mr. franken: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today to discuss the central states pension fund crisis and proposal to address that, but before i do, i want to take a moment to talk about the horrific events that unfolded in st. cloud, minnesota, this weekend. the investigation is ongoing, but we know that last saturday evening, a man dressed in a security guard uniform took to the crossroads mall in st. cloud, minnesota, and senselessly stabbed nine people. fortunately, they have all been treated and discharged. this was a heinous attack, and i hope that all the victims and their families know that minnesotans are thinking of them. mr. president, i also want to commend the actions of jason faulkner. the off-duty police officer who bravely stopped the attacker before he could hurt anybody else. if it wasn't for him, we could have seen many more injuries and even the loss of life. i also want to thank the st. cloud police force and police chief william blair anderson who set an example for how to lead during a cri

mr. franken: that's according to the united nations office of the high commissioner for human rights. mr. president, this means that thousands of civilians have been killed or wounded in the u.s.-backed war in yemen. this is unacceptable. people all across this country have been outraged at how the saudis have conducted this war and believe that the u.s. should not acquiesce or support such conduct. mr. president, over the last decade, the united states has sold the saudis over $is00 -- $100 billion in arms. the united states has also supported the saudi-led coalition with air-to-air refueling, intelligence sharing, military advisory assistance. that kind of support should not go along with acceptance of saudi disregard for innocent human lives, innocent civilian human lives. the legislation we will be voting on later today is a disapproval resolution regarding a $1.15 billion arm sale and the very fact that we are voting on it today sends a very important message to the kingdom of saudi arabia, that we are watching your actions closely, and that the united states is not going to turn

mr. grant, do. genetically modified seeds are a menace by the french, the germans call it franken food, how do you get around, that mr. grant? >> in europe, we have an excellent seed business that doesn't have biotechnology. we are number one and number two in many european areas. we supply what the market's looking for. so i'm optimistic also, and i think we'll have a fair shake with regulators as they look at the opportunity this transaction presents. it's different from a number of the other deals looked at, at the moment, and there is such separation, there's very little overlap between the two portfolios. liz: you say fair shake, i wish you guys the best. really seems like regulators are being really hardheaded about the big mergers. monsanto is the leader in crop science. farmers in the midwest are facing freak weather. louisiana farmers lost crops they haven't seen in deadly floods. they turn to you, where do business guys like you stand on climate change? arguably your companies are the problem solvers during the problem floods and drought? >> we think climate change is real, we think agricult

mr. chairman. i would like to yield to my colleague from minnesota, senator franken. >> i would like to thank senator blumenthal, and thank you mr. chairman for this committee. i believe you're talking about the senior safe act. >> i believe that's what it's called. i haven't read it. do you think it's a good piece of legislation? >> yeah, and i want to ask them about it. i don't know if you guys have read it. but let me ask you about it. according to the commerce commissioner in minnesota, mike rothman, older americans are defrauded at nearly $3 billion a year. and one way, and this is in the stats, that we can put a stop to this is make sure that financial professionals who notice suspicions actions can report those concerns to authorities to investigate and right now, our financial privacy laws often make that hard or impossible to report concerns like that. this is not in this committee's jurisdiction, but i hope that all my colleagues will join me in supporting this senior safe act, which senator collins and senator mccaskill have worked together on. it would make sure that financial professiona

franken. an eloquent statement, and we should all consider what you tell us. senator tillis. >> thank you, mr. chair. mr. rodriguez, i'm going to ask you, if you will, just to give you a moment to do it, go back to your opening comments and the comment that you referred to -- that you referred to as being transparent on the prosecutions. i want to come back and have you read that in a minute, but i want -- this committee, i'm relatively new here. i've been here less than two years and i'm already tired of people talking past each other in this committee. here is one of the problems we have, and i want to thank people who have comed to this nation as refugees and served our nation. arlington, you see a lot of muslims who have died in the service of this nation. this is not what this issue should be about. this issue should be about the integrity of the process, right? it should be about recognizing and not finessing the fact that some one-fifth of the prosecutions related to, i think, alleged facilitators were through the refugee or asylee program. why is that important? because it does a diss

franken stein monster. i want to see if my next agrees and that is glen beck, the author of "liars." hello, mr. beck. there's the book. >> how are you? >> what is going on? have you ever seen anything like this? we've got 40 days to go. what is going on? >> it -- i -- you know, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive! it's a monster and it's -- i think it's a monster on both sides and i'm hoping -- i can't predict the american people at all but i'm hoping there's a lot of people on both sides that feel like really, this is the best we could do, these guys, really? >> let's talk about these guys and donald trump and hillary clinton was part of the debate. as well. donald trump thinks he won that first debate. his advisors disagree with him. can he come back for round two and take it in. >> you know, it's so funny because i was watching the debate on cnn and everybody was saying i can't believe -- what a debacle that was and they have the exact opposite opinion. i don't know. i tried to watch it as a millennial that understands socialism, and is kind of a bernie person and disconnected from hillary, and i d

mr. chairman. and thank you to all of you for working on this issue. senator durbin and i have been long involved in this issue. and iso, senator franken represent a state that has a lot of refugees and are a big part of the fabric of life in our state, leading businesses, teaching our students and our police forces. so, i think i would start with this issue, director rodriguez, on the security check. as you stated in your testimony, refugees are subjected to the highest level of security check of any traveler to the u.s. i believe we need to uphold the stringent security standards, which require extensive biographical and biometric checks, information vetting. do you agree with me that they are the most carefully vetted, ensuring that the efforts are not compromise as we look at some increase in the number of refugees? dir. rodriguez: yes, i agree. that they are the most highly vetted travelers to the u.s. my particular sample population is the rest of immigrants to the are, who also incidentally subject to extensive background checks, in certain cases an interview as well, but refugees definitely get more. as do asylum-seekers. we ar