mr. markey: thank you. i rise today in support of equal treatment for all americans. the employee nondiscrimination act or enda is aimed at protecting all lesbians, gay, by sexual and transgender americans from workplace discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender. all americans deserve to be free from discrimination in the workplace and enda is a crucial step to ensuring equal treatment. i have been a cosponsor of the employee nondiscrimination act every time it was introduced in congress since the bill was first drafted in 1994. two years later, in 1996, i was one of only 67 members of the house of representatives to vote against the defense of marriage act. that seems like ancient history now, so long ago. and i am proud to say that the employee nondiscrimination act has its roots in my home state of massachusetts. back in 1994, it was originally written by two titans of massachusetts politics, congressman gerry studds in the house of representatives and senator ted kennedy here in the united states senate. we're coming up now to close to 20 years si

mr. markey: thank the chair. i want to begin by thanking chairman harkin, ranking member alexander, senators franken and roberts, and all of their staffs for their tremendous leadership on this bill. this bill was also developed in concert with our counterparts in the house of representatives, and i extend my thanks to ranking member henry waxman and chairman fred upton and their staffs of the energy and commerce committee. what we have now is a bipartisan, bicameral bill that addresses two very serious issues: the safety of compounded drugs and the security of our entire drug supply. last fall an outbreak of fungal meningitis stunned the nation and thus far has claimed the lives of 64 people and sickened 751 in 20 states. this issue hits home for me because it started in massachusetts. at the center of this tragedy was the new england compounding center, also known as necc, and it was located in framingham, massachusetts. i met some of these victims of this terrible outbreak and heard about their struggles, like

mr. chairman. >> thank you senator markey. i just have some final russians. mr. farris, you describe the disabilities treaty has the ideal quote unquote wedge issue for future clinical campaigns. is it because the treaty is such a good device -- divisive political issue for you that you've made some claims about the treaty that you have made? is that why you stated the treaty components have sort of a soviet agenda and your organization has made some what many of us see is pretty outrageous claims that the u.n. will determine how many parking spots are at american church's? >> senator, who wedge issue comes -- i believe that this treaty would be the first in the line of human rights treaties that would be coming before this committee. the convention of the rights of the child senator mccain misspoke earlier. we have not ratified that treaty. i think that would be coming next. the convention against all forms of discrimination of women would be coming before that. i think this treaty is the first of many treaties that will be in this range. that was what was inten

mr. chairman. >> let me join senator markey is his concerns. it's clear that the relates of more extreme weather require uso to be engaged international ly n mitigating as much damage as wee can with the n new reality.nator of course the best course in which senator mark yees been one of the leaders is to do something about this from the standpoint of climate change. of i think both are important nt pi points, that the costnt of thes storms in loss of life and in the cost of rebuilding communities is enormous and beyond the capacities of government to be able to respond to. and then when you put certain ik facilities in these high-risk areas the security issue becomes even greater and the cost even . greater. so thanks, senator markey, for raising those issues. i am very impressed by the u.s. response to this storm, and i thank both of you for your leadership. mr. konyndyk, i wish you safe travels tomorrow.afe mr. marcel, we wish you a speedy return here tomorrow for our yo second hearing this week of the subcommittee. but we thank you both for

mr. chairman. >> let me join senator markey and his concerns. it's clear that the realities of more extreme weather require us to be engaged internationally on mitigating as much damage as we can with the new reality. senator markey is one of the leaders is someone to do something about this in terms of climate change. both are important points that the cost of these storms and loss of life and in the cost of rebuilding communities is enormous. beyond the capacities of governments to be able to respond to. then when you put certain facilities in these high-risk areas, the security issue becomes even greater and the cost greater. i thank senator markey for raising those issues. i am very impressed by the u.s. response to this storm. i thank both of you for your leadership. mr. konyndyk, wish you safe travels tomorrow. mr. marciel, wish you a speedy return here tomorrow for the second hearing on this subcommittee. we thank you both for your public service. we will continue our interest and thank you -- not only your testimony today, but willingnes

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator markey. i does have some final questions. mr. farris, and you described the disability treaty as the ideal quote unquote wedge issue for future political campaigns. is it because the treaty as such a good divisive political issue for you that you've made some claims about the treaty that you've made? is that why you state that the treaty proponents have sort of a soviet agenda? and your organization has made some, what many of us think could be outrageous claims, that you and will determine how many parking spots are at american churches? >> senator, the wedge issue comment was, i believe that this treaty would be the first in atlanta human rights treaties that would be coming before this committee. senator mccain ms. volk, i'm sure earlier your we have not ratified that treaty. and so i think that would be coming next. the conventional elimination of all on the discrimination against women would be coming next. i think that this treaty is the first of many treaties that would be in this range. that's what was intended by that co

mr. chairman. >> thank you. senator markey. >> thank thank you very much, mr. chairman. it's great to have tammy duckworth here. in 1990 we passed the ada. it made sure there were onramp for the wheelchair everywhere in our country. it would be great if she could go anywhere in the world and we are moving in the same direction. we thank you for your service. back in 1990 when we did the ada, i was the chairman of the telecommunications committee. so closed captioning for tv set or ensuring that a phone system is available for a deaf and blind person in the 1996 telecom act extended that as well. but then in 2010, -- very conservative will be here on the conservative site with conservative republican. able to. a law saying every one of the wireless devices had to have an onramp. we had to negotiate the massive organization of thousand of companies because they have to sign off on it. and now the deaf and blind can use the device no matter where they are. wouldn't it be a good thing if it was true for the whole world? all deaf and all blind had the capacity? i would like t

mr. chairman. >> let me join senator markey and his concerns. it's clear that the realities of more extreme weather require us to be engaged internationally on mitigating as much damage as we can with the new reality. senator markey is one of the leaders is someone to do something about this in terms of climate change. both are important points that the cost of these storms and loss of life and in the cost of rebuilding communities is enormous. beyond the capacities of governments to be able to respond to. then when you put certain facilities in these high-risk areas, the security issue becomes even greater and the cost greater. i thank senator markey for raising those issues. i am very impressed by the u.s. response to this storm. i thank both of you for your leadership. mr. konyndyk, wish you safe travels tomorrow. mr. marciel, wish you a speedy return here tomorrow for the second hearing on this subcommittee. we thank you both for your public service. we will continue our interest and thank you -- not only your testimony today, but willingnes

markey is here. he will be recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman, very much. so in the wake of the disaster, there's also a risk of secondary disasters, unsanitary drinking water, rapidly spreading virus. what precautions and measures are being taken to protect outbreaks of infectious diseases? i don't know if that question had been asked? >> no, it has not. >> thank you, senator. that is a major concern of ours. we have been putting a very attentive focus on the health sector from the usaid side. we have not seen any -- we have not seen and the department of health has not seen indications of disease outbreaks. it's also a risk in this situation as you know because of a lot of standing water and often poor sanitation. that's why from the beginning usaid and our colleagues have prioritized water and sanitation in our response so that people have access to clean water and that they can address some of the sanitary issues and hygiene issues that go hand in hand with that increased disease risk. >> will our ship the "uss mercy" be deployed? >> senator, at this po

markey. >> thank you, mr. chairman, very much. thank you each of you for your service. you've got very tough jobs. i think we all know that. i also think we have to approach all of this with a lot of humility given what we've learned after we intervened in iraq, in libya and afghanistan. after what we've seen go on in egypt we should have a little humility in the united states in terms of our ability to control events on the ground in these countries in a way that allows us to basically in eye-watering detail be able to move the pieces around inside of any country. i just hope we all keep a little bit humble here begin what we've already gone through over the last several years. not with standing our concern for the humanitarian crisis and our desire to see assad be removed. may i ask you, mr. ford, if you could give us a little bit of an update at the al qaeda forces coming from iraq, on some of these other extremist groups. where they are making it. and where that support is coming from so we can understand the nature of the threat that we see to the moderates being s

markey. >> thank you, mr. chairman very much. can we talk about something in addition to the obvious benefits that will flow to people with disabilities, and that is that which will flow to american businesses if we have been international standards that is about 56 million people in the united states with disabilities, but there are about a billion people in the world with disabilities. so, for example, if we just take something like a u.s. law standard that says all of these devices have to be now accessible to the deaf and the blind and you multiply that by the thousands of companies in the united states but now have a part of this communications revolution, what could it mean for the american business if the standards are adopted in the countries all across the world. what could it mean in terms of practical benefits for the u.s. economy? if we join the rest of the world ratifying the journey that we are going on in terms of what that additional benefit would be for the country. >> you mentioned in my opening comment about th

markey. >> thank you, mr. chairman, very much. thank you each of you for your service.u've got very tough jobs. i think we all know that. i also think we have to approach all of this with a lot of humility given what we've learned after we intervened in iraq, in libya and afghanistan. after what we've seen go on in egypt we should have a little humility in the united states in terms of our ability to control events on the ground in these countries in a way that allows us to basically in eye-watering detail be able to move the pieces around inside of any country. i just hope we all keep a little bit humble here begin what we've already gone through over the last several years. not with standing our concern for the humanitarian crisis and our desire to see assad be removed. may i ask you, mr. ford, if you could give us a little bit of an update at the al qaeda forces coming from iraq, on some of these other extremist groups. where they are making it. and where that support is coming from so we can understand the nature of the threat that we see to the moderates being succ

markey is here. and he will be recognized.>> t >> thank you. mr. chairman. very much. so in the wake of the disaster there is also a risk of secondary disasters, unsanitaryi drinking water, rapidly spreading virus.readin what precautions and measures et are beingio taken to prevent to outbreaks of infectious diseases? and i don't know if thatre question had been asked. >> no, it had not.tion it's a good question. >> thank you, senator. that is a major concern of ours. and we have been putting a very attentive focus on the health sector from the u.s. a.i.d. said. at this point we have not seen - and the department of department of health has not seen ons indications of disease outbreaks. it's always a risk in this kind of a situation as you note because of a lot of standing water and often poor sanitation. and that's why from the very beginning u.s.a.i.d. in partnership with our d.o.d. colleagues have really prioritized water and sanitation in our response, so that people have access to clean water and that they can address some of the sanitary issues and hygiene issues

appoint the honorable edward markey, a senator from the commonwealth of massachusetts, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patrick j. leahy, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks, the senate will be in a period 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 defense authorization bill. we'll debate the sexual assault issue for up to six hours, and i hope we can reach agreement on the ability to vote on those two amendments. people worked very hard on arriving at a point where we can debate this issue. i hope we can do that. i think it would be very appropriate that we have that issue resolved as quickly as possible. mr. president, i'm told that s. 1737 is due for a second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bill for a second time. the clerk: s. 1737, a bill to provide for an increase in the federal minimum wage, and so forth. mr. reid: mr. president, i would object to any further proceedings with respect to this bil