mr. cassidy: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. cassidy: mr. president, nearly a month has passed since george floyd died. in a show of unity which bridged divides, americans -- republicans, democrats, independents -- demanded that something be done to prevent such deaths from happening in the future. republicans are trying to do something. thanks to the leadership of senator tim scott, the senate is trying to consider the justice act, a major bill to reform police departments in meaningful, practical ways. yet today democrats blocked consideration of the bill. i hope democrats allow the senate to at least debate the justice act. if democrats don't like the bill, offer an amendment, make the case. reforming police departments, making justice fair and equal for all is a bipartisan issue. i smiled when i was sitting in the chair you are right now, mr. president. a senate colleague, who is a democrat, spoke yesterday and described the senate as the world's greatest deliberative body. i thought, she must be sarcastic. i say that because democrats r

mr. cassidy: mr. president, we have a few minutes to go. i didn't realize a colloquy was going on. in this legislation, we put parks over people. we spend billions of dollars taking care of parks and now don't spend a dime taking care of those folks who live in those parishes and counties next to a coastline. turns out 42% of americans live in a parish or county next to a coastline. and if you haven't noticed, we've increasingly had flood events, increasingly have spent billions of dollars rescuing people from floods, repairing their homes afterwards, trying to make them whole. now, we could have put legislation in this legislation that would allow those people's needs to be met. but we are putting parks before people. and that is a tragedy. we're going to spend billions on places where we go on vacation, but we won't spend a dime where we live. where we live, where we raise our children, where we help other people make a living. in this particularly since we know that sea levels are rising, we're going to increasingly have these events. we are, if you will, being -- i don't know h

mr. chairman. senator cassidy did send a letter recommending the nominee and he asked me to read it if you'll indulge me for just a few minutes and then i'd ask consent it be made part of the record. i'm writing today to express my strong support for peter thompson to become inspector general of the central intelligence agency. peter has a long and distinguished career in public service. his 23-year career as a federal prosecutor in louisiana gives him deep first-hand experience rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse and wrongdoing. his peers attest to his competency and his character. on may 1, 35 of his colleagues in louisiana law enforcement signed a letter citing peter's high ethical standards, work ethic, patriotism, legal competence, and reputation for integrity. i share their sentiment. peter's career has included overseeing the use of government funds which makes him well suited for the role of inspector general. in the aftermath of hurricane katrina peter worked on the katrina fraud task force. catastrophes

mr. president, i know that as if in morning business cassidy has spoken to the -- so, mr. president, i know that senator cassidy has spoken to the mexico part of it. but i want to speak to what the amendment would do for alaska. because it includes provisions that have been written by myself and senator sullivan to establish a revenue-sharing program specific to our state, which has prolific offshore resources that we would hope that one day to be able to safely produce for the good of the nation. but we're in a very, very different position than they are in the gulf. we need investment to improve our coastal infrastructure particularly in the arctic. we've got different conservation priorities than some non-coastal states, which are enshrined in the purposes of the language in the amendment. and these are -- these principles of equity and fairness that we talk about as it relates to the gulf of mexico, they're the same principles here. just like from on-shore federal development, local governments and communities need to share in the revenues from offshore development. we'

cassidy. senator murphy. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, if that were the policy of the united states of america, the recommendations and guidelines being given by our panelists today, we would likely not be in the situation we are with a virus back on march spreading at rapid rates throughout big parts of the country. the problem is our four panelists do not set the policy of the united states of america. the president of the united states does, and so while our panelists tell us about the importance of wearing masks, the president of the united states is re-tweeting articles, for example, entitled mandatory masks aren't about safety. they are about social control. he re-tweets people that are criticizing how folks look when they wear masks though our panelists today are telling us about the effectiveness of social distancing, the president. united states is holding rallies all across the country in which he deliberately prevents people from distancing. his staff rips signs off of chairs encouraging people to separate from each o

mr. chairman. senator cassidy did send a letter recommending the nominee and asked me to read it if you would indulge me for just a few minutes. and then to consent to be made a part of the record. record. they are churning rubio and vice chairman warner, i'm writing to express my strong support for peter thompson to become inspector general of intelligence agency. peter is a long distinguished career in food service. his 23 year career as a federal prosecutor in louisiana is ruling out fraud, waste and abuse and wrongdoing. his career includes a they worked on the task force and we witnessed this generosity of. peter took time to teach as well. he spent 20 years as the associate adjunct assessor of law at tulane university school of law where he mentor young people just starting their careers. they've shown the conduct we hope to see in all of our public servants. i ask for your support in the nomination of my fellows had friends feel free to contact me without objection that will be in the record. >> please rais

mr. chairman. >> thank you, dr. cassidy. senator murphy. >> and give a much mr. chairman.this is been and it really helpful for all of us. mr. chairman, i want college sports to come back. i want sports in general to come back. i miss it. for me it's a release from this job, and i can't wait. at the same time i want it to come back for the right reasons and i wanted to come back safely. and so i wanted to ask a series of questions on this topic because i think it's important. maybe i'll start with you, mr. daniels. i think it's interesting that college sports teams are coming back for practices before professional sports leagues are feeling that it's safe in him to come back. while i've read through what your universe is doing to try to protect students that are returning, is a contact sport. there's no way ultimately develop social distancing or football team or a soccer team. and so what happens if you have an outbreak over the course of summer training or in the early fall on your football team, or on your women's soccer team? what's your protocol? do you shut the team

cassidy. senator murphy? >>> thank you very much mr. n, senator cassidy knows the high regard in which i hold him. he is not wrong that there needs to be reform at the cdc going forward, and an admission of the ways they didn't measure up. but the cdc is trying to do good work here. they are sending out regular guidance on the importance, for instance of wearing masks as maybe the most evidence-based method. the president of the understanding refuses to wear a mask, his top adviser refuse to say wear a mask. he says it's an attack on him politically for people to wear masks. the cdc develops guidance for individual industries and businesses to reopen. the white house then prevents that guidance from being dispen dispensed, so i think the cdc needs i think they may have been prevented from doing the best work they could by this administration and this president. any good fire department that has a house on fire and the house next door in danger of catching fire, they do both. they try to do work next door to prevent the next house from ca

i want to bring in louisiana senator bill cassidy. mr.urge in new cases, the governor is saying stay in, please, stay inside your louse a -- house. what's going on in louisiana? >> the governor prolonged phase two so he's not reopening but it's important to put these statistics in perspective. one, we are testing a lot more. yes, there's a higher percent of those tested but it's only gone from 5.5% to 6.8%. so it's a little bit of an uptick. secondly, hospitalizations are up but icu beds are not up, death rate is not up. that can be a lagging indicator, if you will, to borrow your lingo, but at the same time, it seems to be principally among young people. lsu football team has 30 people who are quarantined. there's three bars that lsu and the lsu vicinity, in which they just closed them down because there was so much threat. i think young people are becoming more relaxed, not realizing they can spread it to older people. fortunately, though, so far we have not seen increase in icu beds or in death rate. stuart: i think it's going to be ve

cassidy. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank the university for thinking creatively about reopening the schools. doctor benjamin quickly points out that even though you have less than 25 you have less risk but we do know that if you miss out on critical years of education is an absolute, 100% risk, your future economic prospects are minimized. [inaudible] cdc recommendations seem to be the minimum standard that are not -- doctor benjamin, knowing that the federal government has been slow coming out with testing strategies for setting like universities and that what they do will be what they different at purdue and lane and brown because louisiana at universities or tulane because of different sizes of schools is your organization promulgating or suggesting different strategies so that someone like president hampton, god bless him, is able to get his university reopened with a strategy about how to use the test? >> we are not specifically developing standards. we are encouraging schools to collaborate so they can

cassidy: mr. trump -- of personal prilege? have two louisiana our u.s. attorney hat.we still claim her. and of course, our presint is still there. i am going to l a function tonight that i have to go to,le. ing to stay as long nted to thank all members of the panel, especially louisianis. d listen carefully to pa erin police in houston, texas. for joining us. the fop. chief national es of the international association departmentthisable to do justice to your testimony, ms. cox: thank you. good afterno member, members of the inviting us. i want to r n u.s. attorney the norther to chief federal law enforcementff for moren rioritiena am appearing at a time turmoil in our country. let me start with the first basic truth. police brutality in any fo is repugnant and unacceptable. it is impossible not to feel anger and sadness when watchingor floyd. and w like -- telaw officers who serve honorably. ak up and speak ou great dishonor to this noble profession. speaking out, as welas listening to and empathizing with those who suffer the on behalf of 9 conduct and commit to bed

cassidy. senator casey. >> mr. chairman, thanks very much for this opportunity. i want to thank our witnesses for your appearance. my questions will be directed to dr. king, secretary king. and i wanted to thank the other witnesses as well and they can certainly chime in if they have a response to my questions. i'll have two. one will focus on the question of learning loss. and i know that senator murry asked a similar question. but i wanted to start by noting what secretary king just said at the outset of his testimony with regard to what we've just been throughment i'm quoting from his statement. quote, i'm glad that we referred to earlier. quote, the murders of george floyd, breonna taylor, and ahmaud arbery have once again sent the message to black students that their lives are devalued. and he also outlined the disparities and challenges that are faced by communities of color in education and focused on what that means in the midst of a pandemic, mired in economic crisis, the disproportional effects of financial well-being of these students living in a count

cassidy. senator murphy. >> thank you very m uch, mr. chairman. thank you to all of our witnesses. senator>> cassidy notes the high regard in which i hold him and he is not wrong that there needed to be reform at the cdc going forward and an admission of the ways in which they didn't measure up. let's just be 100% clear. the cdc is trying to do good work. they are sending out regular guidance on the importance, for instance, of wearing masks as may be the most evidence-based method of preventing the spread of this disease. the president of the united states refuses to wear a mask. his top advisers refuse to wear masks picky says it's an attack on him politically for people to wear masks. the cdc develops guidance for individual industries and businesses to reopen. the white house then prevents that guidance from being dispensed because the white house doesn't want to take responsibility for the decisions they to reopen the country, and so i think the cdc needs to do some hard looking internally but i also think they have been prevented from doing the best work they could by this adm

. >> senator cassidy by tv. >> mr. ambassador this is a second hearing today in it's now 530 you're doing a great job and thank you so much for your patience and hanging in there, you still look fresh. the thing about going near the end is most folks have asked questions but i have one question that is not been asked and it's more based upon your article. talking about mexico, the energy sector, investors have been seeing that the mexican government appears to be tilting the table with the mexican utility company, changing the rules for u.s. investors. and this is related to energy exploration and production the fuel permits downstream the power and renewables, again it seems like there trying to do that with mechanisms with a level playing field. can we expect this to be a just once the usmc a's put into effect? are you aware of this? >> i am aware of it. sure i don't know that much aware of it is a problem something expect to enforce. i would say the administration in mexico as you know is very much wants to go in th

cassidy. senator murphy? >> thank you mr.chairman and to all the witnesses you know the high regard there needs to be reform at the cdc going forward and ways they didn't measure up let's be 100 percent clear the cdc is trying to do good work sending out regular guidance as the most evidence-based method the president of the united states refused to wear a mask. that's an attack on him politically and for individual industries. and then the white house prevents that guidance and then to take responsibility. and then to do some hard look internally but also and then to do the best work they could by this administration. and focus moving forward and then to have a house on fire and one next-door in danger of catching fire and then the houses engulfed in flames and tried to do work next-door and prevent the next from catching fire and then getting ready for the next pandemic we are not taking up any legislation to address the existing pandemic. frankly i would direct my questions to our witnesses with respect to what we could be

. >> senator cassidy by tv. >> hey, mr. ambassador. if this is your second hearing today and it's now 5:30, you're doing a great job and thank you very much for your patience and for just hanging in there. you still look fresh. the thing about going near the end is that most folks have asked questions. i have one question that has not been asked and another that is more based upon your article. investors -- talking about mexico. energy sector. investors have been seeing that mexican -- the mexican government appears to be tilting the table towards pmx and cfe, the mexican utility company, changing the rules for u.s. investors and this is related to energy explore ration and production the fuel permits downstream to power renewables. again, it seems like they're trying to privilege their state-owned enterprises. usmc has specific mechanisms that have a level playing field. can we expect this to be redressed once the usmca put into effect? are you aware of this? >> so, i am aware of it. i don't know about every detail, senator that you'r

cassidy. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. secretary, thank you for the hard work you and your department have done. one of the advantages, if you will of speaking after many other people. republicans have been concerned that $600 a week in which people are earning more than they are paid would encourage them not to work, and that has negative effects for the person, negative effects for society. that's known. but it's been roughly a but it's been roughly a republican -- democrat with democrats pooh-poohing that to see if there can be an analysis of that. i found a quote from professor summers who was obama's director of something or other. everybody knows who he is. government assistance programs contribute to long-term unemployment by providing an incentive not to work. each unemployed person has a reservation wage, the minimum wage which he or she insists on getting before accepting a job. unemployment insurance and other social assistance programs increase that wage causing an unemployed person to remain unemployed later.

cassidy. senator murphy. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. mr.chaurman, if this were the policy of the united states of america. the recommendations and guidelines being given by our panelists today, we would not likely be in the situation we are like we were in march. the president of the united states has set policy. so while our panelists tell us the important of wearing masks, the president of the united states is retweeting articles. he retweets people that are criticizing how folks look when they wear masks. our panelists today are telling us about the effectiveness. he deliberate ly prevents peopl from social distancing. they rinp signs from chairs. someone's out there every day saying masks are dehumanizing. someone said, a member of the house, viruss do what viruses do. the only way to get through it is to be exposed. so we have these two parallel messaging operations, and i just think it's worth stipulating that everything we're hearing today is based on evidence. but the representatives today have social media followings of about 5 mil

cassidy: i'm a little bit urprised that you don't have a whiff of how many, i will yield back in the interest of time, chairman. mr. chair grassley: thank you. >> thanks for the witnesses being here today insuring the quality of our nation's supply and prescription drug supply is a key priority as the nations work to the coronavirus pandemic, the issue of the supply chain for both and p.p.e. drugs has been brought to the orefront and so i appreciate the discussion today. throckmorton, as we continue discussions on the oronavirus response efforts, what updates can the f.d.a. provide with respect to provisions included in the cares act that aim to address supply hain issues, namely the requirements for greater than prance patient si regarding disruptions? dr. throckmorton: thank you, senator, appreciate that question. one i would say in general we are very grateful for the in the ns that we got legislation, we're in the process of implementing, if you like to know, it implements in september. able icipate that we will to use of legislative authority cares, expand the amount of information we get and information is p

mr. chair i don't want to lose sight of the fact that we can that with the opioid have one - - epidemic. >> is senator white house available? senator cassidy? >> senator cassidy is here. >> go ahead sorry i am not on video. doctor, this is fda talking about api coming from china it was pointed out there doesn't seem to be that much of a shortage but that is different than the chemical that goes it.in and the understanding that percentage of the chemicals used are from china. is that correct? >> i am not familiar with that data. we know substantially about the sources of those o products then we do about api and was mentioned earlier but the manufacturing and distribution. >> he is involved with trade. are you familiar those that come from china? >> i am not familiar with that data i can look back at it and get back to you. >> that seems to be theth critical thing because api is onee step but the chemicals are another. so that actually seems to be your point of vulnerability unless we have a stockpile. for example, the high percentage of production in china and what would be the reason for that? is it access it doesn't sound like you are fa

mr. powell: i think there already a million layoffs at state and local. sen. menendez: there have been listed a million so far. moody's analytics says you need the $500 billion that sender cassidy, and other colleagues, have recommended for state and local governments. the absence of any type of assistance means 6 million to 8 million more public service jobs, and it would be the irony that those who need the most wil, the firefighters, the health professionals, will be the ones that would lose their jobs. i hope the congress does respond. thank you very much. sen. cotton: thank you for joining us today. lastoke a couple times month about giving more companies access to the fed's primary market facility, allowing the fed to part cash to to purchase.he fed it is expensive to get in as an issuer by one of the public firms like s&p and moody's, but at the moment only companies that can afford that extensive, sometimes cumbersome process can access the primary market facility or indirectly access the second market facility, but there are many companies that issue investment grade debt that purchasedated b, and without sacrificing the quality. may, when we spoke about this issue, yo

mr. cassidy: mr. president, right now we are debating -- let me turn off this device. right now we're debating the great american outdoor act which would be great if it only were balanced. my problem with the great american outdoor act, mr. president, is that it spends billions on places where we vacation but the authors of the bill would not allow a few million to be spent to protect the places where we live and we work and we help create livelihoods for many. and there is an amendment that would do that that is bipartisan and that would not take any money away from the billions that the bill is already allocating for those places where we vacation. and first let me kind of make my point. mr. president, 42% of americans live on a county or parish adjacent to a coast. 42%. 85% of americans live in a coastal state. but, mr. president, of the billions that go into the great american outdoors act, of those billions, 50% to close to 60% are spent in seven states, seven localities. and if you exclude washington, d.c. and areas around washington, it is not spent on coastal a

mr. cassidy: it seems clear this body is poised to pass the great outdoors act, sending a final message to the american people that the senate cares more about parks than it does about people. madam president, let me just say a couple things first. my colleague just said this is paid for. i almost burst out laughing. it's paid for by taking dollars currently obligated to go to the united states treasury and shuffling them over. that's paid for like i'm going to take money that's going for groceries and instead i'm going to pay for the movie theater. we're going to take money spent on essentials and spend it on something which is wonderful. but no one says it's essential. and i say that one only must need to follow the money, to follow the money to see that the senate cares more about parks than it does about people. the great american outdoors act will spend billions on deferred maintenance, broken toilets, leaky roofs, et cetera, in national parks, but in fact 60% of this money is going to seven states. the land and water conservation spend shows $ 7.53 on coastal states and is spoken of