mr. isakson: mr. president, the senate is a great place and to be able to speak here is a great honor, whether you're discussing your belief on an issue of great importance, honoring a friend, or on rare occasions but all too often when you get to be my age, pay tribute to somebody who's given so much and passed away. such has happened in my state this past monday on the 16th of april when john a. williams died. 74 years old. john williams was a giant in every weigh in our state. he's a giant entrepreneur. he founded two great companies, one of them post properties, the largest apartment read on the new york stock exchange started in 1993, built it to all new heights. most recently he started preferred apartment communities and done the same with it, employing thousands of people and thousands of units for housing and americans and set the pace of housing in his career. i don't know how many of you noticed in the suburbs of most major cities today but office parks and apartment complexes of any size n

mr. karem: yes, i agree. senator isakson: who is the background of the special envoy that's been named? is it an american? u.k. national. he has been involved in peace work. most in the u.k. who bring together negotiators, work on international solutions to problems like this. senator isakson: we need to give him and the help and encouragement to get that done because ultimately -- special envoys are usually an alternative to involving the problem. they are saying we did something like what happened in south sudan and the p.c.a. there. i hope we will work to -- move them forward at the u.n. and help bring that to a conclusion. mr. satterfield: that's our intent, sir. senator eyes arson: to the care people -- senator isakson: to the care people, yes, care does humanitarian, n.g.o. in many places, including yemen. they can't get well-intended aid, medical supplies to the people who need it because we don't have enough security to even give them that access. i've been to darfur. it's horrible. i hope we will get the n.g.o.'s that are trying to get the aid to the 23 million yemenese who are

senator coons did so as a gesture to senator isakson who could not be present for the vote because he was delivering a eulogy at his best friend's funeral. mr. president, this simple act of bipartisanship reminds me of the senate i used to know. the institution that lived worthy of its name and reputation as the world's greatest deliberative body. senator coons' vote brought us back from the precipice overlooking a partisan abyss. it was a timely reminder that this body is at its best when we put comity and respect head of partisanship. senator coons' gesture was characteristic of the person i know him to be, a class act, a loyal friend, and a true gentleman of the senate. may we all take a cue from yesterday's bipartisan display. our treatment of director compay crow in committee was embarrassing to say the least but now we have a second chance. now we have the opportunity to set things right by voting unanimously for his confirmation. i really urge all of my colleagues to do what's best for the senate and the nation by voting in favor of director pompeo's nomination. let's get rid of this total partisanship around here. and i think both s

mr. chairman, we have a great deal of respect for senator isakson. but, this is the vote of the secretary of the parliament he eight. has told us that a voice vote that is truly a 10-10 vote, is not a vote that can move forward to the floor, and would create an affirmative on the floor as it relates to the nominee. it would put us in a position of having to vote yes, when we clearly don't support the nominee. -- the floor with a positive recommendation. >> i would move by recorded vote. >> a recorded vote will still leave you in a tie. that is our problem. all recorded our votes. every democrat has voted no. every republican has voted yes. >> mr. chairman? >> yes? >> i think that is one idea. the other is everybody has a opportunity to express their vote ask for unanimous consent, notwithstanding the rules of the committee, that a nomination be sent to the floor with the vote as recorded here in the committee. >> reserving the right to object. my concern is beginning to set presidents within the committee that can be used subsequently. if the chair w

isakson. >> thank you mr. chairman think you secretary purdue very much for your advocacy. i certainly do appreciate it and does many of my colleagues have stated the ag industry is a of extreme importance to us. we are in uncertain times truly and so again i want to thank you for being such a great advocate for our farmers and ranchers. they are working around-the-clock for all of us and we know that in the morning there is a diversity in in the evening they are looking at a lot of anxiety. the stressors that are with our farmers and ranchers day in and day out is really unprecedented. i know a number of colleagues have talked about the rsf and talk about trade. i'm going to die than a little bit more because i know senator klobuchar has addressed a piece of the rfs. we were at the table a couple of weeks ago with the president a roundtable situation and i appreciate that you been able to give -- to president trump but there is concern with the epa and the straighter scott pruitt and waivers. i'm upset about the action the administrator has taken on biofuels. the moves tha

senator coons did so as a gesture to senator isakson who could not be present for the vote because he was delivering a eulogy at his best friend's funeral. mr. president, this simple act of bipartisanship reminds me of the senate i used to know. the institution that lived worthy of its name and reputation as the world's greatest deliberative body. senator coons' vote brought us back from the precipice overlooking a partisan abyss. it was a timely reminder that this body is at its best when we put comity and respect head of partisanship. senator coons' gesture was characteristic of the person i know him to be, a class act, a loyal friend, and a true gentleman of the senate. may we all take a cue from yesterday's bipartisan display. our treatment of director compay crow in committee was embarrassing to say the least but now we have a second chance. now we have the opportunity to set things right by voting unanimously for his confirmation. i really urge all of my colleagues to do what's best for the senate and the nation by voting in favor of director pompeo's nomination. let's get rid of this total partisanship around here. and i think both s

senator isakson: i am told it's the biggest problem and getting bigger. mr. jenkins: not getting bigger, sir. the worst moment came in november of last year when there was a coalition-enforced encloseure of the red sea ports. since then we have seen improvements. there is a ways to go but things have been improving as of late. senator isakson: at the end of the long speech made by senator paul, who i have great respect for, we disagree on a number of things but he was making a good speech. i enjoyed it. i want to follow-up on what he said. he was basically saying we sent a lot of our soldiers into battles, battles, win, losing, didn't make a difference because we didn't finish the drill. we have in afghanistan and we have in yemen and we have other soldiers deployed who are in battles we are not going to win but something bring to a draw. is that a fairway to say it? is there any other way to get a recalcitrant people or people working against political solutions to the table other than the military challenge if you don't have a military challenge to force th

the order of arrival and the order of eating here, i think senator isakson -- i beg your pardon, it is senator portman. thank you, mr. chairman. thank you oath for being here. we've enjoyed working with you all on a number of issues. i want to start if i could talking about an issue that comes before this committee. we should let you know this is legislation that deals directly with a huge challenge we face with synthetic opioids coming into our country. we know it's coming mostly through the u.s. mail system. the subcommittee investigation said the year-long study of this. in fact, earlier, senator mccaskill was here who's very involved in that. senator carper is the cochair. we reported back in january something shocking, alarming, which is if you go online and ask about opioids, people say we are happy to sell you synthetic opioids for senator the u.s. mail system because it would get there without any concern because the u.s. mail system unlike private care require the advanced law enforcement to identify these packages. 50% of the people who died in ohio of overdoses by a sense of overdoses. other synthetic opi

integrity, and i thank senators isakson and tester for their leadership in insistence on that high bar in the veterans administration, for the sake of our country. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the the presiding officer: the >> the senate continued to be of the nomination pale for secretary of state. at noon eastern tomorrow were expected a procedural vote and the final confirmation vote. later there'll be a few votes on the nominee to be u.s. ambassador to germany. the senate is live on c-span two. >> saturday, live coverage of the 16th annual annapolis book festival starts at 10:00 a.m. eastern. it includes chris matthews with his book, bobby kennedy. white house correspondent april ryan with her book. tech entrepreneur with a book in the coming age of artificial intelligence. watch live coverage of the annapolis book festival on saturday beginning at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span two on book tv

mr. pompeo that he does agree with the president that iraq was a mistake and got to get out of afghanistan as quickly as possible. they started to have the vote. they realized because johnny isaksont a funeral it would be a 10-10 tie. that would not -- then it wouldn't be a positive result. so, as it turns out chris coons from delaware, he voted present and it did then advance to the full senate. ainsley: well, there is really no reason not to confirm. west point grad. harvard grad. three term congressman. steve: political. brian: bobob corker was so moved that he did that, buckled his party. is he friends with johnny isakson. they are friends. johnny is giving the eulogy at his best friend's funeral. we know how he stands. chris coons said i will vote present we will put it to the general floor which means is he going to pass. democrats who said they would vote for him. joe donnelly all supporting him on the fence is you chuck schumer, mark warner, angus king claire mccaskill he is going to have votes. you are right, ainsley of alabama. we are used to getting 80 votes for a secretary of state. but, for some reason it's just so partisan. having a hard time. ainsley: watching "fox

mr. isakson: mr. president, is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. mr. isakson: i'd ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. isakson: thank you. on the 23rd day of march stwa*eut, a little over -- 2018, a little over two weeks ago, zell brian miller from the state of georgia, former member of this body, form youer chairman f the democratic party in the state of georgia, who contributed immensely to his state passed away in his home of towns county. i'm here to pay tribute to zell and his life and contributions to our country both on a purposeful reason as far as a fellow member but a personal reason for me. he is an individual i met through politics, became one of my best friends through politics, became somebody who had more of an influence on my life than anybody i know in public service. dell died in young harris, georgia, home of young harris college. zell miller was, first of all, a teacher and a wr