: where is that? mr. spero: it has territory both on the canadian side and on the u.s. side, and the geography itself poses a lot of challenges towards law enforcement. on top of the geography, in addition to the jogger for there is some political sensitivities with the native population. wanting to maintain as much sovereignty as they can, so sometimes it is difficult for us to conduct -- we have to overcome that challenge of gaining their trust. in some cases it is a very close-knit, small population, and again, that poses some issues or challenges for us that are somewhat unique, but on the other hand, one of the things that is getting better from our standpoint, and we are making a lot more progress, our border enforcement security task force. we actually have the mohawk police representatives participating on that task force as well as the saint regis police officers on our task force. they have been -- there are members who have been designated so they are essentially deputized c

mr. spero, same question please. >> senator carper, i appreciate the question. i actually had a little bit of extra time to formulate my answer and i guess the best way for me to describe it or the way i look at it is that it's not necessarily how do we take what's working on the northern borer an bring it town to the southern border, but it's an exchange of best practices across both borders as well as the interior of the united states and i use the border enforcement security task forces or the best as the example. the best was originally created in lor raid dough in 2005 to combat the violence associated with the trans national criminal organizations that were affecting specifically the southern border. that model, the success of that model with the collaboration and cooperation of working together on the cases was then brought up to the northern border and now we have four northern border best task forces. i happen to oversee two in my aor of buffalo, the port of buffalo best as well as the nacina best, but at the same time it doesn't just stop there. we don

mr. chairman. it would. >> thank you, chief fisher. senator carper? >> i think the question the chairman raised really important one, really important one. to the extent, strengthen our relationship with mexico and prove our confidence in the information that they can provide, then that, they can provide us, will only help. i think one of the best force multipliers on the canadian border is our relationship with canada. i want to just throw in force multipliers for a while. one of you maybe a couple of you, talking about force multipliers, i mentioned that assets we're able to deploy between the ports of entry. we have drones on the border of mexico. drones, at least a couple, up on our border with canada. we have fixed wing aircraft with the border with mexico. we have fixed-wing aircraft with the border in mexico. what we find out is an inspector general's report couple month ago raised serious question about efficiency, the effectiveness of drones on the southern border. we already have problems. if the wind is above a certain velocity, can't fly o

mr. chairman. >> thank you senator mckas cal. >> can i just say something? >> sure. >> i'm tom carper and i approve that message. >> senator? >> thank you mr. chairman. i'd like to state for the record, i do ride a harley, i have insurance, and i wear personal protective gear. so yes, thank you very much. i am personally responsible. >> did you all work this out beforehand? >> no, we did not. we did not. we did not. fortunately i don't make that choice. i know what i can afford and do so accordingly. anyway little bit more, i note senator sasse brought up good discussion about king v. burwell where your role will be once that decision is made if it goes the way i believe it should go, then we will have subsidies that have gone to states and to individuals that shouldn't have gone to those individuals. but what do we do? maybe you've thought about this in those hybrid situations, there's a handful of states of which eye i. is one, it is a hybrid exchange. it's neither state nor federal. it is a combination of both. have you thought through that? and what role the irs might be playing, commissioner? >> no, we haven't. basicall

mr. chairman, ranking member carper, and members of the committee. it is a privilege to appear to discuss our strategy to secure the northern border between the ports of entry. our porch along the -- our approach along the border and the overarching strategic themes of collaboration and integration and innovation. collaboration at all levels including information sharing and ordination among law enforcement is critical for the shared security of the border. advanced information and intelligence is and will be the key to minimizing risk along the orders. operation integration center located at the international base in michigan is an information project to enhance the situation while awareness -- situational awareness, including u.s. coast guard, immigration and customs enforcement state and local law enforcement, as well as the mountain police and border services agency. a consolidates a wide range of infocom including radar in camera feeds tracking, databases not previously available remote sensor inputs, remote video surveillance, and mobile survei

mr. chairman. i would like to call up amendment number one as modified and i would like to ask unanimous consent to add chairman hatch and senator carper as co-sponsors of the bill. >> without objection. >> thank you mr. chairman. bravo reasons that up and said we are all concerned about china's repeated efforts to adopt economic tell alosi said unfairly weaken their currency costing 100,000 jobs in colorado and 5 million across the country. i'm deeply concerned because these kinds of efforts like the once china is making make overseas goods cheaper in exports from colorado and our other states less competitive on the global markets. that's why senator carper and hatch and i are offering this amendment to make sure that our businesses and our workers have a little playing field. i want to be very clear about this amendment. it is meant to complement, not substitute for my colleagues work on currency manipulation particularly the work of senator schumer. this is consistent with his bill bill. it requires the treasury secretary to regularly deduct -- conduct detailed analysis of trading policies and monetary policy using rigorous and tra

mr. chairman. >> thank you senator mccaskill. >> can i just say something? sen. carper: i'm tom carper and i approve that message. sen. ernst: i want to stay for the record that i do ride a harley, i have insurance, and i wear personal protective gear. so yes, thank you very much. i am personally responsible. >> did you all work this out beforehand? senatorerness: we did not. fortunately, i don't make that choice. i know what i can afford and do so accordingly. senator sasse had brought up some good discussion about king v. burwell, and where your role will be once that decision is made. if it goes the way i think it should go, then we will have subsidies that have gone to states and to individuals that shouldn't have gone to those individuals. but what do we do, and maybe you have thought about this, in a hybrid situation. there are a handful of states in which iowa is one. it is a hybrid exchange, neither state or federal but a combination of both. have you thought through that and what role the irs might be playing? commissioner koskinen: basically, there is no way f

mr. carper: mr. president we're not in a quorum call, are we? the presiding officer: tbher a twoarm call. mr. carper: skilled that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. carper: for the last several months this year i've been taking time, one day a month, to talk a bit about an employee in the department of homeland security. of all the departments in the federal government, large departments, they have the lowest morale, and we've been working hard with them to do something about that. and one of the things that we're -- a small thing but nonetheless, is to remind folks that folks in the department of homeland security risk their lives and make sure that we have a good life and a safe life and they're worthy of our praise. unless i get run off the floor here because of other business, i want to talk about one of them. as you know, the department was recently the center of a budget battle here on capitol hill. for weeks it was unclear if the department was going to face a shutdown another short-term continuing

mr. carper: i want to congratulate my today chairman, for his confirmation of russ deyo and to bring his name forward for hopefully confirmation this afternoon. russ deyo, i met him i said how do you row independent counsel your name, deo as in -- deyo as in rio. i try to do that. he's been called a lot of things. one of the things we both agree is he's talented, dedicated and we should call ourselves lucky that a guy or gal with his credentials from the private sector is willing to go to work for the people of america and to serve all of us, the department of homeland security is a department as we know does enormously important things to protect us, people all over this nation in the air on the ground and our borders and our cities and countryside they have my gratitude i hope the gratitude of all of us. every organization of any common sense needs good management and the idea of bringing in russ deyo this is a guy who will strengthen the management team at the department of homeland security. we need him and we're glad he's ready to go into the lineup and i hope we'll put in him later

mr. carper: thank you. sometimes when i travel, mr. president, people ask me what i do, and i tell them i'm a retired navy captain. and they say well, what do you do now? i tell them i'm a recovering governor. and they say well, now that you're recovering, what do you do? i tell them i'm a servant. once one guy said to me on an airplane he said what do you mean you're a servant? i said i serve the people of delaware. he said are you a butler? i said not really, but i do serve. but i still think like a retired governor. i loved being in the navy. but at heart i still think and act a good deal like a governor. those others who served here in this body who have served as chief executive of their state sometimes feel the same way about how they approach their job. i love doing that. i feel really lucky to have that choice. i felt very lucky to serve delaware the first state in this capacity. one of the key takeaways from my time as chief executive of my state was that when we had to negotiate deals whether with our neighbors states or with

mr. chairman, it would. >> senator carper? >> i think the question the chairman raised is a really important one. to the extent that we can grow strengthen our relationship with mexico, improve our confidence in the information they can provide and that they can provide us, will only help. i think one of the best force multipliers on the canadian border is our relationship can canada. i just want to draw on force multipliers for a while. one of you couple of you, mentioned the assets that we're able to deploy between the ports of entry. that we have drones op the border of mexico, couple on the border of canada. we have fixed wing airport on the border with mexico and canada. we had an inspector general report come out and raised some serious questions about the effectiveness of the drones on the southern border. they have problems if the wind is above a certain velocity, they can't operate and certain kinds of weather they can't operate. they haven't always had data sensors on board. we saw some aircraft used along the mexica