mr. franken: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. mr. franken: thank you, madam president. i ask unanimous consent to speak for 15 minutes. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. franken: thank you, madam president. madam president, i rise today to celebrate the successful climate negotiations that were just wrapped up in paris. this past saturday, 196 countries came together and agreed to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions, taking a very important step in the fight against climate change. this historic agreement is a recognition that we cannot afford to ignore the negative impacts of climate change and that we must work together globally to put the planet on a safer path forward. the agreement does not simply take countries at their word but requires transparent measurement and verification to ensure that they live up to their promises and crucially the deal requires countries to revisit their emission reduction targets every five years. that way, countries can factor in new technologies and new policies i

mr. franken: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent that my education fellow christine verison be given froorps for the remainder -- be given floor privileges for the remainder of this congress. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. franken: thank you, mr. president. we've been living under no child left behind or nclb for 13 years. during that time we've learned about how nclb works and a lot of more about what doesn't work. students, teachers and parents across the country have been waiting for a long time for us to fix this law. as a member of the esea conference committee, i'm proud to work on the legislation before us today, the every student succeeds act, and to have helped to get it this far. i want to thank representatives john kline and bobby scott and senators lamar alexander and patty murray for building a bipartisan foundation that got this bill done and will help reform our national education system. the bill, of course, is not perfect, but it's a huge improvement over nclb. over the last 13

mr. franken: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. mr. franken: thank you, madam president. madam president, we're just one month away from the new year. 2016 will bring a lot of new things, i hope good, but one thing that it will not bring is a cost of living increase for seniors, for veterans and for people with disabilities. despite the fact that the cost of health care and prescription drugs and housing are increasing the size of the social security check won't go up one cent on january 1 unless we act, unless congress acts. that's why senator warren and my colleagues and i have introduced the senior and veterans emergency benefits act or save benefits act. the save benefits act is a one-time payment to seniors and veterans receiving their earned -- their earned benefits so they can better meet their basic living expenses. the stagnant level for benefits in 2016 and its damaging effects are part of a bigger problem. too many of our seniors are feeling the squeeze and just aren't secure enough in their retirement. today's social securit

mr. mcconnell: i further ask the franken amendment be agreed to. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the bill as amended be read a third time and the senate proceed to vote on passage of the bill as amended. the presiding officer: without objection. the question occurs on the bill as amended. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the bill as amended is passed. mr. mcconnell: i finally ask the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i now ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 242, s. 209. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 242, s. 209, a bill to amend the indian tribal energy development and self-determination act of 2005 and for other purposes. the presiding officer: without objection the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. mcconn

franken: is anybody here skeptical about that answer? >> i would comment. i do take mr. brito at this world -- at his word that this transaction is more about the rest of the world than it is about the united states. it is the small and independent that areers -- brewers creating jobs in every state. we want to make sure that nothing arises as a result of this transaction that would hinder that. if the american beer drinker is left to be the deciding force and their access to products from small, independent breweries is unfettered, we are going to be comfortable. but we have significant concerns about how this deal could impact access to market for the small craft brewers, and access to raw materials. sen. franken: mr. hunter, could you respond briefly to the question i asked of mr. brito? mr. hunter: certainly. from a miller coors perspective, as i tried to explain earlier, we currently have two shareholders, molson coors and sab miller. we will have one shareholder going forward. we will continue to build our business and be an assertive competitor in the u.s. beer bu

franken: is anybody here skeptical about that answer? >> i would comment. i do take mr. brito at this world -- at his word that this transaction is more about the rest of the world than it is about the united states. it is the small and independent that areers -- brewers creating jobs in every state. we want to make sure that nothing arises as a result of this transaction that would hinder that. if the american beer drinker is left to be the deciding force and their access to products from small, independent breweries is unfettered, we are going to be comfortable. but we have significant concerns about how this deal could impact access to market for the small craft brewers, and access to raw materials. sen. franken: mr. hunter, could you respond briefly to the question i asked of mr. brito? mr. hunter: certainly. from a miller coors perspective, as i tried to explain earlier, we currently have two shareholders, molson coors and sab miller. we will have one shareholder going forward. we will continue to build our business and be an assertive competitor in the u.s. beer bu

mrs. clinton: i also want to acknowledge a few of the other elected officials here. i am, of course, delighted to be joined by former colleagues and friends, your senators amy klobuchar and al franken, who -- [applause] mrs. clinton: who are quite the dynamic duo for your state, and im am grateful to them for everything they are doing and for their help and support of my campaign. i also want to thank tina smith, your lieutenant governor, and steve simon, your secretary of date. and -- your secretary of state. becky understand that hodges is here, the mayor of minneapolis. acknowledgeant to the dean of the humphrey school, eric schwartz. eric was my top adviser on refugee issues at the state department. i also had the great privilege of working with him when he was on the national security council during my husband's administration. mix ofw, he brings a expertise and empathy that has been conspicuously missing from much of our public debate, and i am grateful he is here today, but i am also a little jealous that all of you here at the university get to have the benefit of his experience. several, over the past months, i have listened to the problems that keep american families up a

senator franken is next. >> thank you, mr. chairman. director comey, first i would like to thank you for appearing today. it's good to see you again. and you do a great job. i think all the members of this committee greagree. before i ask my questions, i want to extend my thanks to you, the bureau, your ages, for assisting in the civil rights investigation surrounding the death of jamar clark in minneapolis. i supported the decision of mayor hodges and police chief hartow to call for an independent investigation. in my view, a full, thorough, and transparent accounting of the facts is necessary to get to the bottom of what happened in that tragic event and to restore trust between the north side community and the police and law enforcement. so i want to commend the fbi agents involved for their professionalism and for their commitment to seeking justice. i wanted to just -- a lot of things have been discussed in this committee, including the going dark, the encryption issue. i just want to make sure that i have clarity on this, and mayb

mrs. clinton: i want to acknowledge a few of the other elected officials who are here. i am, of course, to be joined by former colleagues and friends amy klobuchar and al franken who are the dynamic duo for your state and i'm thankful to them for their support. i thank tina smith and steve simon, your secretary of state. [applause] mrs. clinton: and i understand betsy hodges is here, mayor of minneapolis. \[applause] mrs. clinton: i also want to acknowledge the dean of the humphrey school, eric schwartz. \[cheers and applause] mrs. clinton: eric was my top adviser on refugee issues at the state department. i also had the great privilege of working with him when he was on the national security council during my husband's administration. you know, he brings a mix of expertise and empathy that has been missing from much of our public debate. and i'm grateful that he is here today, but i'm also a little jealous that all of you here at the university get to have the benefit of his experience. over the past several months, i have listened to the problems that keep american families up at night. most people don't expect life to be easy, but they want more security, a good-paying

senator franken is next. >> thank you, mr. chairman. director comey, first i would like to thank you for appearing today. it's good to see you again. and you do a great job. i think all the members of this committee greagree. before i ask my questions, i want to extend my thanks to you, the bureau, your ages, for assisting in the civil rights investigation surrounding the death of jamar clark in minneapolis. i supported the decision of mayor hodges and police chief hartow to call for an independent investigation. in my view, a full, thorough, and transparent accounting of the facts is necessary to get to the bottom of what happened in that tragic event and to restore trust between the north side community and the police and law enforcement. so i want to commend the fbi agents involved for their professionalism and for their commitment to seeking justice. i wanted to just -- a lot of things have been discussed in this committee, including the going dark, the encryption issue. i just want to make sure that i have clarity on this, and mayb

mr. chairman. you're the chairman. you decide. >> thank you. you've been very patient, senator frankenthat. >> i admire the chair. >> i know you care about these issues and i appreciate your attention to them. mr. thompson, what ms. vaughn said strikes me as being very troubling for your members. >> yes, sir. >> when she says this individual had 62 situations of aliens being arrested for 225 charges, many of them violent charges and so forth, and only five of those would they accept, i.c.e. would accept for removal. isn't it true that, as you understand the law, that they must deport criminal aliens? and do you feel like that if the federal government is going to take over immigration, which apparently it is and has a legal right to do, it ought to follow through and follow the law? >> absolutely, sir. the answer to your first question is yes, i do have that belief. the trick on this one is that someone is arrested and put into a county jail, they're fingerprinted, those fingerprints are shuttled off to the great divide in washington or elsewhere, a hit comes back saying that person is

mr. chairman.>> y you're the chairman. you decide. fir >> thank you. you've been very patient, senator franken, i appreciate that. >> i admire the chair. >> i know you care about these issues and i appreciate your e attention to them. mr. thompson, what ms. vaughn said strikes me as being very troubling for your members. >> yes, sir. >> when she says this individual had 62 situations of aliens being arrested for 225 charges, many of them violent charges and so forth, and only five of those would they accept, i.c.e. would accept for removal. isn't it true that, as you understand the law, that they must deport criminal aliens? and do you feel like that if the federal government is going to take over immigration, which apparently it is and has a legal right to do, it ought to follow through and follow the law? >> absolutely, sir. the answer to your first question is yes, i do have that belief. the trick on this one is that someone is arrested and put inty a county jail, they're fingerprinted, those fingerprints are shuttled off to the great divide in washington or elsewhere, a hit comes back sayi

senator franken is next. >> thank you, mr. chairman.irector comey, first i would like to thank you for appearing today. it's good to see you again. and you do a great job. i think all the members of this committee greetagree. before i ask my questions, i want to extend my thanks to you, the bureau, your ages, for assisting in the civil rights investigation surrounding the death of jamar clark in minneapolis. i supported the decision of mayor hodges and police chief hartow to call for an independent investigation. in my view, a full, thorough and transparent accounting of the facts is necessary to get to the bottom of what happened in that tragic event and to restore trust between the north side community and the police and law enforcement. so i want to commend the fbi agents involved for their professionalism and for their commitment to seeking justice. i wanted to just -- a lot of things have been discussed in this committee, including the going dark the encryption issue. i just want to make sure that i have clarity on this and maybe h

mr. upton for their strong support in this legislation. in the senate we had orrin hatch, frank burr, al franken worked in a bipartisan way to ensure that this life-affirming, life-saving legislation not only made it through the senate but was beefed up, made stronger. this was, you know, people talk about the lack of bipartisanship. i do believe this is one of those bills where we've all come together to say whether it be bone marrow or adult stem cells in the form of cord blood that it be made available to as many people as possible in the most useable and efficacious way. mr. speaker, we know this, and i won't try not to be too redundant because i know the chairman explained it. the bill under consideration by the house does re-authorize through 2020 two critically important and complementary programs. cell w. "bill" young stem trant plantation program and the national cord blood inventory. it's especially important during this time of gift giving to re-authorize these life-affirming and life-giving programs. americans willing to give the gift of life to others are at the heart of the success

mrs. clinton: i want to acknowledge a few of the other elected officials who are here. i am, of course, to be joined by ormer colleagues and friends amy klobuchar and al franken who are the dynamic duo for your state and i'm thankful to them for their support. i thank tina smith and steve simon, your secretary of state. [applause] mrs. clinton: and i understand betsy hodges is here, mayor of minneapolis. [applause] mrs. clinton: i also want to acknowledge the dean of the humphrey school, eric schwartz. [cheers and applause] mrs. clinton: eric was my top adviser on refugee issues at the state department. i also had the great privilege of working with him when he was on the national security council during my husband's administration. you know, he brings a mix of expertise and empathy that has been missing from much of our public debate. and i'm grateful that he is here today, but i'm also a little jealous that all of you here at the university get to have the benefit of his experience. over the past several months, i have listened to the problems that keep american families up at night. most people don't expect life to be easy, but they want more thatity, a good-paying jo

mr. franken: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. mr. franken: thank you, madam president. madam president, we're just one month away from the new year. 2016 will bring a lot of new things, i hope good, but one thing that it will not bring is a cost of living increase for seniors, for veterans and for people with disabilities. despite the fact that the cost of health care and prescription drugs and housing are increasing the size of the social security check won't go up one cent on january 1 unless we act, unless congress acts. that's why senator warren and my colleagues and i have introduced the senior and veterans emergency benefits act or save benefits act. the save benefits act is a one-time payment to seniors and veterans receiving their earned -- their earned benefits so they can better meet their basic living expenses. the stagnant level for benefits in 2016 and its damaging effects are part of a bigger problem. too many of our seniors are feeling the squeeze and just aren't secure enough in their retirement. today's social securit