mr. gardner: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. gardner: i thank you, madam president. thank you to my colleague from illinois. we'll continue to work on this issue until we pass this bill, this important appropriation bill. you'll hear from our colleagues across the country but particularly those who were just elected in 2014. madam president, i would just ask at this time unanimous consent that my military fellow actually be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the congress. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. gardner: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas. a senator: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. a senator: today i would like to recognize sheila as this week's arkansan of the week for her education and service to arkansas veterans. w

mr. gardner: -- mr. garden: the sequence of events was similar. i spent time with the chairman and ceo, and we spent time where i wanted to make sure he understood who we are and what we do. we spent time finding common ground on the business issues. we brought in those discussions out to our teams, and ultimately, i was invited to join the board. as i described, we sent a due diligence request list. gerald had a great idea at this point, which was to create a finance committee, a subset of the board to help weed through all this information and navigate what we are going to do , and the results have then spectacular. the earnings at bank of new york are up 35% plus in the last margins up 600, basis points. gerald is viewed as one of the best ceo's in the banking sector. >> there was another activist who did not agree. mr. garden: that is an interesting data point, which is along the line, and activist showing up. i hope you did not say "another activist." showed up, and my recollection was in quite dramatic fashion went on cnbc, and as far as i c

gardner: ambassador fried, do you wish to answer that? mr. fried: there may be -- a closed session would be a better place to discuss the past relationship between north korea and iran and our current projections. sen. gardner: the new government in burma, the cooperation between activities and the new government in burma, how has that changed. there is not a change in terms of cooperation with the government of irma. -- of burma. to the extent that there is a change, it is for the better. the problem continues to be the cap between the government and the burmese military. for that reason, when need to factor leader of burma or myanmar was in washington just the u.s. senior officials including the president underscored the importance of her and the duly -elected civilian government working with the burmese anytary to root out vestiges of cooperation and they have remained. talked to the burmese leadership about the d prk. i myself have met with the commander-in-chief during my visits to irma -- visits to burma. ambassador has met with him as w

mr. gardner: thank you. i rise to speak about the threat from northee. jong un has conducted the fourth test. this is the regime's second test this year. this is the largest weapon they have ever tested with an estimated explosive yield of 10 kill tons of t.n.t. the rapid advancement of north korea's ballistic missile program is a grave threat to global peace and security and a direct threat to the u.s. homeland in our immediate future. this past week i have since the detonation of this fifth nuclear test, i had the opportunity to visit with general robinson, our combatant commander of northcom and ambassador un of north korea and the am bass dr of japan, to visit with ambassador freed of the state department about all that is happening in north korea and our response to the provocative actions, the dangerous actions of this regime as they continue to try and attempt to obtain nuclear status. all of them are very worried about what is happening. my conversations is clear that we can expect and anticipate even more tests coming up, whether that's the laun

mr. daines: senator gardner, thank you for those great thoughts. it struck me, what if the members of congress were dependent upon the members of the u.s. military to vote whether or not we got our paychecks or not. maybe that would turn around this table. maybe we should halt pay in this body until our troops get assurance that they're going to get paid. put the accountability right back in this institution. i want to thank you for standing up on behalf of of the men and women who wear the uniform of the united states military, senator gardner. i spent 28 years in business before i came to capitol hill. i served one term in the house and now started a first term in the united states senate. you know, when i came here with my freshman class, january of 2015, we came in here with our loved ones, our friends and family. they were up in this gallery where we stand here and sit here today, about 30 feet from where i'm standing right here, we all stood. we all stood on that step and the vice president was right there, and he administered an oath to us t

mr. gardner: i ask the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the senate stands in recess until 2:15 p.m. >> and the senate and a break for weekly party meetings. when they returned at 2:15 p.m. eastern they are expected to take a procedural vote on short-term government funding. current funding expires at the end of the month. the vote has been rescheduled twice as lawmakers work off afford to come to an agreement to move forward. for more details on where things stand we spoke earlier with the capitol hill reporter. >> host: nancy is a reporter for bloomberg. she reports on appropriations. it's less than two weeks before the deadline of the government funding could shut down. what's the latest you hearing about the status of negotiations for the continuing resolution, a short term fix? >> guest: the status was the same as the status yesterday. and that they were close to to a deal that would resolve all the outstanding matters but they still were not exactly there. we are waiting to see this afternoon after the senato

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator gardner. senator booker has returned. senator booker. >> i'm really grateful and always excited when there is a corey to corey connection here. the corey caucus is thriving. >> both four-letter words. >> so as you all know, i was the mayor of new york and cities are where innovation is happening. they're finding creative ways to get things done, innovative private/public partnerships. i'm just excited about these mayors across the country, said no republican or democratic way to fix a pothole. you just fix it. so you don't see the kind of partisan rancor you see up here. you just see i've got people, let's get it done. so i'm so supportive of the ideas of municipal broad band, especially in areas where there is poor or rural folks who aren't getting service. this idea that somehow the private sector is going to get this done, well, they're not, and other countries have greater broadband penetration than we have. and so we see that when it comes to overall, this crisis in our country, which i think is the broadband deploym

mr. russell? >> thank you. >> chairman gardner, ranking members and members of the subcommittee, thank you for holding this very timely hearing on north korea and thank you for your consistent bipartisan support of u.s. asia policy. the threat posed a serious challenge to the last four administrations. today we're using all of the tools at our disposal, including tools the congress has made available to us to counter that threat and to roll it back. our strategy is based on diplomacy and on pressure. we deter north korea in our alliances with south korea and japan. and we strengthened our alliances and our defense cooperation with both those countries to an unprecedented degree, we have expanded our deployments, our exercises and our weapons systems in order to meet the growing thread. diplomatically, we've united the world so that north korea has denied regular access to the international system, so that minority korea has isolated and widely condemned, but at the same time we continue to make clear to the north that we're ready at any time to engage incredible negotiations on denuclearization and of

. >> reporter: here, gardner has students explain math mistakesxp by their puppet mr. mix up. >> 1,2,5,6,9,11 >> nooooo! >> you did it wrong. >> i don't understand what i did wrong. >> you need to say correct number. you need to say correct words and correct names. >> mr. mix-up is making counting errors, so the children are trying to learn how to explain to him what those errors are as they're building up their understanding of the number system.ngem >> reporter: building blocks was designed by early learning experts who say math has been largely ignored in the unitedhe states, pushed out by literacy, a subject some refer to as the bully of the pre-school curriculum, because it dominates the day.re >> research shows that kindergarten, mostly, is a mathematical wasteland right now for kids. in other words, kids knew that stuff before they walked into the kindergarten door. what are they learning? almost nothing.. >> reporter: doug clements is an early learning expert at the university of denver and one of the creators of building blocks. >> early math is surprisingly i

mr. cooper, trying to gain politically from the pain of victims and families. >>> well, elizabeth gardner. happy to have you back. where were you. account for your where was. >> i was at the national learned. >> five days! i don't can't wait to see what you learned. >> i've never been to norfolk, virginia. is it nice? >> it is. a lot of water front. we went you out to the virginia beach for a little while. >> did you all remark on the weather every time you walked outside. >> we did. like dorky things. i was waiting to have my luggage out and there were two guys there. who wants to bet what the ceiling is and meaning how high the clouds are. >> this really happened. >> it is a weather conference. >> like minded individuals. >> keeps you out of trouble. >> it does. maybe. >> we're looking good for the weekend. >> we are. >> brian is like let's move this thing along. it is gray out there at rdu. it is 69 degrees. a little bit of of a breeze. we are still dealing with julia in a very small matter. it is just off the coast and won't have any major impact. it is helping to bring us a little br

mr. lamborn: to name the outpatient clinic in pueblo, colorado as the james dunn v.a. clinic. i thank senate gardner for his efforts. i'm grateful to my friend scott tipton for his work championing this bill in the house and ensuring that private first class dunn is honored for his service. he was a colorado native and long time resident of the city. he enlisted in the united states marine corps in 19 2 when he was 22 years old. while serving in the solomon islands in the pacific theater later that year, p.f.c. dunn and his marines were separated and pinned down by hostile fire. after they were wounded, dunn on his own initiative assumed command. in the face of fierce mortar and machine gun fire he led his men to cover and evently to safety. in recognition of his bravery and leadership throughout that incident, he was awarded the navy cross. senate bill 3283 satisfies the naming criteria and supported by the entire congressional delegation and veteran service organizations including the disabled american veterans and veterans of foreign wars. i urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting this

mr. lamborn for partnering with me. in the senate, senator gardner and senator bennett. i thank the conservation community and water utilities for working together for a commonsense solution. this is an example of how we can solve a problem. the need for this legislation is to solve a vital local problem for the people of mid turn, colorado, 1,000 people in eagle county. the problem it fixes results from a mistake in the 1980 wilderness act which left bolts ditch off of the list of existing water facilities which should have been inclooded. this would allow special use and the segment of the bolts ditch within the wilderness area to use its existing water rights. residents who brought this bill to me as well as the people of colorado have long relied on water infrastructure to access clean and affordable drinking water. this will ensure that the town ill utilize a crucial resource without compromising the surrounding areas. i reserve. mr. thompson: i have no additional speakers. i continue toll reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his t

gardner. or you can get killed for selling these like alton sterling, this is a c.d. you can also be killed for reaching for your wallet like mr. castillo. it doesn't matter if your child, if your black boy, you can be killed by playing with a toy gun. that's a toy gun. that's what happened to at that mere rice. he was 12. that's what happened to tyree king last week. he was 13. or you can be killed for a missing front license plate like samuel debow. and heaven help if you're driving a car, you can be killed for not signaling a lane change like sandra blum. or for having a broken brake light, like walter scott. or for breaking down on a highway, liketarians. -- like terrence. should niff this warrant a death sentence? is the america you want to live in? in 2016 when you're black too often you are seen as a threat first, person second. when my boys were young hi tough conversation was them how toint act with police. i talked to them black boys don't get the benefit of the doubt. i told them to some it doesn't matter who you are it matters what you look like. i shouldn't have had to have these conversations with them. this is a

mr. gardner: madam president, i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. gardner: madam president, i rise today to recognize the united states air force on the occasion of its 69th birthday. on september 18, 1947, president truman signed the national security act which established the united states air force as an independent service equal to the united states army and u.s. navy. the mission of the united states air force is to fly, fight and win in air, space and cyberspace and colorado is proud to call itself home to units that play a role in all aspects of the air force mission. although it is the youngest of the armed services, the air force has accomplished a tremendous amount, a tremendous amount in those 69 years. with the combined force strength of more than 660,000 active, reserve, national guard and civilian personnel with the united states air force, it is a force to be reckoned with. the u.s. air force's ability to maintain air superiority is evidenced by the fact that the last time an american grou

mr. gardner: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. gardner: mr. president, in washington today is just another day of bureaucratic rollouts, regulatory nightmares, and government overreach. but if you're in colorado today, it's also sticker shock day, because today the people of colorado found out, thanks to the new numbers just confirmed by the colorado division of insurance, that if you live in that state, you are going to be paying, on average, an additional 20.4% for your health insurance this year under obamacare. that's the individual rate that was just confirmed for the 2017 plans -- 20.4% increase. now, remember ... the promises that were made when obamacare was put into law in the most partisan of fashions, the promises that were made, if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor, it's been proven untrue. if you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan. it's been proven untrue. why do we know that? because in colorado alone, over the past three years, over 750,000 coloradans have had their insurance