mr. grassley? >> no. >> mr. grassley votes no. >> mr. alexander, mr. alexander votes no. mr. hatch. >> is there a proxy? >> no proxy. >> mr. hatch votes no. mr. sessions. >> no by proxy. >> mr. sessions votes no. >> mr. leahy. >> he votes aye. ms. murray. >> aye. >> ms. murray votes aye. >> mr. widen votes aye. >> are there members wishing to change their vote? if not, the clerk will call the tally. >> mr. chairman, on that vote, there were three ayes and four noes. >> the amendment is not agreed to. just the senate votes. next amendment offered by mr. leahy. as an amendment at the desk, clerk will read the title of the amendment. >> amendment to the conference report for 524 offered by mr. leahy. >> the amendment will be considered as read, and the staff will distribute the amendment to the senate side. and the gentleman from vermont is recognized for five minutes in support of his amendment. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i helped put together the amendment 16797. is that correct? >> is that correct

mr. grassley? >> aye. >> mr. grassley yovotes aye. mr. alexander votes no. mr. hatch -- >> is there a proxy? >> no by proxy. >> mr. chairman hatch votes no, mr. sessions? >> no by proxy. >> mr. sessions votes no. mr. leahy. >> aye by proxy. >> mr. leahy votes yeah. ms. murray? ms. murray votes yeah. mr. wyden? mr. wyden votes yeah. >> other members wishing to vote or change the votes? seeing none the clerk will report the tally. >> mr. chairman, on that vote there were four ayes and three nays. >> four ayes, three nays. the amendment is agreed to on the senate side which then sends it to the house side. does the house have the language of the bill? i think we do have it. i will claim the time on the majority side and would just note that this amendment to the pain management task force was never raised as part of either chamber's deliberations that we're aware of during committee or floor considerations. particularly given some of the vague terminology used, it could have unintended consequences that have not been carefully considered such as making qualified pa

mr. grassley: i now ask for a second reading. i object to my own request and all en bloc. the presiding officer: objections having been heard the titles of the bills will be read for a second time on the next legislative day. mr. grassley: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. thursday july 14. following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour deemed expired the journal of proceedings be approved to date and the time for the two leaders be further reserved for their use later in the day. further, that the following -- following the prayer and pledge, the majority leader be recognized as under the previous order. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: senators should expect four roll call votes at 11:30 tomorrow morning as well as one additional vote after lunch. if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned until the previous order under the provisions of s. res. 534 as a further mark of respect to william l. armstrong a former united states senator fr

mr. grassley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: mr. president, i come to the floor today to send a message to secretary of defense carter. i wish to alert him to a problem that needs high-level attention. it is standing in the way of one of the top priority goals of the congress: auditing the books of the defense department. the need for annual financial audit was originally established by the chief financial officers act of i 1990. by march of 1992, each agency of the federal government was supposed to present a financial statement to an inspector general for audit in accordance with the prescribed standards. to date, all departments have earned unqualified or clean opinions. but there is one glaring exception: that's the defense department. it has a dubious distinction both under republican and democrat administrations of earning an unblemished string of failing opinions known as "disclaimers." in the face of endless slipping and stumbling, congress finally cracked down, except the crackdown looks like it hasn't done any good. there

mr. grassley. >> you have heard the annual figure of about 40,000 people dieing from this overdose every year, so that's 129 americans a day dying from drug overdose. 129 of our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, parents, spouses, co-workers, friends and neighbors, lost to addiction every 24 hours. it's a human tragedy that touches communities of all shapes and sizes across the united states. despite the awful toll of this epidemic, i have been inspired by how many fellow citizens have turned their personal tragedies into stories of hope for others. i have heard these stories across my state of iowa, the judiciary heard them during a hearing i convened on this crisis in january. now congress has an opportunity to do our part and pass this landmark bill kara. it's a comprehensive u approach authorizing almost $900 million over five years for prevention, education, treatment, recovery and law enforcement. i was proud to lead the bill through the committee and manage its near unanimous approval by the full senate. i'm pleased that the bill now also includes the kingpin designation im

mr. grassley. >> you've heard the annual figure of about 40 some thousand people dying from this overdosery year so that is 129 americans a day died from drug overdose. 129 of our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, parents spouses, coworkers, friends and neighbors lost two addiction every 24 hours. it's a human tragedy that touches communities of all shapes and sizes across the united states. despite the awful toll of this epidemic i had been inspired by how many of our fellow citizens that have turned their personal tragedies in the stories of hope. i have heard the stories across my state of iowa, the senate judiciary heard them during a hearing i could been on this crisis in january. now congress has the opportunity to do our part and past this landmark bill cara. it's a comprehensive approach authorizing almost 900 million dollars over five years for prevention education, treatment, recovery and law enforcement. i was proud to lead the bill through the committee and manage unanimous approval by the full senate. i am pleased that the bill now also includes the kingpin designatio

mr. grassley: first of all, i thank senator portman for letting me go ahead of him. he has been waiting a long time. i will take just a few minutes because i want to talk on exactly the same subject that has been before the senate for the last half-hour or so. i come here to continue to believe that the senate should take up the sentencing reform and corrections act. there is still time this year for both the senate and the other body to pass legislation reforming sentencing. in light of recent and justified public concerns over treatment of suspects by some police and treatment of police by people who would do them harm, the need for the bill is even greater today. the sentencing reform and corrections act contains three parts each of which was formed as the basis of a bipartisan compromise among judiciary committee members as well as members not on the judiciary committee. the first is the reduction in the mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders. the bill takes great pains to limit sentencing reductions to people with minimal criminal histories an

mr. chairman. sen. grassley: now let me introduce both of our witnesses. first is ms. jill steinberg, serving as the justice department national coordinator for child exploitation prevention and interdiction in that role, she oversees the implementation of many of the department's human trafficking initiatives. previously, ms. steinberg served as assistant u.s. attorney for the northern district, georgia. she also served as attorney adviser within the department's national security division, and as assistant district attorney, philadelphia. she received an undergraduate degree from the university of georgia and law degree, drake university -- drake's in my state -- duke university. our second witness, dr. greta goodwin, she serves as acting director of homeland security and justice team at the u.s. government accountability office. her portfolio covers justice and law enforcement issues. since joining gao, dr. goodwin has conducted research in a wide range of domestic policy issues. she earned her phd in economics from the university of nebraska, lincoln. and she recei

mr. chairman. grassley: i thank you for your question. i have the same discussion a few days ago with the secretary, and the secretary -- i don't know whether he ought to recommend and i do not know if that is based on what ever recommendation he might make, them to makerge the strongest recommendation that the law allows him to make -- in a sense dictates he makes, and we have to forget about the sensitivities of our relationships with china and india, countries like that better the biggest abusers of it. at senator hatch. hatch: like you, mr. chairman. i always enjoy seeing you worked up. i appreciate it. i also appreciate the work you have been doing. you are a fine man. you are doing the best you can and you have some severe limitations without question. i just want to express that to you. i would also like to note personally, the supreme court , and only four of the 61 cases -- finally for the 61 cases since justice scalia's death. a lot of people do not realize that. it's a functioning court. let me get into something i felt interes

mr. grassley, and from mississippi and washington state, who have been conservative leaders on disability with some language that we submitted for consideration. that's the language we have here today. very similar to what's in the platform already, the draft platform. this would simply delete lines 14 to 36, three paragraphs. and add in some new text, similar concepts, very similar concep concepts, but simply stating it a little differently. in working with these offices, there are words we like to use working with people with disabilities, and the issues working in washington, d.c., to advance legislation. it's not making any substantial changes, mostly a matter of wording. and i have been authorized to say, i have the support of these three offices for my amendment. i will read it, i think it's very strong language. >> so, the idea is to strike in the original document, lines 14 to 36, and put in an amendment, which i have a copy. we're going to make copies and distribute those so if we can just lay this aside temporarily, so people know exactly what they're seeing. and then we'll move

mr. grassley: madam president, all of my colleagues we all want health, security and well-being for all of our fellow americans but sometimes it seems impossible for us to agree on how best to achieve those goals. so when congress comes together to find solutions to an urgent crisis facing the country, we should pause briefly, mark that achievement and consider how we got there. that's what i hope will happen this week when the senate votes on the conference report on 524, the comprehensive addiction and recovery act, cara for short. cara addresses the opioid crisis in a comprehensive way by authorizing almost $900 million over five years for prevention, education, treatment, recovery, and law enforcement efforts. last week the house of representatives passed the report by an overwhelming margin of 407-5. we've all heard the statistics about the epidemic of addiction to heroin and prescription opioids that's gripping our country, so i'm not going to belabor those statistics today. when 129 americans a day die from drug overdoses, we don't need statistics on a page to tell us about this bei

mr. horn. >> thank you, chairman grassley. >> chairman grassley, ranking member blumenthal and distinguished members of the committee, thank you for this opportunity to discuss the department of justice's efforts to protect older americans from financial exploitation. the department is and always has been fully committed to comb combatting the victimization of our seniors in all its forms. my new role is further evidence of that resolve as i am the first chair of the attorney general's advisory committee elder justice working group. the working group was set up this year to enhance the corddation of the sharing and outreach with the public and our many partners in this endeavor. today, i'd like to highlight three aspects of the department to address financial ex employedtation. first our coordination of sch e schemes to target older americans. second i will describe our efforts with our many partners in the united states enhancing prosecution and training and outreach efforts and finally i will highlight impactful work being done by federal prosecu r prosecutors across the country. on the fi

lee is joining us, durbin of illinois, booker of new jersey, and senator grassley of iowa in this effort. now, how many times, mr. president, do we run into that? where four senators with such diverse political beliefs come together on one bill? this bill. because senator lee explained what we're setting out to do here is to right an injustice, an injustice that is filling the federal prisons, sentencing individuals for lengthy sentences for nonviolent, nongun drug offenses. this is long overdue and it's something that we need to do and if we did it, if would say to those across america who are asking is congress listening, is the senate awake to what's going on in our country, it would say to them yes, on a bipartisan basis these four senators and many more are prepared to bring reform to our criminal justice correction and sentencing system. will it solve all our problems? no, not at all, but it's a significant step forward. i was serving in the u.s. house of representatives over 25 years ago when a famous basketball star at the university of maryland died from a drug overdose. we were shocked by this. and the

it is time for senator grassley and the senate republicans to do their job. mr.resident, i would ask the chair announce what we're going to do the rest of the day. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the conference report to accompany s. 524, which the clerk will report. the clerk: conference report to accompany s. 524, an act to authorize the attorney general to award grants to address the national epidemics of prescription opioid abuse and heroin use. mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: under the previous order, the time until 11:00 a.m. will be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees. mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: pending before the senate is an important bill. it's a bill that relates to the opioid epidemic in america, an epidemic which is linked directly to the heroin epidemic in america and the sad reality of the deaths that are occasioned by heroin overdos

grassley. >> aggravated felony could be anything from murder, rape, child pornography, things of that nature, but a very violent crime. >> drug sales, too, right? >> yes. >> despite that, mrnsisted that kate's law would be unfair. >> mr. ring, cut through the bull. >> aggravated felons. >> aggravated felons, you still do. >> because you know what an aggravated felony is? it is not just a violent crime that could be failure to appear in court. that could be a fraud offense. >> no it's not. >> after that i dismissed mr. ring who feels he was treated unfairly here. with us now attorneys and fox news analysts lis wiehl and kimberly guilfoyle. you studied the controversy, what do you think. >> i think he is mistaken and misguided. you were trying to point it out to him as a former prosecutor in san francisco which is and former first lady of that town that is a sanctuary city i saw firsthand the problems of people who have been deported coming back in and committing violent felonies, aggravated crimes like rapes, murders, child pornography, all of that. >> but your ideological position is the same as mine that we need this kate's law to take care of these people. however, mr.

mr. grassley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i come to the floor now to speak about allegations that the f.b.i. has facilitated ransom payments to terrorist groups. unfortunately, the administration has been stonewalling the senate judiciary committee's investigation into this very important matter. we have seen many terrible terrorist attacks recently. the government's highest duty is to provide national security for our citizens. that means fighting the radical islamic terrorist groups who mean to harm us. an important part of fighting radical islamist terrorist groups is going after their funding. the u.s. government should do everything it can to stop money from flowing to groups like al qaeda and isis, and the government has had significant successes in fighting terrorist funding. ransom payments for hostages are one of the key sources of funds for terrorist groups to raise money. the government should not be participating in helping to make such payment

mr. president, i ask consent that the grassley-schumer substitute amendment be agreed to, the bill as amended be read a third time. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. murkowski: mr. president, i know of no further debate on the measure. the presiding officer: is there further debate? if not, all in favor say aye. all those opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the bill as amended is passed. ms. murkowski: mr. president, i ask consent that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. murkowski: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of s. 3283 introduced earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 3283, a bill to designate the community based outpatient clinic of the department of veterans affairs in pueblo, colorado, as the p.f.c. james dunn v.a. clinic. the presiding officer: without objection the senate will proceed to the measure. ms. murkowski: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the bill be