. >> mr. leahy. mr. schumer. mr. durbin. mr. franken. >> mr. blumenthal. >> the amendment is defeated. i turned to senator schumer. >> i thank you carried i have an amendment i would like to offer. it is avonte's law. i want to thank senator cornyn and the sponsors of the legislation for including my missing children's bill in the trafficking legislation. this is not exactly about traffic thing but it is about kids. the legislation is named after

mr. leahy: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. president i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: mr. president what is the parliament situation? the presiding officer: the senate is considering the botticelli nomination. mr. leahy: mr. president i ask to continue for a few minutes as though in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: mr. president millions of american families are struggling with an unrelenting addiction to controlled substances. that's really nothing new and that's the unfortunate part about it. but after decades of taking the wrong path toward treating drubs, it appears we're finally in the midst of a fundamental shift in the way we're going to focus and approach this issue. for years we simply considered drug abuse as a crime to be dealt with by police, prosecutors and prisons. there is now however near consensus that addiction ha

perdue. >> mr. leahy. mr. schumer. mr. durbin. mr. franken. >> mr. blumenthal. >> the amendment is defeated. i turned to senator schumer. >> i thank you carried i have an amendment i would like to offer. it is avonte's law. i want to thank senator cornyn and the sponsors of the legislation for including my missing children's bill in the trafficking legislation. this is not exactly about traffic thing but it is about kids. the legislation is named after avonte attendo. he had autism. as you know, young kids wander. whether they are in school or with their parents, they just wander and get in trouble. avonte went missing, and it became more than a face on a missing poster. new yorkers were searching for aponte -- avonte. we felt he was a child we knew personally. he had wandered almost 50% of children after age four years old attempt to run or wander. sometimes it is a bright light or a loud noise. we are learning how autism works, and these things that don't affect us that way affect them. i offer the amendment because unfortunately his wandering is n

mr. leahy: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. president i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: mr. president on january 13 of this year, our country lost one of its most courageous diplomats ambassador robert e. white. ambassador white was 88 years old. i knew bob white. he graduated from my alma mater st. michaels college in vermont in 1952, just nine years before i did. i admired him greatly no matter what college he went to, because he had the qualities that every american diplomat should possess possess -- outstanding and extraordinary intellect unimpeachable integrity great courage, the devotion to the ideals and values of this country. in the 1980's during the civil war in el salvador the united states in what most historians now know was a bad mistake steadfastly supported the salvadoran army despite evidence that some of its elite units were functioning as death squads

mr. leahy: and mr. president again i see nobody seeking recognition. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: mr. thune: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: mr. president i ask the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president for the past week democrats have been filibustering a bill to fund the department of homeland security for the remainder of the fiscal year. they object to the bill because it does not fund president obama's executive overreach on immigration despite the fact that the president spent years declaring that he didn't have the constitutional authority to grant amnesty. i want to quote something the president said here a few years back. "believe me, the idea of doing things on my own is very tempting," the president told an audience on july 25, 2011. he goes on to say "i promise you not just on immigration reform, but that's not how our system works. that's not how our

mr. leahy: mr. president i ask consent the call of the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: mr. president somebody asked me a little while ago, shouldn't we be voting on the mishmash on homeland security that the house of representatives sent over because of the immigration matters in it. i reminded them that the senate in the last congress voted by a two to one margin, a bipartisan comprehensive immigration bill which we sent to the house of representatives, and the speaker refused to bring the bill up. it probably would have passed. had it passed, it would have been signed into law and president obama would not have been doing any executive orders. there would be no need to. we had everything from border security which republicans and democrats voted for to minors and the dreamers which republicans and democrats voted for. in fact, we had hundreds of hours of hearings and markups. we had around 140 amendments were brought up, and i would call for one repub

mr. leahy:. i agree wholeheartedly with him. we're not a wealthy state we're a proud state and we're not a state that believes in such a huge disparity of income. so i thank him for what he said not only here but what he said similar things around the country. mr. president, on another issue i want to talk about privacy. privacy is not a partisan issue. mr. leahy: it never has been, never should be. remember, 30 years ago i was in the minority, the republicans were in the majority and controlled the senate, and i worked with my colleagues and i led an effort to write the electronic communications privacy act ecpa. one that required a lot of education of everybody because back then, electronic mail was an emerging technology. the worldwide web was unimaginable. electronic data storage was astronomically expensive. no one could have envisioned the way mobile technologies would transform our lives. fortunately many of us in congress had the foresight to anticipate that these electronic communicati

quorum call: mr. leahy: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: i ask consent that the call of the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: mr. president, the senate will vote later on the confirmation of dr. ashton carter to fill a critically important cabinet position, that of secretary of defense. i think we all know that dr. carter is a dedicate, a distinguished public servant. he's actually been confirmed twice unanimously to two senior positions in the pentagon. he's a four-time recipient of the department of defense distinguished service medal. he's been awarded the defense intelligence medal. i have no doubt that the vote on dr. carter will be overwhelmingly favorable. that the defense department faces important timely, and difficult decisions in the coming months and years they have to learn how best to balance -- renew our fiscal constraints with not only existing but emerging international challenges. he served as the day-to-day financial officer of the pentagon so he's one of the few people w

mr. leahy: mr. president i see the senator from new jersey. i thank him. mr. president, it has been discussed already that later today the senate's going to vote on whether it should proceed to a bill that attempts to link two critical yet independent debates. one of the debates, of course, is the day-to-day operation of one of the nation's key national security agencies. the other would be to address a broken immigration system. now, in doing that, it appears the leadership wants to hold hostage the operation of the department of homeland security, an office charged with protecting national security. and, frankly that's simply irresponsible. i think we -- sometimes the sense of history around here was what was the last sound bite heard on television, but let's take a look at the real history. well over a year and a half ago a strong bipartisan majority, democrats and republicans coming together in the senate, approved a package of comprehensive immigration reforms. we did this after the senate judiciary committee had held hundreds of hours of hearings and deb

. >> senator leahy. >> mr. chairman, i will speak very briefly, because i do not want to hold up the time for the vote on loretta lynch, she's waited so much more time far more time than the four men who were ahead of her for attorney general. but on senator cornyn's amendment, i have told him i will vote for it because i believe it does make important contributions in human trafficking, something both he and i expressed concern about. i don't think it goes quite far enough. i think we have to prevent victims from falling prey to sex traffickers which would mean reauthorizing programs for run and homeless youth. and i've told -- runaway and homeless youth. and i've told senator cornyn that i will bring an amendment to that effect on the floor and i will consult with him before i do, but i will vote for his substitute amendment as it is. >> thank you. >> thank you, senator leahy. i commend senator cornyn for working with people on both sides of the aisle to get this consensus package, and i -- if senator cornyn'

mr. chairman. >> senator leahy. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thanks to all of you who are appearing before us today and who have served this commission to make recommendations that are so important. this is something that will have a profound impact on the men and women who are currently serving or have previously served in our military. i hope that all americans particularly those who are currently serving or who are foreign veterans, can take the time to give these recommendations the thorough consideration they deserve and they can become part of a debate that we need to have. we will figure out how we can provide better for the needs of those who have served us in the past and serve us and simultaneously let us maintain the viability of our military. i ask this question to anyone who would like to answer it -- did the commission finds that a current lack of retirement program similar to that one recommended by the commission, that that is having the absence of a plan like that right now is having an impact on recruiting. for e

mr. chairman and ranking member leahy. i am honored to be here today with senator schumer to introduce united states attorney for the eastern district of new york loretta lynch. as president obama's nominee to serve as the next attorney general for the united states. to serve as united states attorney general requires deep experience in the field of law. it also requires a brilliant intellect, and it requires a steady moral compass. i have met with miss lynch two months ago and i can tell you, she meets all of those criteria. she is strong, tough, independent, and fearless. and as one of our country's most accomplished and distinguished women serving in law enforcement, i urge my colleagues to support her nomination. she is an outstanding candidate for this job. miss lynch began her service as the u.s. attorney for the eastern district of new york in 1990, where she rose quickly to serve as chief of the long island office, and then deputy chief of general crimes and chief of intake and arraignments. for 15 years she has be

leahy. >> well, thank you, mr. chairman. and you have discussed this procedure ahead with me which i appreciate and recall the way we discussed about what i was chairman. that makes one of the things we do this week the judiciary committee held a powerful hearing outlining the importance of passing legislation to help eradicate the scourge of human trafficking in this country. i commend you mr. chairman, and senator feinstein for holding the hearing, senator klobuchar for her aid on and others. both sides of the aisle made clear, the commitment to passing meaningful legislation. battled to help existing victims of human trafficking by to protect those in the future who are all too often fall prey to human trafficking. the children who have run away from home or are homeless and so often they're forced into trafficking. we heard from a great trafficking survivor about her experience of being walking for after she ran away from home. all four senators have testified, senator collins and my build the runway homeless youth and t

leahy. >> thank you, mr. chairman. you have discussed the procedure ahead of me. the same way you and i would discuss it act when i was chairman. one of the things we did squeak, the judiciary committee held a powerful hearing outlining the importance of passing legislation. to help eradicate the scourge of human trafficking in this country. i commend you, mr. chairman and senator feinstein for holding the hearing. both sides of the aisle made clear the commitment to passing meaningful legislation. helping existing victims of trafficking and those in the future who are all too often falling trafficking to -- pray to human trafficking. so often, they are forced into trafficking. we heard from a brave trafficking survivor about her experience of being walking pray after leaving home. the senators supported my bill. the bipartisan legislation was overwhelmingly supported by members of the committee just six months ago. there is no good reason why it should not -- i understand republicans on the committee now have concerns about the antidiscrimination provision. they

mr. netanyahu without checking with the white house first. just today senator pat leahye the second senator to say he will miss the speech too. among those who say they will skip the speech are three top leaders in the congressional black caucus with whom president obama is meeting today, vice president joe biden already announced he will not attend the speech because of a scheduling conflict. meantime, israeli officials are now reportedly considering amending the format of mr. net yahoo!'s address to calm some -- netanyahu's address, to speak to closed-door session of congress, rather than a prime-time tv address. here's the deal harris. israeli elections are coming up, this is a split from the democrats. they have to choose whether they're loyal to the party or loyal to israel as an ally. >> i don't know that it is necessarily such a split because you have a growing list of democrats joining the group that are going to boycott this. i think it get as lot easier. power in numbers type thing but i think the other thing i'm sort of seeing it with the congressional black c

mr. leahy: mr. president, the senate will vote later on the confirmation of dr. ashton carter to fill a critically important cabinet position, that of secretary of defense. i think we all know that dr. carter is a dedicate, a distinguished public servant. he's actually been confirmed twice unanimously to two senior positions in the pentagon. he's a four-time recipient of the department of defense distinguished service medal. he's been awarded the defense intelligence medal. i have no doubt that the vote on dr. carter will be overwhelmingly favorable. that the defense department faces important timely, and difficult decisions in the coming months and years they have to learn how best to balance -- renew our fiscal constraints with not only existing but emerging international challenges. he served as the day-to-day financial officer of the pentagon so he's one of the few people who really understands the complexities of the pentagon's budget. i believe that dr. carter will build upon the fine work of secretary hagel to chart a path toward fiscal accountability whil

mr. leahy: mr. president i'd ask consent to proceed as in morning business for about four minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: mr. president along with some of my colleagues, i just had the opportunity to be at the unveiling of the statue of senator barry goldwater in statuary hall. i had the privilege of serving with barry goldwater. we traveled together many times. he came to vermont at different times with me. we became very, very close friends. it was interesting to watch senator goldwater form alliances across the aisle with different people. but i remembered especially while there one very personal thing. i was very close to my father and when my father passed away late one evening in vermont the next morning the first two telephone calls my mother received of condolences, one was from barry goldwater one was from ted kennedy. the two had both talked before they called. i mention that because it was the type of person both of them were. had nothinged to nothing to do w