mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the assistant democratic leader. mr. durbin: i ask that the pending quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, do we have a schedule this morning in terms of debate on the floor? the presiding officer: there's no consent agreement penning. mr. durbin: i will defer to the chairman and ranking member if they want to move forward on their legislation, but i would like to ask consent to speak for ten minutes. mr. inhofe: mr. president, we have an amend that, i ask that the two leaders and ranking member be allowed to speak for such time as they shall consumer. mr. durbin: i will be happy to accept that as a friendly amendment. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, it pains me to say this on the floor of the united united stats senate but there is no other way to describe it. by every objective standard the policies of our government constitutes child abuse when it comes to the treatment of these children at our border. hardly a day goes by that

mr. mcaleenan: that six-week period. sen. durbin: it is 2,280 is what the judge found in southern california. mr. mcaleenan: you are right, that is the hhs filing and the best place to respond to those court orders in that specific set of parameters. sen. durbin: but it was a mistake. do you not agree that it is a mistake? mr. mcaleenan: senator, i have acknowledged that it is not a effective policy and lost the public trust. sen. durbin: do you believe now that returning the children to the countries of origin without follow-up to make certain they are protected or in a safe situation when they return is a bigger mistake? mr. mcaleenan: and on balance of asking the parents to put their children in the hands of smugf -- in the hands of smugglers is to put them safely in country in accordance with the host -- sen. durbin: and to shut down the central american project that allowed that to occur under the obama administration, is that correct? mr. mcaleenan: the problem is that you need balance and to provide -- sen. durbin: i think th

mr. durbin. i'm not excusing joe biden.e biden needs to clean this up and i think he should clean this up, but in the end we can't hold people to a higher level than we hold all the other people out there in the democrat i can it party. i think that's a mistake but he does need to clean it up. >> i consider you the dean of south carolina politics, i always come to talk to you when we're here. there is a thing about commity in these senate and house back rooms where people work with one another and have a chumminess that may people like inappropriate in public but it's what they do to get it done. you had joe biden eulogize strom thurman. this is the kind of thing that the chummy back room people do, right, but it used to be the case that all the chummy back room people were white and male. >> right. >> now that the back room is full of people of color and women and younger people, can that kind of what joe biden wants to go back to, that kind of comity even through people who idealogically disagree is that possible or appro

mr. chairman. >> thanks, senator durbin. would you please rise and raise your right hand? >> the testimony you're about to give will be the truth, do you solemnly swear the testimony you are about to give to the committee and the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god? >> i do. . >> thank you, mr. chairman. appreciate the opportunity to appear before you again today. i think this hearing is timely and important. as legislative solutions are essential to addressing the unprecedented security and humanitarian crisis we're facing on our southern border. it's been over 18 months since the administration asked for the legislative fixes that would have prevented the current crisis and 40 days since we asked for the emergency funding necessary to manage it. in the last 40 days, 60,000 children have entered into dhs custody, both unaccompanied as part of family units. last month, as you noted, mr. chairman, we encountered a modern record of 144,000 border crossers, a record day of over 5,800 border crossings in a single 24-hour period. and the largest sin

mr. chairman. >> senator durbin. >> thank you for being here, and thank you for the cooperation of my visit to the border in el paso. i want to address one issue right off of the bat here. we live in a political world here in washington, d.c., where inconvenient and embarrassing facts are dismissed as fake news and now we are hearing that inconvenient and embarrassing information about children is being dismissed as recycled children and fake kids. this is the second time that we have had testimony and questions asked about the so-called dna testing for those who are fraudulently representing children of their own. there is no excuse for it, and i won't make any, but i'd like to ask you point blank because i have asked repeatedly, when are you going to provide with us the information on this and we know how many tests have been and how many have failed on the dna side and whether it is appreciable percentage or phenomena that is not of great concern that should lead us not to dismiss those children. >> i am happy to do it here. we did three-day pilot. >> three days. >> 900 people were tested in th

mr. trump's former aide is due to appear at a closed house hearing tomorrow. this hour, i'll talk with the number two senate democrat dick durbin and julian castro. our correspondents and analysts are standing by. let's go to pamela brown. the president lands in florida soon to kick off formally his campaign. he spoke about patrick shanahan's exit and more as he was leaving the white house. >> reporter: that's right, wolf. speaking moments ago here at the white house. president trump claimed he found out just yesterday about the shanahan allegations. i then asked him whether that made his concerned about the white house vetting process. he denies there's any issues with the process despite shanahan now being one of multiple individuals withdrawing from consideration for a post after being announced. tonight president trump heading to florida to launch his re-election campaign but leaving behind turmoil as patrick shanahan announces he's stepping down. >> i didn't ask him to withdraw. he said it's going to be a rough time for him because of obviously what happened. i did not ask him to withdraw. >> reporter: trump tweeting he de

mr. durbin: mr. president, if you study the recent course of american history you can note there's been the emergence of opportunity and debates on freedom many times during the last 50 years. i think back to my time, my early years of education in high school and college when america was in the midst of a debate about the rights of african americans, the so-called civil rights movements of the 1960's. we've had debates as well on the question of liberty and freedom and freedom from discrimination for women in america, for those who are disabled. it really is a hallmark of this democracy that we continue to expand opportunity and continue to question our own beliefs when it comes to the freedom which each of us cherishes. we're now in the midst of an interesting transformation in this country on the issue of the rights of people with different sexual orientation. we have seen some dramatic changes in just the last few years as we find more and more people speaking out against discrimination, against

mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i want to thank my colleagues for supporting the deter act, a bipartisan piece of