mr. leahy: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: i ask consent the call of the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the senate will resume executive session to consider the hernandez nomination and the time until 4:00 p.m. will be equally divided between the chair and ranking member of the judiciary committee. the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: thank you, mr. president. to use part of my time, we're finally going to vote to end the filibusters of four judicial nominees to federal district courts in arkansas, puerto rico, tennessee, and california. now, each of these nominees, none of whom are controversial, timothy brooks to fill a vacancy in the western district of arkansas, and pedro delgado hernandez in puerto rico, pamela reeves to fill an a vacancy in the eastern district of tennessee and vince chhabria for the northern district of california, were voted out of the judiciary committee with bipartisan

mr. leahy: mr. president, while

mr. leahy: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. sent to be able to continue as in morning business for about three minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: mr. president, i feel honored to be a member of the united states senate and be president pro tempore, but i can't think of any greater honor than this morning when i was able to introduce to the senate an old and dear friend, his holiness, the dalai lama. marcel and i have been friends of his holiness for decades, and we count that as a great treasure, just as i saw senator feinstein earlier on the floor, another longtime friend with his husband of his holiness. mr. president, i have watched him for so many years, his representation of the tibetan people. es a joined on the floor by another buddhist, senator hirono of hawaii, and the gracious comments of senator reid reflect how people feel about him. i think of how the faith of his people are moved and i've told his holiness this story. when i walked through the streets of lasa, tibet, years ago, a man hold

mr. leahy: madam president, i want to applaud the statement of my dear friend, the senior senator from maine, for what she just said. madam president, it was just a year ago last week the victims of violence and members of law enforcement and those committed to working against domestic and sexual violence celebrated the signing of the leahy-crapo violence against women act reauthorization. also the trafficking victims protection reauthorization act. we passed this important legislation. i believe it was an enormous accomplishment when you consider how divided the congress was, but we came together to support an inclusive bill that protects all victims. and one year later, we honor those victims and survivors by renewing our commitment to our shared goal of ending domestic and sexual violence and the scourge of human trafficking. our bipartisan effort last year is making lives better today. i have submitted many times during debate on this floor that a victim is a victim is a victim. i certainly

mr. leahy: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: madam president, over the past 20 years, i've spoken many times about the toll inflicted on innocent civilians and u.s. soldiers from land mines. i have talked about it here, in ottawa, actually in most parts of the world. the reason i've talked so much about land mines is that like boob by traps, they're indiscriminate. they're triggered by who ever -y whoever comes in contact with them. 161 nations, including most of our allies and friends, certainly those in nato, have signed a treaty banning them. 161 nations have had the courage to sign a treaty banning use of land mines. unfortunately, the united states is conspicuously not among the countries that have had the courage to do that. in 1994, 20 years ago, in a speech to the u.n. general assembly, president bill clinton called for the elimination of antipersonnel land mines. two years later, in 1996, president clinton said this: "today em i'm launching an international effort to ban antipersonnel land mines." and he went on,

mr. leahy: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: madam president, i so strongly concur with the statement of the senior senator from illinois, the deputy majority leader. it is similar to statements he has made not only here but in private and public. he has been one of mr. adegbile's strongest supporters throughout this matter. both he and i know this nominee well. we know he is qualified to be the assistant attorney general for civil rights in the department of justice. more than that, we know debo patrick adegbile as a real person and not the caricature we have heard by some on the other side. i think all of us have a responsibility to vote yes or no on any issue, but at least to deal with the facts as they are, not with facts and distortions like some of the ones we have heard about this wonderful person, a person we know as a man of the highest character and the utmost integrity. he's the kind of proven leader we need at the civil rights division. he's a superb lawyer to begin with. he has a compelling personal story of t

mr. leahy: -- mr. lee: this particular bill has not been examined in committee, not in the senate and not even in the house. it was rushed to the floor of the house without amendment and it's being rushed to the floor here without amendment. this is not how the legislative process is supposed to work, especially not here in the united states senate. my opponents may say that we already had our chance to impact this policy, but what we have before us now is a different bill, a bill that we've never seen before. this bill is not a conference report. it takes zero cues from the senate bill. not a single representative of the american people has been given the opportunity to offer even a single amendment to this legislation. all i've been asking for is a vote on an amendment that eliminates certain insurance rebates for second homes. my amendment would not change homeowners' flood insurance policies or even reduce the new taxpayer subsidy we're going to give them. it simply removes a retroactive reimbursem

mr. leahy: mr.president, while the distinguished senator from california is on the floor i would tell her through the chair, i've had the privilege of serving in this body now my 40th -- 40th year. i've heard thousands of speeches on this floor. i cannot think of any speech by any member of either party as important as the one the senator from california just gave. what she is saying is if we're going to protect the separation of powers and the concept of congressional oversight, then she has taken the right steps to do that. i think back, mr. president, the very first vote i cast in this body was for the church committee, which went into the excesses of the c.i.a. and others of our agencies, everything from assassinations to spying on those who were protesting the war in vietnam. there was a famous george tames picture where then chairman of the armed services committee, john stennis was berating senator frank church for proposing this committee saying that he, senator stennis, could find out what

mr. leahy: mr. president, i'd ask that i might proceed as in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: mr. president, in vermont, we've been fortunate that for two decades judge william sessions has served with distinction as the federal judge for the district of vermont. in january of this year, judge sessions announced he would take senior status later this year. so in response to this news, the vermont bar association, senator searnd and i each appoint threed members to a judiciary nominating commission and the commission as you can imagine received many applications for this district court vacancy. it interviewed, vetted seven finalists and then recommended to us the two candidates who gathered unanimous support. i spent hours with them last week in vermont interviewing them and today i'm recommending that the president nominate jeffrey crawford, a recently appointed justice from vermont's highest court. i talked to him at great length last week and i did again at le

leahy, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks and those of the republican leader, we will proceed to h.r. 4302, protecting access to medicare act, with the time until 5:00 p.m. equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees. at 5:00 p.m. the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of john owens to be united states circuit judge for the ninth circuit postcloture. at 5:30 then there could be up to four roll call votes. first on kreurgs of owens -- confirmation on owens. then if a budget point of order is raised on the s.g.r. bill, then passage of the s.g.r. bill, finally h.r. 3979, the legislative vehicle for the unemployment insurance bill. mr. president, i wish a happy opening baseball day to everyone. actually it started last night, not today. but it sounds better to do it right in the daytime. this is opening day for major league baseball but happens to be the last day for americans to sign up for obamacare, the affordable care act. to dat

leahy, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following my remarks and those of the republican leader, the senate will be in a period of morning business for an hour. the majority will control the first half. the republicans the final half. following that morning business, the senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to s. 2124. this is the ukraine act. that will be postcloture time. so i ask consent the senate recess from 12:30 until 2:15 to allow for the weekly caucus meetings and that the time during the recess count postcloture on the motion to proceed to the ukraine bill. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: so we hope to work on an agreement to begin consideration of the bill very, very soon. senators will be notified when votes are scheduled. i have spoken this morning to senator menendez, chairman of the committee. i spoke last night to senator corker and senator mccain. i talked to senator mccain this morning and he was going to talk to senator corker. hopefully we can move forwa

leahy, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: that was my fault. when the president pro tempore is here, we don't have that communication read. i assumed he was here, and he's not here. you're here. so thank you very much. mr. president, following my remarks and those of the republican leader, the senate will be in morning business until 10:30 this morning. republicans will control the first half. the majority the final half. following that morning business, the senate will resume consideration of the child care and development block grant. we did extremely well yesterday. i expect more roll call votes on that today. we are working on an agreement on flood insurance. we're working on additional executive nominations. we're seeing what we can do on minimum wage. we've got the ukraine sanctions out there someplace. and we're trying to put it all together. we hope we can finish that today. it's not guaranteed. senators will be notified when votes are scheduled, with as much notice as possible. over the last couple weeks i'

leahy, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? i move to proceed to calendar number 333. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: motion to proceed to the consideration of calendar number 333, h.r. 3979, an act to amend the internal revenue code of 1986, and so forth and for other purposes. mr. reid: i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i have said often that people who work in the capitol are some of the most intelligent men and women anyplace in the world. they come here, as i explained to a group of people from nevada this morning, dedicated to public service. they are not here to see how much money they can make. they're here to change people's lives. and today, the senate is losing one of its brightest and most seasoned minds. a lawyer by prayed, pete robinson came to th

leahy, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president, i move to calendar number 309. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. motion to proceed to calendar number 309, s. 1086, a bill to reauthorize and improve the child care and development block grant act of 1990 and for other purposes. mr. reid: mr. president, following my remarks and those of the republican leader we'll be in a period of morning business until 10:30. the republicans will control the first half. the majority the final half. following that morning business, the senate will proceed to executive session at 10:30. there will be up to six roll call votes on confirmation of several executive nominations. upon disposition of the nomination of sarah raskin to be deputy secretary of treasury the senate will start consideration of s. 1086. there are two bills at the desk due for second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the titles of the bill for the second time. the clerk: s. 2110, a bill to amend titles 18 and 19 of the social security act, and so forth and for other purposes. h.r. 41

leahy is doing. i'm on both committees. i've been immersed in this as mr. mulligan knows we had another hearing and chairman ramirez in the judiciary committee. one of the things we focused on is one going after the people who did this and working on the justice department on that. that's got to be a top priority. number two, how we prevent this going forward. one of the things that i found pretty shocking is that in america we had 25% of credit card transactions in the world, but we had 50% of the world's fraud. and we know some of the other countries have moved to the chip and pin technology. i know that target tried some of this technology, maybe you can talk about that a few years back. but it wasn't adopted by other companies so i would think i would start with that. what do you think we need to do to stop this from happening in terms of adapt adopting some of the technology? and how long do you think it will take when we have parts of the world that are already adopting this, it's currently the standard in europe. so maybe we -- maybe we can hear from

mr. leahy: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: i yield back all time. the presiding officer: without objection, all time is yielded back. the question is on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: the presiding officer: any senators wishing to vote or to change their vote? seeing none, on the matter the yeas are 93, the nays are 5. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order there are two minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote on the mchugh nomination. without objection, all time is yielded back. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. there is. the clerk will call the roll. the yeas and nays have been ordered. votes: vote: the presiding officer: does any senator wish to vote or to change his or her vote? if not, the yeas are 59, the nays are 41. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, there are now two minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote on the smith nomination. who

leahy, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president, i now move to proceed to calendar number 333. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 333, h.r. 3979, an act to amend the internal revenue code of 1986, and so forth. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i would be happy to yield to my friend, the senior senator from iowa. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i appreciate the majority leader yielding. it's been a tradition in the united states senate, usually this time of the year, when various veterans' organizations come to washington, d.c., to testify for their membership before congress about the issues dealing with the veterans of all of our wars. for a person that's national chaplain to be guest chaplain. so this year, it's my privilege that that person for the american legion be from the state of iowa. you have heard dr. daniel a. mcclure give his prayer this morning. he was appointed to the post of

mccaskill, gillibrand, baldwin, rockefeller, cardin, leahy, stabenow, blumenthal, coons, mikulski, boxer, tester, begich, cantwell, schumer and feinstein. mr. reid: madam president? madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: we expect to have -- mrs. boxer: the senate is not in order. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. mr. reid: we expect the next vote will be the next vote until monday. next roll call vote. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion. we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, hereby move to bring to a close the debate on s. 1917, a bill to provide for additional enhancements of the sexual assault, prevention and response activities of the armed services. signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is: is it the sense of the senate that debate on s. 1917, a bill to provide for additional enhancements of the sexual assault prevention and response acti