mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the assistant democratic leader. mr. durbin: mr. president, how much time is remaining on the democratic side? the presiding officer: the democratic side has 12 1/2 minutes remaining. mr. durbin: thank you very much mr. president. most people who are following this debate may be a little bit put off by some of the initials that we use around here. t.p.p. t.p.a., t.a.a., what is it all about? it's about a trade agreement. it involves, i believe a dozen countries including the united states. most of them are in asia. and we are preparing to discuss and debate it, and that trade agreement is known as i believe the trans-pacific partnership t.p.p. i think that is what that stands for. i'll correct the record if i'm wrong on that. before we get to the trade agreement, we have to decide how we're going to consider it. that is known as t.p.a., trade promotion authority or fast track. and the question is whether or not the united states senate will agree that

mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: assistant democratic leader. mr. durbin: mr. president 14 years ago i introduced a bill known as the dream act. my friend and colleague senator leahy, was the chairman of the judiciary committee and for the past 14 years we have tried to pass this basic law and here's what it says. if you were brought to the united states as a child and you were undocumented in america but you've lived here without committing any serious crime and you finished high school, we'll give you a chance. if you'll agree to at least do two years of college or to enlist in america's military, we would give you a path to citizenship. i offered this because so many yupg people, about 2.5 million living in this country were brought here when they were infants, small children. they didn't have any voice in the matter. their parents decided. they came to the united states, they have lived here as americans, they stood up in their classroom every single day and put their on hand on their heart and pledged allegiance to the flag. that was their flag. they are u

mr. durbin number for any comments or statement he would like to make. >> thank you, chairman talk about osgood into the oco issue but i think your statement from both of you have been unequivocal on the particular issue. i'd like to go to issue not that budgetary consequence but of great consequence nevertheless. just a few days ago i joined with my colleagues senator jim king of virginia, senator lindsey graham and senator john mccain and sent a letter to the president requesting the administration to consider the establishment of a humanitarian safe zone or more than one, around serious to allow for the protection and medical treatment of the people of syria. i did that with some reluctance, realizing that it would require a commitment by the united states for the safety of that zone and we discussed that yesterday. but i have to say that this may not be a genocide by classic legal definition, it is the humankind crisis for our time with 200 the 400,000 cashless millions of displaced and no end in sight. you were very candid in your response yesterday. i appreciated mr. secretary, if

mr. durbin: madam president? the presiding officer: the assistant democrat leader. mr. durbin: madam president first let me commend my colleague from new mexico. it is difficult to put in words the way i feel about his effort on this subject. it was first brought to my attention when there was a series in the "chicago tribune" about fire retardant chemicals in furniture. it turned out that many people who were making furniture were putting fire retardant chemicals in the fabric of upholstery as well as in the cushions of chairs and couches. and then in further examination we found that these chemicals were not in fact, fire retardants. and, secondly, they had properties that were dangerous that frankly, shouldn't be in our homes. i thought about that series over and over again because my wife and i have two of the cutest grandkids on earth that are a little over three years old and i thought to myself, every time i plop down on the couch to play with the kids, i'm pushing down on that cushion and spraying those chemicals into the room. and i thought long and hard about i

mr. durbin: i'd like to speak on that issue. madam president, we cannot ignore that more than 95% of the potential customers for goods and services and agricultural produce live outside the united states of america. this means that to grow our economy and to maintain our influence in the world we clearly have to embrace trade. this doesn't mean, though, that we would embrace every proposed trade agreement. i have voted for about half of the trade agreements that have come before me in the house and the senate during my congressional service. some of those i think were good. on reflection, some of them were not. there have been proposals made for free trade which i thought speak to the basic issue -- is america competitive in the 21st century? can we outproduce other countries in the world? i never had any doubt about that except for some given circumstances where another country has a specialty or some particular skill. i trust the united states. i trust our economy our workers, our business leaders. but when it comes to a trade

mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the the senator from illinois. mr. pending before the senate? the presiding officer: the conference report for s. con. res. 11, with ten hours of debate equally divided. mr. durbin: on the budget? the presiding officer: on the budget. mr. durbin: thank you mr. president. i and i hope hope that some of these comments i make are not taken personally. thank you for all the work you've put into the budget and thank you for your friendship and cooperation on so many different issues. a budget is like a blueprint. it really says what we want to do and spend in the next fiscal year which starts october 1. as a result of passing a budget, we send a message to the spending committees and tell them how much to spend in given areas. the budget tries to spell out not only the amounts but also the policies that we are to follow when we pass these spending bills. and so it's really pretty small document by federal standards but it really packs a lot of power when it comes to what we're going to be doing for the next several months.

mr. durbin. any comments? senator durbin: thank you chairman cochran. i was going to go into the oco issue, but both of your statements have been unequivocal ont hat that issue. i want to go to an issue not of budgetary cuts went, but a consequence nonetheless. -- budgetary comes consequence. i did it with some reflection, knowing that wit would require commitments of the united states. i know that this may not be a genocide by classic legal definition, but this is the cement syrian crisis by our time. millions of people displaced. i would appreciate it if you tell us what you think of this concept and the challenge it could present to us. general dempsey: sure, thank you senator. you're right what is happening in syria is a terrible humanitarian tragedy. it has been going on for several years. there are many displaced people within syria and fleeing to countries around. we are caught between two forces -- or the country is caught between two forces both of whi ch are intervening to this violence against the very people of the country namely isil and it

mr. durbin: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: madam president i thank the senator from or are -- senator from oregon and the senator from utah. though we may agree on some elements they poured their heart and soul in this debate. thank you for your leadership on that. i would like to at this point kind of reflect where we are in the senate at this moment, where we have three major issues facing us and say a word about each. i'll address aspects of the trade bill and the question of national security raised by the extension of fisa. but before i get into those elements, i would like to in respect to the presiding officer of the senate, from the great state of west virginia, i would like to reflect for a moment on mccruluck leap's. samuel mcculloch was a major during the revolutionary war given the assignment of keeping the western border of the united states frontier safe which focused on fort henry and is now wheeling, west virginia west virginia. major mcculloch had this famous moment when he was turned away from the gate

senator durbin: thank you mr. chairman, and thank you all for being here. secretary carter, good to see you. mr. mccourt, thank you as well for being part of this. special thanks to general dempsey for your many years of service in the u.s. army and to the united states in terms of our national defense. you have risen to the top rank within the white house administration. i appreciate all the talent that you brought to it and dedication. i wish you the best where life takes you with your wife and grandchildren. you will now be able to enjoy a lot more. it is important for us to hear your advice on a number of pending issues. the first is a threat of our own creation called sequestration. their efforts within the house and senate to increase defense spending by using what is in fact a budget gimmick. namely to shift tens of billions of dollars in funds in the base budget over to the overseas contingency operations account. i believe this effort is not the right way to address the problem. while i support avoiding sequestration, congress must address funding

mr. durbin, for any comments he would like to make. senator durbin: thank you. i was going to go into the oco issue, but i both of you have been unequivocal on that issue. i would like to go to another issue which is not a budgetary consequence, but great consequence nevertheless be a just a few days ago, i joined with my colleagues and sent a letter to the president requesting the administration to consider the establishment of the humanitarian safe zone -- or more than one -- around syria to providei did that with some reluctance, realizing it would require a commitment by the united states for the safety of that zone and we discussed that yesterday. i have to say that though this may not be a genocide by classic, legal definition, it is the humanitarian crisis for our time with 200,000 to 400,000 casualties and displaced and no end in sight. you were candid in your response yesterday and i would appreciate it if you would tell us what you think of this concept and the challenge it could present to us. secretary carter: thank you senator. what is happening in

mr. secretary. thank you. >> thank you. senator durbin? >> thank you. mr. secretary, good to see you again. thank you for coming by my office. let me echo the previous comments of the tiger program and my list of favorites, top favorites, the create program which means so much in our part of the world with so many railroads and a potential to expedite the movement of goods and alleviate some of the problems associated with rail traffic. core capacity means so much to us. there was a time when it was difficult to rest any funds out of the appropriation bill unless for, quote, new starts. i think we come to realize a lot of old starts are still of tremendous value and need to be upgraded and core capacity is part of that. mr. secretary, last friday we had an anniversary celebration in chicago of the passage of the americans with disabilities act. 25 years, 25 years ago senator bob dole, tom harkin, president george h.w. bush ended up making history and really liberating huge number of americans who were disabled from the bonds that the -- the binds -- the binding that they faced in being unse

mr. durbin. any comments? senator durbin: thank you chairman cochran. i was going to go into the oco issue, but both of your statements have been unequivocal ont hat that issue. i want to go to an issue not of budgetary cuts went, but a consequence nonetheless. -- budgetary comes consequence. i did it with some reflection, knowing that wit would require commitments of the united states. i know that this may not be a genocide by classic legal definition, but this is the cement syrian crisis by our time. millions of people displaced. i would appreciate it if you tell us what you think of this concept and the challenge it could present to us. general dempsey: sure, thank you senator. you're right what is happening in syria is a terrible humanitarian tragedy. it has been going on for several years. there are many displaced people within syria and fleeing to countries around. we are caught between two forces -- or the country is caught between two forces both of whi ch are intervening to this violence against the very people of the country namely isil and it

mr. chairman. >> thanks, senator durbin. i'll wrap it up here. y'all have been very informative. i've learned a lot. so number one, miss miller, in the dash cam recording history has that worked pretty well as far as dash cams? >> yeah. i mean i think there's been a lot of success with dash cams. i think it's a good way for us to kind of look to body cameras and see what they can do. i do think there are a lot of differences. we always advise agencies, you know, you can incorporate things from your dash cam policy but we wouldn't recommend relying on it. >> you have to go much further with body cameras. >> exactly. but i do think they can be instructive. >> has any jurisdiction outlawed a dash camera after it came into being for any reason? >> no. i have talked to places that actually there was one agency that i can remember that ended up not -- getting rid of their dash cams because of the expectations that the courts started having, and it was kind of the csi effect that was discussed earlier. they found that their officers you know, credibility was being kind of undermined. ju

vice chairman durbin, members of the committee, thank you for inviting me here today. mr. chairman, i want to especially recognize the sense of civility and courtesy with which you conduct all that you do, including the leadership of this committee. it does not go unnoticed, least of all by me. it is much appreciated. vice chairman, i will make sure that we get to the issues that you raised, both in a private conversation and just now in the course of this. thank you for your leadership. thank you all for thinking -- thanking my friend and shipment, martin dempsey. i will miss him. i know all of you on this committee share the same devotion that i do to the finest fighting force the world has ever known, and to the great defense of our great country. i hope that my tenure as secretary of defense will be marked by partnership with you on their behalf. i'm gratified that this committee, as well as the three other defense committees recognize the urgent need to halt the decline in defense spending imposed by the budget control act. president obama and i deeply share in that r

this is orrin hatch who is the chair of the finance committee and dick durbin as well from illinois. >> mr. president, later today the senate will vote on whether to begin debate on the future of the u.s. trade policy. it is a debate that has been a long time coming. in fact, we haven't had a real trade policy debate in this chamber since at least 2002. that's 13 years ago. think about that. let's keep in mind that 95% of the world's consumers live outside the united states and that if we want our farmers our ranchers manufacturers and entrepreneurs to be able to compete in the world marketplace, we need to be actively working to break down barriers for american exports. this is how we can grow our economy and create good, high paying jobs for american workers. while the chatter in the media and behind the scenes surrounding today's vote has been nearly deafening, no one should make today's vote more than it is. to the, once again and quite simply, a vote to begin debate on these important issues. now, i know that some around here are unwilling to even consider having a debate if they can'