mr. markey: mr. president, the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. mr. markey: p mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum be rescinded. mr. markey: thank you, mr. president very much. mr. president, i ask consent to grant floor privileges for tesla revels for the remainder of the session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. markey: thank you, mr. president, very much. this summer chip turned 20 years old. i served on the house committee that created this bill and was proud to support providing the affordable comprehensive health insurance to low-income children and pregnant women. it is a bipartisan program and it's an effective program. last year alone chip covered nearly nine million children throughout the country. in massachusetts, chip has been instrumental in achieving near universal insurance coverage for our children in the bay state. yet, instead of celebrating chip's successes over the last two decades, congressional republicans have placed chip in programmatic purgatory. that's because they allowed chip to expire at the

mr. markey: medicare and medicaid, this is shameful. madam president, i yield back the balance of my time. the presiding officer: the senator from flew mexico. -- from new mexico. mr. udall: madam president, i would ask unanimous consent that melanie authorityon, a congressional -- thorton be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the 115th congress. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. udall: thank you, madam president. madam president, i wanted to rise today to talk a little bit about something very obscure that's buried in this budget bill but something that's very, very important to me. i -- first, before i talk about the specific policy issues, i just wanted to talk about a personal exploration i had, and this is with regard to the arctic wildlife refuge and this area called the 1002 area. i had the opportunity in the 1980's to take a raft trip down across this arctic coastal plain and down to the sea. and part of the reason was that many of the alaska senators at the time said if you're going to make policy in alask

mr. markey: mr. president, i would like to start my remarks with my deepest condolences and prayers for the people of las vegas and to the victims of the worst mass shooting in our nation's history. our innocent concert goers had to experience such violence, may you are -- may you be able to overcome this. and to the medical professionals who are working tirelessly to heal wounds and save lives right now, but enough is enough. americans are tired of living in fear that their community will be the next in newtown or aurora or las vegas. we must not become number to this. -- numb to this. we can begin by banning these military style assault weapons like the ar-15, which are the guns of choice for others who seek to inflict mass casualties on victims. unfortunately the gun lobby prevailed on congress to let the assault weapons ban expire in 2004, but we need it now more than ever. we must also pass legislation to ensure that all purchases, including -- include a background check. 92% of americans suppor

senator markey: the response is? mr. murphy: look, i think part of the problem here is a failure in burma among many stakeholders to recognize what's taking place. massive displacement, failure to protect citizens and residents of the country. that's part of our messaging. they need to see what they have done and what the results and repercussions are. i think the message that may resonate the most is that their actions create a greater risk for international terrorism. they think they have a terrorism problem now. by virtue of the kind of attack that is took place on august 25, and last year in 2016, which also created population displacement. our message is that's not a real international terrorism problem. the kind of problem that could visit burmese territory is a real significant challenge they won't be equipped to handle. they are exacerbating that risk. senator markey: it remind me very much of el salvador in the 80's where we were giving money to the government and the government had these generals who were the l

mr. markey: mr. president, i would like to start my remarks with my deepest condolences and prayers for the people of las vegas and to the victims of the worst mass shooting in our nation's history. our innocent concert goers had to experience such violence, may you are -- may you be able to overcome this. and to the medical professionals who are working tirelessly to heal wounds and save lives right now, but enough is enough. americans are tired of living in fear that their community will be the next in newtown or aurora or las vegas. we must not become number to this. -- numb to this. we can begin by banning these military style assault weapons like the ar-15, which are the guns of choice for others who seek to inflict mass casualties on victims. unfortunately the gun lobby prevailed on congress to let the assault weapons ban expire in 2004, but we need it now more than ever. we must also pass legislation to ensure that all purchases, including -- include a background check. 92% of americans suppor

mr. markey: mr. president, i rise to speak about the arctic wildlife refuge and the obscenity that will be the attempt by the republicans to insert into the budget bill an ability for the big oil companies of our country to be able to drill for oil in this sacred, pristine arctic wildlife refuge. i stand here first thanking senator cantwell from the state of washington, our great democratic leader on the energy committee, for her leadership not just on this issue but so many issues on the environment era that we're having to confront during this era of donald trump. let me just tell you, the republican budget is all about ultimately massive handouts to the 1% richest people in our country and to huge corporations while doing almost nothing for working and middle-class americans in our country. the republicans in this bill will slash medicaid and medicare while at the same time blowing a $1.5 trillion hole in the deficit to finance tax cuts for the super rich. but if that weren't bad enough, tucked in

mr. mattis: the question again, please, senator? sen. markey: again, i am coming back to this question of whether or not there is a scenario under usinga first strike nuclear weapons could in fact be used by the president of the united states without consulting any member of the united states congress, much less the entire congress in its entirety. mr. mattis: senator, again, it is a hypothetical. i think there if there is an imminent strike, and it was the only way to stop it, and i am not saying that what happened, there may be different tools, conventional tools, to stop it, but he has a responsibility to protect the country. too markey: i think it is important a subject for the united states congress not to be informed as to what the circumstances are under which we would use nuclear weapons first. i think that it is imperative for you and for secretary of states and others if necessary to give us the classified briefing as to what those circumstances might he as to when you think they would have to be used. they could be used without ever

mr. chairman. >> we have about 30 seconds left on the first vote. there are three votes. i'm going close out the meeting as soon as senator markey finishes but i'm going to close it out now for my participation. >> i want to thank the three witnesses for being here. it's been outstanding. the record will remain open until the close of business monday. i assume senator markey won't launch a nuclear war or do anything of that short while we're going to vote, but please enjoy your time, sir, and i'm going to announce the meeting adjourned as soon as you finish. thank you for being here. >> i appreciate that. thank you so much. i think you can trust me with my finger on the button, but i'm not sure. i think we need a hearing on all the people have their finger on the button. so just one question, mr. okeefe. catholic charities, how account u.s. food aid programs better compliment other umantarian response efforts so that u.s. assistance also address dollars the root cause of food and security, political conflict, violence, other issues? how can we do that? >> thank you so much, senator. catholic relief service disease think a lot ab

mrs. maloney: i h.r. 3898. in august i was part of a congressional delegation led by senator markey that visited south korea, japan, and the border between china and north korea. t is just a short drive from seoul, a city of about $10 million people, to the d.m.z., which is the border line with north korea. and standing there you understand and see firsthand that even though the united states would prevail, unquestionably, in any armed onflict, the casualtyies suffered by -- casualties suffered by south korea would be horrendous. with i hosted a meeting congresswoman wagner with south korean foreign minister kang here in the congress. and from these two meetings i came back more convinced than ever that we have to leave no stone unturned with to solve th most dangerous problem of our times peacefully through negotiation. i firmly believe that the only way to drive north korea to the negotiation table is to increase the financial pressure on this reckless rogue regime which is what this bill does. it is one of the toughest sanction bills financially we have ever considered and may be the toughest. the fact that the

mr. chairman. >> we have about 30 seconds left on the first vote. there are three votes. i'm going close out the meeting as soon as senator markey finishes but i'm going to close it out now for my participation. >> i want to thank the three witnesses for being here. it's been outstanding. the record will remain open until the close of business monday. i assume senator markey won't launch a nuclear war or do anything of that short while we're going to vote, but please enjoy your time, sir, and i'm going to announce the meeting adjourned as soon as you finish. thank you for being here. >> i appreciate that. thank you so much. i think you can trust me with my finger on the button, but i'm not sure. i think we need a hearing on all the people have their finger on the button. so just one question, mr. okeefe. catholic charities, how account u.s. food aid programs better compliment other umantarian response efforts so that u.s. assistance also address dollars the root cause of food and security, political conflict, violence, other issues? how can we do that? >> thank you so much, senator. catholic relief service disease think a lot ab

mr. fitzpatrick for his partnership on this legislation as well as our colleagues in the senate, senators markey, rubio, brown and capito, for their bipartisan work on the senate counterpart legislation. the federal government must do its part to ensure our first responders have the tools they need in this greatest of public health fights. the interdict act provides important and powerful resources in this endeavor and i urge its adoption. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. fitzpatrick: mr. speaker, i have in other speakers. if the gentlelady from california has no other speakers i am prepared to close once the gentlelady does. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california. ms. barragan: mr. speaker, i am prepared to close. mr. speaker, h.r. 2142 is an important this has strong support -- strong bipartisan support. passage of this bill will go a long way. as such, i encourage my colleagues to support h.r. 2142 and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. mr. fitzpatrick: i urge my colleagues to su