mr. grassley. mr. grassley no. mr. crapo. mr. crapo no. mr. roberts. mr. roberts no. mr. enzi. mr. enzi no. mr. cornyn. mr. cornyn no. mr. thune. mr. thune no. mr. burr. >> pass. >> mr. burr pass. mr. isakson. mr. isakson no. mr. portman. mr. portman no. mr. toomey. mr. toomey no. mr. coats. mr. coats no. mr. heller. mr. heller no. mr. scott. mr. scott no. mr. widen. mr. wyden no. mr. schumer aye. miss stabenow. miss stabenow aye. miss cantwell no. mr. nelson. >> mr. nelson aye. mr. menendez aye. mr. carper no. mr. cardin. mr. cardin aye. mr. brown. mr. brown aye. mr. bennett. mr. bennett aye. mr. casey. mr. casey aye. mr. warner. mr. warner no. mr. chairman? >> no. >> the chairman votes no. mr. burr. mr. burr no. >> the clerk will report. >> mr. chairman, the final tally is eight ayes, 18 nays. >> the amendment is not agreed to. >> mr. chairman. >> senator brown. >> i'm down to my last two amendments, mr. chairman, you'll be glad to know. beyond that i'm not responsible for the lateness of the evening. the first amendment is number 52. first amendment's number 52. >> okay. >> and

mr. grassley. >> no. >> mr. roberts? >> no. >> mr. corning? >> no by proxy. >> mr. burger? >> no. >> mr. isaacson? >> aye. >> mr. toomey. >> aye. >> mr. scott. >> aye by proxy. >> mr. white? >> no. >> mr. cantwell? >> no. >> mr. menendez? >> aye. mr. warner? >> aye by proxy. >> mr. chairman senator carper is aye by proxy. >> mr. warner. >> aye by proxy. >> mr. chairman? >> no. >> chairman votes no. >> clerk will announce the vote. >> 16 nays. >> it's not agreed to. senator nelson, i think you're up next. >> you said you would prefer me to offer my amendment to the customs bill. i have filed it. i think this is a preferable bill. >> okay. your choice. it has been in effect since 2005. they bring in yarn and fabric from outside and make it into a garments and textiles. so that the preference is conditioned on the labor department. this is super important to me. there's a town of some 1500 people. it has one industry in the town and it employs 300 people in that little town. that industry takes this stuffing of comforters that has been produce edd they make it into comforters.

mr. grassley. mr. roberts. mr. corning. no bright -- by proxy. mr. isaacson. mr. toomey. mr.coates aye. mr. scott. mr. wyden. no. missed cantwell -- ms. cantwell. mr. menendez. aye. >> no instruction. clerk: mr. brown. no by proxy. mr. warner. aye by proxy. mr. warner is aye by proxy. mr. chairman. german votes no -- mr. german votes no. the amendment is not agreed to. senator nelson, you are next. senator nelson: you said you would prefer me to offer the amendment to the customs bill. is that correct? i have filed it to both goa and the customs bill. your choice. this is a preferable bill. this is the preference for bahrain. that is the location the united states navy 5th fleet in the persian gulf. they bring in yarn and fabric and make it into garments and textiles. you all asked me to modify it, and this is the modified amendment so that the preference is conditional on the labor department certifying that the bahrain is living up to its labor commitment. i think that is a reasonable compromise. now, the reason that this is super important to me, there is a town in florida

mr. grassley, for mr. kirk proposes amendment numbered 273 as modified. mr. grassley: i ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from arizona. mr. flake: i'm pleased to be able to speak in support of my amendment, number 294, to the justice for victims of trafficking act. this -- it's important as part of our duties as stewards of the taxpayers' money to ensure that the government is running as efficiently as possible. this amendment simply requires the g.a.o., the government accountability office, to study the programs and initiatives affected by this bill and those that are related to services for trafficking victims and other victim services. in particular, the amendment directs g.a.o. to look for duplication and overlap and requires them to issue a report to congress describing how the costs associated with them and to make recommendations on how to achieve cost savings. i do support this legislation. i voted for when it was considered by the judiciary committee but it is incum

mr. grassley? >> no. >> no. mr. crapo? >> no. >> mr. roberts? mr. robert no. mr. enzi? >> no. >> mr. cornyn? >> no by proxy. >> mr. cornyn no by proxy. mr. burr? >> no by proxy. >> mr. burr no by proxy. mr. isaac son? >> no. >> mr. portman? >> aye. >> mr. toomey? >> no. >> mr. coates? >> no. >> mr. heller? >> no. >> mr. scott? >> no by proxy. >> no by proxy. mr. widen? >> no. >> mr. schumer? >> aye by proxy. >> ms. stab my? >> aye. >> ms. cantwell? >> aye. >> mr. nelson? >> aye. >> mr. menendez? >> aye. >> mr. carper? >> aye. >> mr. cardin? >> aye. >> mr. brown? >> aye. >> mr. bennett? >> aye. >> mr. casey? >> aye by proxy. >> aye by proxy. mr. warner? >> aye. >> mr. warner aye. mr. chairman? >> no. >> the chairman votes no. mr. chairman, 12 ayes, 14 nays. >> the amendment is not agreed to. any other amendments for the taa bill? senator cantwell? >> mr. chairman? yes, i wanted to thank you and ranking member wyden for including my amendment to approve collection of labor statistics in the chairman's modified mark on the customs and enforcement bill. i filed two amendments that i beli

mr. grassley. no. grapo. no. mr. roberts. sorry? no by proxy. mr. thune? no. no by proxy. mr. issacson. no. mr. portman. awe. mr. portman. awe. mr. tomby. awe. mr. cooks. mr. heller. awe. mr. scott. mr. burr. by proxy. mr. scott. mr. schumer. awe. mr. schumer. awe. stab know. mr. parker. mr. brown. by proxy. awe. and mr. warner. awe. and mr. chairman. mr. roberts. will announce the vote. mr. chairman. 18 ideas. 8 nays. yeah. mr. chairman. i would like to change my vote to no. want to change the outcome? no. it will not. my understanding is that it was a final passage. yeah. when you asked if there was further amendments. talking about. enjoying this so much. didn't want to forego the possibility here. all right. we will move along here. and considering the chairman. and a bill to extent african growth opportunity. and the generalized preferences and the duty treatment program for haiti. and for other purposes. considering legislation extenting and first let me say that during months of hard work and toughing inations ranking numbers were able to reach agreement on the bill with the ways

grassley. and thank you so much, mr. secretary. we have talked about this in the last week and you are very aware what's happened in minnesota where six men from the twin cities area were arrested for plotting to travel to the middle east to fight for isis. our u.s. attorney there as you know is doing a good job as are our law enforcement officers on the federal level. i hear people. and i think you also know one of the reasons we were able to make these cases is because of the relationship that law enforcement has built over the years with the somali community, of which we are very proud, and been able to get information and be able to bring these cases. i think that gets forgotten sometimes. part of this is the effort that the -- you mentioned your coming to minnesota. i was with you then. and the idea of fighting extremism in the pilot program that's going on in minnesota. i would hope that this is a long-term priority of the department of homeland security. one of the concerns that we have about the current state of the program

mr. grassley has been in washington for too long. our next caller from tennessee.aller: reid needs to get over himself. he lost. he lost twice. in 2012 until the 14th 14. the democrats need to move on. republicans have both the houses now. let them do what they need to do, which i think is better than what we have had in the past. as far as silly clinton being the first lady president, people need to get over that. look, we voted the first black president in, and even though i voted him in let's over that too because look at the shape the world is in. host: a little pushback from senator grassley's office. mr. grassley -- his spokeswoman, beth levine, said the white house was rewriting history. she said democrats held 55 seats at the time mr. holder announced his intent to step down. let's go to florida. sherry. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. i don't think that anybody that obama tersely handpicks is going to win the nomination. obama himself has proven, we cannot trust him. he is a liar, fraud, and trader. look at what he has gotten into in

mr. grassley. aye. mr. crepo. aye. mr. roberts. aye. mr. enzi. aye. mr. cornyn, aye. mr. thune. aye. mr. burr. no. mr. ikicson. no. mr. portman. ay aye. mr. toomey. aye. mr. coates. aye. mr. heller. aye. mr. scott. aye. mr. wyden aye. mr. schumer. no. mrs. stabenow, no. mr. nelson. aye. mr. mendez. no. mr. carper. aye. mr. cardin. aye. mr. brown. no. mr. bennett. aye. mr. casey. no. mr. warner. aye. mr. chairman. aye. chairman votes aye. >> report. >> 20 ayes six nays. >> the ayes have it and the resolution is ordered reported. ask consent the staff be granted authority to make technical, conforming and budgetary changes to all the bills reported today and without objection, it is so ordered. before we adjourn, if i could have order. if i could have order. i want to thank all of my colleagues for their participation today. and i especially want to thank senator wyden for his efforts throughout this process. we've worked very closely together and i've really appreciated it. as we noted today was a long time coming and i want to give credit for senator wyden for his leadership and will

mr. grassley: today the senate takes up the nomination of the 83rd attorney general. we all know that the former democrat leadership could have processed this nomination during last year's lame duck, but in the limited time that we had they chose to concentrate on confirming a number of judges and getting a losing vote on n.s.a. reform. ms. lynch at that time wasn't high on the priority of the democrat majority, but now i'm pleased that the senate was finally able to come to an agreement on the sex trafficking legislation so that we can turn to the lynch nomination. i voted against ms. lynch in committee and will oppose her nomination again when it's time to vote this afternoon and i'll spend a few minutes now explaining my reason to my colleagues. this nomination comes at a pivotal time of justice with the department of justice and our country. the next attorney general will face some very difficult challenges from combating cyber crime to protecting our children from exploitation and to help fight the war on terror. but beyond that, the new attorney general has a me

mr. grassley: i ask that the calling of the quorum be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: today the senate takes up theion of the 83rd attorney general. we all know that the former democrat leadership could have processed this nomination during last year's lame duck, but in the limited time that we had they chose to concentrate on confirming a number of judges and getting a losing vote on n.s.a. reform. ms. lynch at that time wasn't high on the priority of the democrat majority, but now i'm pleased that the senate was finally able to come to an agreement on the sex trafficking legislation so that we can turn to the lynch nomination. i voted against ms. lynch in committee and will oppose her nomination again when it's time to vote this afternoon and i'll spend a few minutes now explaining my reason to my colleagues. this nomination comes at a pivotal time of justice with the department of justice and our country. the next attorney general will face some very difficult challenges from combating cyber crime to protecting

mr. chairman. thank you for your indulgence. senator hatch: senator wyden would like to make a comment. then we'll turn to senator grassley. senator wyden: thank you very much, mr. chairman. i passed at the beginning because i wanted all of my democratic colleagues to have a chance to speak first. while senator brown is here i just want to be clear that i think he has had a very valid point that the playbook on international trade has to change. trade agreements in 2015 have to be very different than trade agreements from the 1990's. the president, to his credit, said in the state of the union that passed agreements haven't lived up to the hype. we have to make sure that our trade policies are not part of a time warp. 25 years ago, nobody had an iphone nobody was texting, china wasn't an economic powerhouse. i will do this briefly because i didn't ask any questions early on, what is different with respect to the legislation that will be considered this week and in effect the old playbook? the first area in which it is different -- and especially appreciate senator brown focusing on this -- is on trade enforcement. trade enf

grassley. senator cardin. >> a few mr. chairman. i would like to call up the cardin amendment, cardin portman to amendment number 113. i would ask consent in addition to senator cardin portman cap well schumer menendez case case and hell or be as co-sponsors at the emet -- to the amendment. mr. chairman i think you are familiar with his amendment and it deals with one of our trading partners israel. this amendment only applies to the ttip negotiations so it would not affect tpp negotiations. it's interesting that as we are meeting on april 22 it's exactly 30 years ago this date that the united states and israel sign the u.s. israel free. agreement. at that time it was considered an unprecedented trade agreement in the history of united states and the first fda entered into in the signing ceremony at the house ways & means committee minister minister of commerce and industry ariel sharon especially u.s. trade represent william brock stressed it would benefit the economies of united states and israel and serve as a precedent for futur

mr. chairman. thank you for your indulgence. senator hatch: senator wyden would like to make a comment. then we'll turn to senator grassley. nator wyden: thank you very much, mr. chairman. i passed at the beginning because i wanted all of my democratic colleagues to have a chance to speak first. while senator brown is here i just want to be clear that i think he has had a very valid point that the playbook on international -- >> we'll leave this hearing at this point. the u.s. house is about to gavel in. this hearing does continue online at c-span.org. the house coming in this morning for a brief speeches, as they wrap that up they'll gavel back out and return for legislative business this afternoon at 2:00 p.m. under consideration today, a measure to curtail prescription drug abuse. live coverage of the house here on c-span. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's room, washington, d.c., april 21 2015. i hereby appoint the honorable diane black to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, john a. boehner, speaker o

grassley raised. the so-called quick trip murder detention of mr. alamorano. this is a man charged with murder. we've not yet received a response on this. as you know, he was charged -- he was released. i.c.e. failed to remove him. they said he was ineligible for bond at $10,000 which he posed. -- posted. while out on bond he had two injunctions against him. four claims of harassment. one woman feared for her life because he pointed a gun at her boyfriend. three days after the second release of injunction, he was alleged to have committed this murder. was i.c.e. aware of these civil injunctions against this man? secretary johnson: i don't know whether officials at i.c.e. were aware of the civil injunctions, but as i said earlier, senator, that case is definitely a tragedy and that individual should not have received daca. he should not have been in the daca program. as a result of this case, we've retrained the force. we've done the retroactive review. i don't know the answer -- senator flake: he wasn't in daca. he was swayed for removal and then posted bond. so -- secretary johnson: sorry. i'm

politics on c-span -- >> today's white house briefing, criticism of chuck grassley after he blamed dem cats. here's a look. mr. earnest: over the last six years or so, we have see a lot of seats to be filled about the challenges associated with the white house working cructtively with republicans in congress and it has been a lot of speculation that politics that prevents the white house for working political differences that prevent the white house working with congressional republicans, is it differences about policies that prevent us from finding common ground. i actually am ready to stand to you and present exhibit aa why it is challenging to work with congressional republicans. back in september 2014, shortly after attorney general holder indicated that he was prepared to step down as attorney general of the united states, there was a lot of speculation about how soon the president would seek a nomination. in the days after that attorney general holder he was prepared to leave, senator grassley appropriately relishing the possibility that republicans would assume control over the united states senate, sa

mr. president we are continuing to make progress on the bipartisan antitrafficking bill. senator cornyn is working with chairman grassley and senators on both sides of the aisle to resolve the remaining issues. it's my hope that we'll be able to go through an orderly amendment process and pass a trafficking bill early next week. the senate would then consider the lynch nomination through the regular order as i have already committed to doing followed by a consideration of the iran bill as reported unanimously by the foreign relations committee earlier this week. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by the majority leader with the concurrence of the democratic leader, the senate proceed to vote on the motion to proceed to calendar 30 h.r. 1191, and that if the motion to proceed is agreed to, senator corker or his designee be recognized to offer a substitute amendment that is the text of s. 615 as reported by the foreign relations committee. the presiding officer: without objection -- is there objection? mr. reid: mr. president. the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. reid: i re

grassley is chastising the chairman. i accept it. let's move ahead. senator brown. >> i will make it easy. thank you for moving forward and mr. chairman your tolerance. this is brown amendment number eight. now negotiating objective with respect to public health. the underlying bill doesn't include a negotiating objective of public health and this amendment inserts one. our trade agreement should strengthen the 2007 bipartisan agreement on trade policy. that was the may 10th proposal that was adopted. our trading partners should comply with trips, the world health organization resolution on public health, innovation and intellectual property. third, they should not include obligations that could be read as limiting access to medicine and 4th, governments have the right to regulate and pass laws in the interest of public health without the threat of trade-related penalties. think about cases on tobacco aimed at the australian government. >> i cannot hear senator brown. >> governments have responsibility to protect public health and that includes making sure people have the medicine they need to treat infections, tb, hiv and ai

mr. grassley: mr. president? mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: remember that 212 republicans and 180 democrats supported h.r. 2 the decision to extend chip for two years with the current payment rate was part of the house bipartisan agreement. this amendment seeks to rewrite that agreement. this amendment is not a vote to show who really cares more about children's health, because h.r. 2 extends the chip program for two years. everyone who supports the underlying bill is supporting children's health. if you oppose this amendment you're no less a supporter of children's health than the 392 members of the house who supported h.r. 2 including 180 democrats and leader pelosi. you're really saying that leader pelosi didn't care enough about kids in forging this agreement. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. hatch: mr. president the pending amendment number 1115 offered by senator bennet would violate the senate paygo rule and increase the budget deficit over a ten year period of fisca

mr. grassley: mr. president do i have 15 minutes? the presiding officer: the senator is correct. mr. grassley: okay. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: mr. president the first statement unanimous consent that it be placed in the record other than the debate on this nomination. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: the ability of congress to be a check on the actions of the executive branch is being endangered. one of the tools that we in congress have created to help the government identify and correct its mistakes is being obstructed. that tool is the vital work of inspectors general. inspectors general work in nearly 80 federal agencies. they perform audits, conduct investigations and issue public reports of their findings and recommendations. they combat waste fraud and abuse. their work is being frustrated, and that's why i'm here. to keep an eye on what is happening inside a government agency the inspector general must be able to access the agency's records and this is exactly what the law calls for. the inspector generals act of 1978 di

clerk: senators enzi, grassley sessions, crapo graham portman toomey, johnson, ayotte, wicker, corker, perdue sanders murray, wyden stabenow whitehouse, warner, merkley baldwin mccain. mr. enzi: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. enzi: i ask unanimous consent that the senate be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. enzi: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to executive session at 2:00 p.m. on thursday, april 16, to consider the following nominations. calendar number 1 and calendar number 51. that the senate vote without intervening action or debate on the nominations the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table that no further motions be in order that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the record, the president be immediately notified of the senate's actions and the senate then resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. enzi: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until 10:00 a.m. th