mr. harkin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. harkin: mr. president, i think we worked very hard on this bill to make sure that we had good, strong, independent evaluations and reporting requirements. so therefore, i have to rise and speak in opposition to the lee amendment. we included in the bill requirements for an independent evaluation to be conducted every four years which includes what we call the gold standard impact evaluation, the first of which is due in 2019. our house colleagues on both sides of the aisle agreed with and supported these provisions in a bipartisan, bicameral process. what the lee amendment would do would be inappropriately penalize the secretary of labor if the secretary does not report -- submit a report by an arbitrary date. i understand the intent of the amendment, we all want to see reports filed in a timely manner. however, the lee amendment does not give any allowance for factors that might be outside of the secretary's control and then would penalize the secretary for the failure of others over whom the se

mr. harkin, for mrs. murray and others, proposes amendment number 3381 to amendment number 3378. mr. harkin: madam president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: i ask consent to vitiate the quorum. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: madam president, while the senator from iowa is still on the floor -- senator harkin -- i want to pay him a compliment. the committee which he chairs and of which i'm the ranking member has produced 19 bills this year for this congress, ten of which have become law. no other committee has produced as much, and this will add one to that. and that's not because we agree on everything. the truth is we disagree on a lot of things, but we have found a way where there is a chance to get a result to get one. and senator harkin has helped create an environment in which senator isakson and senator murray and a group of other senators have finally brought this workforce investment act to a conclusion, and a lot of

mr. harkin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. harkin: mr. president, today, june 12, 2014, is a day set aside by the international labor organization to bring attention to the tragic predicament of millions of children across the globe who continue to be trapped in forced and abusive labor, often in extremely hazardous conditions. so today is the world day against child labor. it's a day set aside every year globally for people to take a look at what's happening to kids around the globe who are forced into very abusive and exploitive labor conditions. i think we obviously should think about these children more than one day here. we should think about them every day. in my travels, i have seen the scourge of forced and abusive child labor firsthand, and previously here on the floor going back for almost 20 years, i have spoken about how shocked i was to see the deplorable conditions under which some of these kids are forced to work. i have witnessed these personally. and every place from south asia to latin america to africa. these are, as a

mr. harkin: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. harkin: madam president, first i ask unanimous consent that rae lee, jacqueline vazquez and jay will inson be granted floor privileges for the duration of today's session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. harkin: madam president, i want to speak for a few minutes on the bank in favor of student loan refinancing act, which is the measure before the senate now, also referred to as the fair shot for college affordability. we have been calling this agenda a fair shot, but let's be honest about it. it's just plain common sense. i don't want to go any further without thanking the present occupant of the chair, the distinguished senator from massachusetts for her dynamic and great leadership. on this issue and these kinds of issues that affect college affordability, and especially this overburdensome student debt that is hanging not only over students but our entire country. now, there are some things that i said are just plain common sense. raising the minimum wage is good for a

mr. harkin and ranking member i appreciate the opportunity to be with you today by an empty net with the education the enormously talented staff that i work with and i have the privilege to enforce our federal civil-rights laws in schools including title by -- title line and in the 42 years since it became on with colleges and universities having changed their practices so they are not discriminating and in compliance with the lot and i applaud those for recognizing the core educational mission issuers the safety on campus but still sexual violence is pervasive across too many campuses in freer committed to ending that reality. we have investigated more than post secondary education is issued to policy guidance and significant technical assistance that reach out to us. the president and vice president have created a white house task force to protect students from sexual violence and one key deliverable is the issuance from my office the question previous guidance so we could answer the questions that have come to us about ways to complies with of law and what did is we expect in the scho

mr. harkiner is just the latest state department bungler stimulate slaited for ambassadorship. earlier the administration nominated several top democratic fundraisers to serve as ambassadors to various posts around the world. one such fundraiser, mr. george student loanas was -- susanas was nominated to norway. he revealed his complete unawareness about the country in which he'd serve as our nation's top envoy. for example, he referred to norway's head of state as their -- quote -- "president not knowing the country is led by a constitutional monarch. another pick for hungary, colleen bell couldn't answer a single question about u.s. strategic interests this that country. but that's okay. i'm certain her professional background as a tv soap opera producer will come in handy while the crisis in ukraine continues to unfold. inside the beltway, they're known as campaign bundlers, partisan political operatives who have each fund raised hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars for the president's campaign. mr. harper is just another example of a campaign bundler ill-suited to

nevada, coons, blumenthal, merkley, durbin, gillibrand, cardin, nelson, feinstein, warren, harkin, hirono. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the measure. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. reid: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 736. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed -- all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: leo t. sorokin of massachusetts to be united states district judge for the district of massachusetts. mr. reid: there is a cloture motion at the desk. i would ask it be reported. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion. we the undersigned senators in in accordance with the provi

mr. kelly for being here and being so forthright in your testimony. appreciate it very much. miss stapleton, please proceed. >> good morning. thank you, chairman harkin, ranking chairman alexander and committee members. my name is jane stapleton from the university of new hampshire. i am the co-director of prechgs innovations research and practices for ending violence against women. it is an honor to be asked to testify before the help committee on an issue that's been an important part of both my personal and professional lives for the past 30 years. prevention innovation is made up of practitioners who work together to create, evaluate, disseminate evidence-based prevention. we are invested in building practitioners' capacities to respond to survivors, measure climate and incidents, prevent violence and comply with recent federal laws and mandates. we believe that to truly end sexual and relationship violence on campus, we must understand what works in prevention and response. evaluate effectiveness, document climate incidents and readiness to change, and implement evidence base best practices. during my career, i've had the opportunity to witness

impressive that chairman harkin, senators murray, alexander, and isakson along with their counterparts in the house were able to forge a bicameral, bipartisan agreement. so, mrent, congratulations to each of these senators and the house members who work with them. they've worked in a bipartisan, bicameral approach to successful legislation. you know, mr. president, they say in basketball if you're not doing well, you have a lot of off days, that the best way for a shooter to get his rhythm back is to sink a couple of baskets. so i hope this theory proves true here in the senate. it's time we sank a couple of baskets. it's time we start working together to get things done. hopefully by witnessing the success of a good bipartisan bill like this, the united states senate will get its rhythm back. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that following the disposition of h.r. 803, which is the workforce innovation opportunity act, the senate proceed to executive session and consider calendar number 499, 501 and 787 and the senate proceed to vote on confirmation nominations in the order listed. further, that if the nomination is confirmed, the motion to reconsider

, cardin, reed of rhode island, harkin, boxer, shah heerntion murray -- shaheen, murray, durbin, udall of new mexico, whitehouse, murphy, nelson, menendez and baldwin. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, we have filed just now, i'm sorry to s say, another cloture petition to get on a bill. we have more student debt in america today than we have credit card debt. i just had a conference call with some students from the state of nevada. it's really very, very unfortunate what's going on. some of these students lamented the fact, you know, i'm not sure i should be in school. i'm borrowing money. maybe i should do something el else. i don't know how many times we've had to file cloture on just the opportunity to get on a bill but that's where we are. so we'll have a cloture vote on seeing if they'll let us on the bill on wednesday. mr. durbin: would the senator yield for a question? mr. reid: yes. mr. durbin: i would like to ask the senator a question through the chair. is it my understanding you just filed a procedural motion which would allow us